Manufacturers of shark cartilage supplements provide anecdotal testimonials from those who claim to have experienced relief from arthritis symptoms and pain, as a result of taking shark cartilage supplements. Opponents cite existing studies of shark cartilage on a variety of cancers that produced negligible to non-existent results in the prevention or treatment of cancer. Most notable among these was a breast-cancer trial conducted by the
Mayo Clinic that stated that the trial "was unable to demonstrate any suggestion of efficacy for this shark cartilage product in patients with advanced cancer." The results of another clinical trial were presented at the 43rd annual meeting of the
American Society of Clinical Oncology. In that study, sponsored by the
National Cancer Institute, "researchers did not find a statistical difference in survival" between patients receiving shark cartilage and those taking a placebo.
Scientific evidence does not support the efficacy of shark cartilage nor the ability of effective components to remove cancer cells. The fact that people believe eating shark cartilage can cure cancer shows the serious potential impacts of
pseudoscience. ==Legal action==