According to a story from Buzzfeed News, social media giant Facebook has finally taken action against groups on the site that promote the use of black salve, an alternative treatment used for cancer. Black salve has no basis in the medical community and can cause extreme tissue damage, infections, and even death. Facebook has banned some of the largest groups on the site that are focused on black salve after Buzzfeed previously reported on them two months ago.
Black Salve: A Danger to Cancer Patients
Black salve is a topical paste of zinc chloride and bloodroot that is applied to the skin in order to cure cancer. Adherents claim that black salve selectively destroys cancerous cells, but scientific research of the effects of black salve have concluded that the corrosive substance can destroy both healthy tissue and cancer indiscriminately. Scientists have even concluded that black salve has the potential to trigger new mutations in cancer tumors, which would make them even more difficult to treat effectively.
The corrosive nature of black salve causes it to inflict severe, disfiguring wounds on the skin of users. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned the sale of the substance in the US, but these groups often share information on how to import the paste or instruct members on how to make it themselves. Facebook was slow to take action on these groups when Buzzfeed first reported on them and initially claimed that the groups didn’t violate any of the sites guidelines or rules. At the time of the earlier story, which can be found here, Amazon had started taking down books about black salve and YouTube was removing videos about it.
A Sign of Patient Challenges?
The continued prevalence of fake treatments like black salve on the internet highlights the difficulty that cancer patients continue to face when it comes to making treatment decisions. It may seem like foolishness to trust in some strange-sounding treatment found on the internet, but it isn’t so difficult for a cancer patient that has problems accessing more well-known treatments to become desperate for other options, especially when their lives are in danger.
