USA

WARNING: This site deals only with the corporate corruption of science, and makes no inference about the motives or activities of individuals involved.
    There are many reasons why individuals become embroiled in corporate corruption activities - from political zealotry to over-enthusiastic activism; from gullibility to greed.
    Please read the OVERVIEW carefully, and make up your own mind.

OPINION ONLY

The rather dubious "Quackwatch" run by Stephen Berrett MD says:
Project Cure raises funds under three programs: National Diabetes Fund, Prostate Cancer Fund, and The Alzheimer's Disease Fund [1].

Project Cure's tax returns describe its aims this way:

Lobbying —Project Cure, Inc.'s lobbying program is directed at the White House and Congress, promoting four programs: The Alzheimer's Disease Fund, Center for Advanced Heart Research, The National Diabetes Fund, and the Prostate Cancer Fund. At the core of each of these programs is the basic premise that America's health care system, which is geared toward serving the interests of health care providers, must be radically altered to serve the interest of the American public. These programs encourage citizens to communicate their views to lawmakers via petitions, letters, phone calls, and personal visits. Meetings with lawmakers and their aides are also conducted to discuss pertinent health issues and legislation.

Education —information regarding Alzheimer disease, diabetes, and prostate cancer treatments are disseminated to the public via letters, brochures, printed material, radio and television presentations and participation in seminars, workshops, and debates. Health care providers, media, and others interested in expanding their knowledge in these areas are provided educational information in an effort to broaden the base of research looking into new cutting edge treatments.

Barrett comments:

These goals may sound respectable, but they are not. The treatment methods Project Cure promotes are not legitimate. The organization was founded in 1979 by Robert DeBragga, a marketing executive who developed lung cancer in the late 1970s and died in 1990. It has 501(c)(4) status, which means that it does not pay income tax but contributions to it are not tax-deductible.

During the 1980s, Project Cure described itself as "the first citizens' lobby group acting on behalf of cancer patients and their non-toxic treatment alternatives" and said that its primary goal was to "encourage Congress and the medical community to evaluate and employ nutritional, nontoxic cancer therapies." DeBragga claimed that in 1978 he had been diagnosed with lung cancer, underwent standard treatment, but was told that because the cancer had metastasized to lymph nodes, he had about nine months to live. He then began investigating and using "nontoxic" treatments and used Project Cure to raise money and to lobby in support of his beliefs. Stories of this type are generally not trustworthy.

DeBragga also claimed to have counseled more than 2,000 patients and appeared on more than 250 radio and television programs. In 1987, Project Cure was said to have distributed more than eight million pieces of literature by mail.

Some solicitations claimed that the recipient was sweepstakes winner could collect the prize by sending a $7 contribution or a voided check. In 1988, The New York Times noted that the solicitations had been distributed by Watson & Hughey and that several state attorneys general had taken legal action. Some solicitations claimed that money received from recipients would "help our research programs to find a cure for cancer."

The Missouri Attorney General charged that this was misleading because Project Cure's Center for Alternative Cancer Research did not have a laboratory and did not conduct research. This suit also charged that Project Cure had misapplied funds by making purchases unrelated to its expressed purpose of funding cancer research.

The California Attorney General reported that in 1998 and 1999, only about 13% of Project Cure's funds had been used for charitable purposes.

[Despite the sources, we have no reason to disagree with these claims.]

Washington lobby for alternate medicine to cure cancer— They promoted Nutrition, and Linus Pauling's high dose Vitamin A as the cure for cancer.

    The organization was run by a marketing executive (with the Raytheon Corporation, mainly in Washington.) Robert (Bob) DeBragga, a survivor of squamous lung cancer. He had been treated with chemotherapy, but believed it was the alternative therapy of nutrition which had kept him alive.
    He died of lung cancer in October 1990.

1979: Founded by J. Robert DeBragga

1983 May: Initial contact letter. It is attacking the AMA and NCI and promoting Vitamin C, Dr Max Gerson, and Ernst Wynder.

[In] 1978, it was shown that large doses of Vitamin C could extend the life of a cancer patient by as much as four times longer than patients who didn't take Vitamin C. But again — even though these studies were done almost five years ago — the major cancer treatment centers still refuse to rp escribe Vitamin C to their patients.

    Even more shocking, over seven years ago Dr. Ernst Wynder, the man who first discovered the link between cigarette smoking and cancer, showed that up to 40% - 60% of all cancer_in men and in women are caused by diet and lack of proper nutrients.

    Yet despite this overwhelming evidence the medical establishment continues to ignore all types of nutritional cancer treatments.

    In fact if you ask the National Cancer Institute, a government agency which spends over 1 BILLION of your tax dollars a year, they'll tell you they are "studying" the diet/cancer issue.

1983 Sept: Letter-writing campaign.

As one of your constituents, I urge you to call for Congressional hearings on the medical profession and their refusal to use nutrition for cancer prevention and treatment.

    The doctors say they want to spend five or ten years "studying" nutritional cancer treatments. Yet effective nutritional treatments such as Dr Linus Pauling's Vitamin C therapy, low-fat diet therapies for breast cancer patients, and moderate doses of selenium have been tested extensively. They've been shown to be highly effective in preventing and controlling cancer.

1984 Jan: Robert DeBragga registerd as a lobbyist for Project Cure.

Suite 350, 2020 K Street, Washington DC

1990: DeBragga dies, but the Project Cure organisation lived on.