LOCAL Stop Smoking Laser Therapy is Fraud

from WDIV Detroit TV 4

Smokers who pay hundreds of dollars to be zapped by lasers purported to help them quit are victims of fraud, a watchdog group alleged in seeking a federal crackdown. Public Citizen petitioned the FDA to halt five companies from promoting low-power laser therapy for smoking cessation. The companies do not have FDA clearance to market the lasers for that purpose, nor is there any scientific evidence they are safe or effective.

The FDA will evaluate the petition.

The FDA has cleared the so-called biostimulation lasers or laser acupuncture devices to be marketed only to help provide temporary pain relief.

Freedom Laser Therapy Inc., singled out in the petition as the most prominent of the five companies, charges smokers as much as $349 for a 30-minute laser "acupuncture" session and kit with vitamins, booklet and video. FDA regulations do allow the therapy to be used in investigational clinical trials or studies - exactly what Freedom Laser Therapy said it is carrying out at its two locations, in Santa Monica, Calif. and Royal Oak, Mich.

The company charged thousands of smokers to participate in the trials so far but has not collected data on whether the program successfully helped them quit.

The companies claim laser therapy triggers the release of endorphins, or the body's natural painkillers, that can help smokers cope with withdrawal. But reviews of medical literature turn up few reports of well-run clinical trials that examined laser stop-smoking therapy, according to both the American Lung Association and Public Citizen. And the few studies that have been done show no difference in success rates between patients zapped with a laser and those receiving a placebo or sham treatment.