Thai Public Health Ministry Warns Public Against ' Magic Lamp' Hoax

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Public Health Ministry warns public against 'magic lamp' hoax

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BANGKOK, 3 May 2013 (NNT) – The Public Health Ministry has come out to warn the public about a hoax that involves a so-called ‘magic lamp’, which claims to be a miracle cure for terminal cancer patients.

Public Health Ministry’s Inspector General for Region 7, Dr. Apichai Mongkol, on Thursday, commented on reports of the widespread sales of the so-called ‘magic lamp’ in certain parts of Maha Sarakham Province.

The lamp, priced at 10,000 baht each, claimed to be an effective cure for several terminal illnesses, including cancer, simply by leaving it lit up inside the patient’s mosquito net.

Dr. Apichai said that a number of cancer patients in the northeastern province have bought the product as they believed in the claim, while at least one of them recently died after purchasing the dubious lamp.

He added that the Maha Sarakham Provincial Health Office has been instructed to determine the cause of death of its resident and to launch a probe into what the lamp can actually do before disclosing all information to the public.

The Health Inspector expects the results of both inquiries will be ready in a few days.

In any case, Dr. Apichai has cast doubts over the authenticity of the magic lamp, which he believes is working like ordinary aromatherapy lamps in the market.

While noting that aromatherapy lamps help users calm down and become less tense, he affirmed that there has never been any study, which proves that such an item can completely cure terminal cancer patients.

In addition, Dr. Apichai warned that sleeping with a lamp on inside the mosquito net can be fatal due to the possibility of oxygen deprivation and fire accident.

-- NNT 2013-05-03

[BookMan]

The problem with so many of these Cancer Cure quick fixes is that they are targeted towards the vulnerable and desperate.

People dying of Cancer who will themselves, or their family, grasp on to any hope of something that will save them.

The people peddling this false hope should be given a spell inside jail.

[jonclark]

The problem with so many of these Cancer Cure quick fixes is that they are targeted towards the vulnerable and desperate.

People dying of Cancer who will themselves, or their family, grasp on to any hope of something that will save them.

The people peddling this false hope should be given a spell inside jail.

Totally - these people prey on the weak, vulnerable and desperate and should be punished accordingly.

[Locationthailand]

The whole system around health is wrong. You work all your life and save what you can and in your winter years, you give what you have left and much more that belongs to others, to the medical system who try to maintain you as long as they can to keep you paying. Then you have these clowns who "shirt-tail" the medical system in sucking money from the dying. Have people these days no morals or conscience?

[OzMick]

Those that prey on the desperate and vulnerable are not fit to share society with normal people. The Chinese have had a few instances of contaminated baby food, including one lot with no food value, and handed the perpetrators a suitable punishment - their sentence was short and terminal.

[WhizBang]

The problem with so many of these Cancer Cure quick fixes is that they are targeted towards the vulnerable and desperate.

People dying of Cancer who will themselves, or their family, grasp on to any hope of something that will save them.

The people peddling this false hope should be given a spell inside jail.

No different than the 'beauty and cosmetic' industry, not to mention, the weight loss industry.

Crooks, one and all.

[Chao Lao Beach]

Maybe the Gov can buy them as a bomb detector !!

[BookMan]

The problem with so many of these Cancer Cure quick fixes is that they are targeted towards the vulnerable and desperate.

People dying of Cancer who will themselves, or their family, grasp on to any hope of something that will save them.

The people peddling this false hope should be given a spell inside jail.

No different than the 'beauty and cosmetic' industry, not to mention, the weight loss industry.

Crooks, one and all.

False claims from all, I agree.

The difference with claiming a cure for cancer is that you are taking advantage of Cancewr patients and their families at their most vulnerable

[Valentine]

The OP did not state which company is selling these but sounds suspiciously like Lampberger, a product sold by DCHL (Digital Crown Holdings) an MLM company who make nearly all of their money by recruiting the gullible into paying quite large sums to become a distributor but the only way the new distributors can truly make money is to recruit more people. A couple of "country cousins" borrowed to get into it & tried recruiting my GF but I was able to prove to her it was a scam. The two cousins have not paid back the money & now working elsewhere. It is an insidious business which deliberately deceives the vulnerable into parting with cash which they generally borrow from relatives or by using land papers as collateral.

[OzMick]

The OP did not state which company is selling these but sounds suspiciously like Lampberger, a product sold by DCHL (Digital Crown Holdings) an MLM company who make nearly all of their money by recruiting the gullible into paying quite large sums to become a distributor but the only way the new distributors can truly make money is to recruit more people. A couple of "country cousins" borrowed to get into it & tried recruiting my GF but I was able to prove to her it was a scam. The two cousins have not paid back the money & now working elsewhere. It is an insidious business which deliberately deceives the vulnerable into parting with cash which they generally borrow from relatives or by using land papers as collateral.

PYRAMID schemes are common here. The next door neighbour was looking at one - didn't take long to grasp the concept once it was explained to him.

[doremifasol]

They couldn't wait no longer for "YOUR" help Public Health Ministry, they had to make a choice.

[slapout]

What is mind boggling is the Health Ministry does not have the balls to tell the people this is a scam, do not spend your money , and report these companies to the proper authorities. (better business, police, health department, etc)

I doubt the lamps will deprive the user of an adequate oxygen supply, under a net, but the potential for a fire should be of primary concern and thus a warning.

[TackyToo]

Well, it takes two to tango. A greedy and unscrupulous seller as well as an uneducated moron believing this aladdin lamp bs.

[wiyada]

Like selling candies to children, or bomb detectors to ?

[Thai at Heart]

Seems like the marketing department in Thailand, got a little ahead of itself.

[whistleblower]

The problem with so many of these Cancer Cure quick fixes is that they are targeted towards the vulnerable and desperate.

People dying of Cancer who will themselves, or their family, grasp on to any hope of something that will save them.

The people peddling this false hope should be given a spell inside jail.

Totally - these people prey on the weak, vulnerable and desperate and should be punished accordingly.

Just as the people who bought them should be locked away for being terminally stupid!!!

[scorecard]

The problem with so many of these Cancer Cure quick fixes is that they are targeted towards the vulnerable and desperate.

People dying of Cancer who will themselves, or their family, grasp on to any hope of something that will save them.

The people peddling this false hope should be given a spell inside jail.

No different than the 'beauty and cosmetic' industry, not to mention, the weight loss industry.

Crooks, one and all.

Certainly agree about the beauty industry - a family friend ( a teacher) spent hundreds of thousands of Baht at several of these 'clinics' located in various shopping malls. She now has to pay back numerous loans to various teachers loan / credit union organizations.

She now admits it all achieved nothing and has left her with rashes and inflamed patches. Plus two 'doctors' who openly claimed to be qualified as MDs who ran these clinics have since been charged with impersonating a doctor of medicine. Both have zero medical knowledge or training.

Edited May 3, 2013 by scorecard

[bri1guy]

The lamp does work ! after longtime use it causes cancer.. OH it actually claimed to of cured it?

[MikeThaison]

"In addition, Dr. Apichai warned that sleeping with a lamp on inside the mosquito net can be fatal due to the possibility of oxygen deprivation and fire accident."

I am no doctor, but if there is oxygen deprivation then fire is pretty much out of the question, since fire needs oxygen to "breath." 2nd <deleted> is he talking about oxygen deprivation?!?! He must have studied in South Korea and heard about Fan deaths.

[RubbaJohnny]

What a cruel hoax.

Pity the time given to soap operas cannot find a little public education.

Always seem to be space for skin whitening and hair products.

[cup-O-coffee]

OK, I read all the comments. So what about these same victims who have already spent ten times that much on scammers wearing flowing robes? Maybe that is why they are poor; because they believe that magic lamps, mantras, chanting and giving away their worldly goods to people like these will miraculously improve their lifestyles and health now and in the beyond?

So, the question is; when does ignorant and trusting become flat out stupid and gullible?

[Mudcrab]

"In addition, Dr. Apichai warned that sleeping with a lamp on inside the mosquito net can be fatal due to the possibility of oxygen deprivation and fire accident."

I am no doctor, but if there is oxygen deprivation then fire is pretty much out of the question, since fire needs oxygen to "breath." 2nd <deleted> is he talking about oxygen deprivation?!?! He must have studied in South Korea and heard about Fan deaths.

oxygen deprivation will cure cancer....and just about anything else!!!! Don't blame the Thais for being gullible...there are graveyards all over the world caused by these charlatans. Lets face it ...when faced with a terminal illness almost everybody will cling to anything that promises some hope.

[xylophone]

I, amongst a few other folk, had a long and ongoing discussion (sometimes rather heated) on another thread entitled "Cancer is a top killer of Thais" whereby someone posted that they had a cure for cancer by eating grapes, following a certain regime.

The only proof being that he said it cured a friend of his (or something similar) – – no clinical trials, no explanation as to why, no double-blind trials, placebo effect, no scientific proof etc etc etc. I'm sure you get the picture.

There were even a few supporters that said it was possible and that no trials or scientific evidence was needed. I eventually stopped posting, as did one other poster who was in the medical profession and VERY knowledgeable, because it was pointless trying to argue with the uninformed and pigheaded.

Perhaps they will end up buying a warehouse full of these lamps!!!

[robblok]

I, amongst a few other folk, had a long and ongoing discussion (sometimes rather heated) on another thread entitled "Cancer is a top killer of Thais" whereby someone posted that they had a cure for cancer by eating grapes, following a certain regime.

The only proof being that he said it cured a friend of his (or something similar) – – no clinical trials, no explanation as to why, no double-blind trials, placebo effect, no scientific proof etc etc etc. I'm sure you get the picture.

There were even a few supporters that said it was possible and that no trials or scientific evidence was needed. I eventually stopped posting, as did one other poster who was in the medical profession and VERY knowledgeable, because it was pointless trying to argue with the uninformed and pigheaded.

Perhaps they will end up buying a warehouse full of these lamps!!!

Though i have high regards of the medical community, the big pharma is out there making money. They manipulate results as they are paying for the trials and there is no independent group that checks them. So trials and stuff are far from perfect, on the other hand I don't really believe that if cures were available that they would be stopped. So that means I don't believe that certain regimes can cure cancer.

[thequietman]

The whole system around health is wrong. You work all your life and save what you can and in your winter years, you give what you have left and much more that belongs to others, to the medical system who try to maintain you as long as they can to keep you paying. Then you have these clowns who "shirt-tail" the medical system in sucking money from the dying. Have people these days no morals or conscience?

Remember where you are and that should answer your question.