It would be so easy for an amoral person to make a fortune on the poor non-scientifically educated folks who don't understand rigorous scientific method.
You just need to find a way to justify it to yourself. A placebo can be very powerful, it's not ripping them off it's giving them something to believe in and feel safe. All that science stuff would scare them anyway.......
Its true. ~22% of any improvement in prescription drugs, OTC drugs or alternative therapies if from the placebo effect. So ANYTHING helps a lot of people with nebulous complaints, i.e., pain, nausea or fatigue. Placebo does not work as well against other conditions like broken bones and cancer. Most doctors would say, nowadays, to give a placebo to intentionally deceive the patient is unethical. It is remarkable the amount of distrust and suspicion out there as demonstrated by this thread.
There are many causes of cancers. To confuse stopping the cause with a cure is misguided, at best. Saw this a few weeks ago. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/reptiles/snakes_venom.html Venomous snakes are being put to good use. In this context, copperheads for breast cancer. There was also one on otherwise deadly spiders... A cancer is an otherwise uncontrolled growth of cells, if left unchecked, could prove fatal if something else doesn't kill you first. A cure controls cancerous growth so it not only stops growing, the cancer itself dies, instead of the host, or patient. Therefore, the patient is cured of his or her ailment. So, yes, there is many a cure for the ailment known as cancer in it's various forms, and treatment is getting better all the time, as many a success story can attest.
