Internet Hype

I caught this article on the front of www.abcnews.com and thought that it brought up an excellent point on effects of the internet and rapid information exchange on medical research. Apparently, information about a potential cancer treatment has caused a lot of hype over the internet while it is still in its early stages, and this movement has taken many by surprise including people at the American Cancer Society. The research deals with DCA, dichloroacetic acid, and its effects on the metabolism of cancer cells. DCA is hypothesized to reverse the cells from the “bad metabolic pathways” or anaerobic pathways to regular pathways that the cell should follow (DCA, an organic chemical, is already being used to treat some patients of rare genetic diseases that produce too much lactic acid). The main point of the article is how the hype placed in such early research can become detrimental because the research is new and not enough is known to justify the “medical equivalent of a tsunami” it has created. The article makes anyone consider when the internet and the rapid exchange of information actually becomes detrimental to the public by raising false, unjustified hopes?

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/CancerPreventionAndTreatment/story?id=2848454&page=1