''Sharks Don't Get Cancer'' (subtitle: ''How Shark Cartilage Could Save Your Life'') is a 1992 book written by I. William Lane and Linda Comac and published by

Avery Publishing Avery Publishing is a book publishing imprint of the Penguin Group, founded as an independent publisher in 1976 by Rudy Shur and partners, and purchased by Penguin in 1999. The current president is veteran publisher William Shinker. Their offices ...

. Despite its title, the book does not claim that

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimo ...

s never get

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

, only that they rarely do so, a fact which has been known since the first malignancy was found in a shark specimen in 1908. Lane and Comac further claimed that this was because

shark cartilage Shark cartilage is a dietary supplement made from the dried and powdered cartilage of a shark; that is, from the tough material that composes a shark's skeleton. Shark cartilage is marketed under a variety of brand names, including Carticin, Cart ...

contained cancer-fighting elements, and so that powdered shark cartilage is an effective treatment for cancer and numerous other conditions. However, there is no scientific evidence that shark cartilage is useful in treating or preventing cancer or any other disease. In 1996, Lane co-authored another book on the same subject, entitled ''Sharks Still Don't Get Cancer''.

Background

Lane became interested in the potential health benefits of shark cartilage after watching a

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

story about a study in ''Science'' that found that shark cartilage inhibited

blood vessel The blood vessels are the components of the circulatory system that transport blood throughout the human body. These vessels transport blood cells, nutrients, and oxygen to the tissues of the body. They also take waste and carbon dioxide away ...

s from growing toward tumors.

Publicity

After ''Sharks Don’t Get Cancer'' was published, Lane's claims received further publicity from segments on

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...

in 1993. One of these segments featured Lane and some Cuban physicians and patients who had participated in a

clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel vaccines, drugs, dietar ...

on the effectiveness of shark cartilage for terminal cancer.

Reaction from scientists

After Lane's writings regarding sharks and cancer became well-known, scientists became concerned about the clinical trials he had been conducting in Cuba and Mexico. It also later became known that the cartilage product Lane was testing in these trials was made by the company Lane Labs, which was run by his son, Andrew Lane. Robert S. Langer, a co-author of the 1983 study showing that shark cartilage inhibited the growth of blood vessels toward tumors, along with

Judah Folkman Moses Judah Folkman (February 24, 1933 – January 14, 2008) was an American medical scientist best known for his research on tumor angiogenesis, the process by which a tumor attracts blood vessels to nourish itself and sustain its existence. He ...

, a professor of surgery at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

, said in an interview that Lane was "inappropriately using our published work and our names to imply that we support his claims." A 2004 paper in ''Cancer Research'' said that even if sharks did rarely get cancer, as Lane claims, "cancer incidence is irrelevant to the use of crude extracts for cancer treatment."

References

{{Reflist 1992 non-fiction books Books about cancer Sharks Avery Publishing books