Health chiefs have warned they will prosecute a fitness centre unless it stops selling a book which claims to cure cancer with herbs and an electric "zapper".
The book, The Cure for all Cancers, was imported for sale at stores including Tom Turk's Fitness Centre in Citibank Plaza and the New Age Shop in Central.
It has sparked anger among doctors and cancer support groups, who say the book's claims are false and dangerous. Unfounded "miracle" cures brought heartache to patients and their families, cancer workers said.
Author Hulda Regehr Clark says cancer is caused by a parasite which can be killed by drinking a mixture of black walnut hulls, wormwood and cloves.
Sufferers are also told to build their own nine-volt device and "triple-zap daily until you are well".
But a Health Department spokesman said officers had issued a warning letter to the fitness centre after investigating the incident and seeking legal advice.
"We've warned them that their actions may have contravened the Undesirable Medical Advertising Ordinance and asked them to take it off the shelves," he said.
"We will be sending people to see whether they do so. If they continue, we will be forced to take enforcement action, prosecute them."
Mr Turk declined to say whether his centre had stopped promoting the book. "I have no comment," he said.
A spokesman for the New Age Shop said it was out of stock of The Cure for All Cancers.
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