As I wrote in this newsletter last week, the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric carried a story on Nov. 3, both on air and on their Web site, about allegedly bogus cancer treatments that were available online. The piece, written by Jonathan Lapook, MD, attributed to me a quotation that I never in fact made. I also sent letters of protest to Dr. Lapook. On Dec. 18th, I received an email and then a phone call from Katie Boyle, senior producer of the program. She apologized for the false attribution and we had a pleasant talk about the difficulties - even for CBS - of extracting accurate information from the Internet. (Ironically, this was the basic theme of Dr. Lapook's original story). True to their word, CBS promptly pulled the video version of the story and eliminated the erroneous attribution from the print article. In addition, they posted the following message the cbsnews.com Web site:

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Here at the Moss Reports, we've had a very productive 2008. We maintained and updated our library of more than 200 extensive reports on specific types of cancer. All of our reports are updated each year, and some of the more common ones are updated two or three times per year. Such updates are then made available to all those who had previously purchased a report on their diagnosis. This now constitutes the largest collection in the world of diagnosis-specific reports on cancer. My staff and I continued to answer hundreds of inquiries from clients concerning the reports.

We issued our Cancer Decisions newsletter every week, with the exception of the month of August, when we took a break. We have written and published approximately 50 newsletters per year since 2001. These newsletters - which themselves constitute a virtual library of information on new developments in cancer - are available to one and all at our website, www.cancerdecisions.com

Our newsletter continues to go out to thousands of subscribers each and every week. In 2009, I continued my long-term involvement as monthly columnist for the Townsend Letter for Doctors. I also completed work as the guest editor of Integrative Cancer Therapies, commissioning and coordinating a special issue on John Beard, the trophoblastic theory of cancer, and the use of pancreatic enzymes in the treatment of cancer. This issue is due to be published in January 2009.

I continued to do phone consultations for cancer patients and their families who have previously purchased Moss Reports on their cancer diagnosis. I put the highest priority on these consults, and they take up a good part of my day. But I think this is a very good use of my time. Judging from the comments I receive, many clients think so as well. I have also begun a new service….actually accompanying a very select group of clients to foreign clinics to help facilitate communications for them. So far, this has worked out very well for all concerned. (For more information on this service, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

I investigated new and unconventional treatments for cancer, as I have since 1974. This year, I made trips to several American cities and summarized my findings in a series of "Where to Go?" reports. I have done four such reports so far, on Houston, Philadelphia, Chicago and Boston. I spoke at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA, and also visited the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. I also spoke in West Palm Beach, FL, at the Annie Appleseed Conference, and visited Ithaca in the summer. I wrote about my memorable visit to the Konstantin Frank vineyards in Hammondsport, NY.

I also took two trips to Germany - in May and November - and spoke at the Pfälzer conference on CAM cancer treatments in Bad Bergzabern. A report on German CAM clinics is in the works and should be out shortly. My wife and I also made a memorable trip to four cities in China in September. The purpose of the China trip was to investigate some new cancer treatments there and to create links with CAM practitioners. The China trip has resulted in some cooperative ventures with scientists there, which we hope to announce shortly.

My staff and I began a new series of reports on radiation treatment. We addressed the issue of whether or not antioxidants interfere with radiation, and what one can do about the adverse (side) effects of treatment. We also did an analysis of the effectiveness of radiation for lung, breast, prostate and gynecological cancers.

I gave lectures and received five honors and awards this year, for which I am very grateful. These included an award at the 30th anniversary gala of the Center for Advancement in Cancer Education (CACE) in Philadelphia in May; three visiting professorships in China from Friendship Hospital in Guangzhou, Chang-An Hospital in Xi'an and the EEC (Shanxi) Cancer Research Institute and its affiliate, the Shanxi Province Anti-Cancer Association, all in September; and the Denham Harmon Award from the American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM) in Las Vegas in October.

I wish to thank all those who make this high level of activity possible. These include my wife, Martha, who accompanies me on most of my travels; Anne Beattie, Executive Director of the Moss Reports for the past 14 years; my research director, who has been of invaluable help to me and to scores of our readers; Jacquie Johnson, who adroitly handles the scheduling of my phone consultations; our webmaster, Charla, who has made our newsletter available each and every week; and of course you the readers, whose need for better cancer treatments remains our inspiration and challenge.

Cancer is poised to become the number one killer around the world. And the development of new treatments coming from the medical establishment is much too slow to meet the needs of patients. The times we face are unbelievably challenging, and many patients are now facing a "double whammy" of cancer and economic problems. Yet we must remain hopeful. I myself have hope that the coming year will provide both an economic recovery as well as the development of exciting new treatment opportunities for conquering humanity's most feared scourge.

--Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.

PHONE CONSULTATIONS

Recently we received the following comment from a phone consultation client:

"Cancer is such a complex disease that conventional medicine cannot claim to know it all as I have learned in my own cancer journey. Dr Moss' stalwart stand against accepting the solutions of conventional medicine uncritically has a winning formula: it draws on both conventional and international sources of knowledge without compromising the scientific rigor that underscores his assessments. My phone consultation with him was great: I had already read a great amount on cancer, but he gave me further tools to evaluate my situation. I also had a real discussion with him - something I never got with my doctors." - J.Z. October, 2008

Clients who have purchased a Moss Report can schedule an appointment for a phone consultation by calling 1-800-980-1234 (814-238-3367 from outside the US) or by submitting a request via email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .