Other LanguagesOLYMPIA - March 15, 2002 - A Thurston County Superior Court judge today ordered an Internet-based cancer cure promoter to stop marketing a controversial cancer treatment that has no proven success rate.
Judge William Thomas McPhee, ordered David L. Walker of Olympia, owner and operator of DLW Consulting, to temporarily shut down his website and stop promoting the unusual treatment, which involves ingesting dietary supplements and an herbal mixture known as "Indian Mud."
A preliminary injunction hearing on April 5 will determine whether the order should remain in force until trial of a lawsuit filed by the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division. The lawsuit filed last fall alleges that Walker misrepresents not only the treatment's success, but also his qualifications.
"This promoter offers seriously ill cancer patients the false hope they will live longer lives if they purchase his treatment," said Attorney General Christine Gregoire. "In fact, the only sure outcome is a significantly diminished bank account for the patient."
Walker's treatment, which he has promoted on the Internet and in presentations across the country, is called "CWAT-Treatment: BioResonance Therapy." Walker claims that all but 15 of the 745 cancer patients who have undergone the treatment have survived.
State investigators, however, say Walker is unable to substantiate that claim.
In court papers, state attorneys cite the testimony of Robert Livingston, M.D., chief of oncology at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, and a professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
In court papers Livingston said Walker's treatments and their alleged success rates "are not based on any objective, competent and reliable scientific evidence and can cause patients to do themselves harm when they believe they are helping themselves."
Livingston also said, "because Mr. Walker appears to be diagnosing people's conditions, prescribing specific treatment plans, and telling them to forego more conventional treatments in favor of his treatment plans, Mr. Walker is practicing very bad medicine without a license."
According to court documents, Walker's treatment -- for which consumers paid between $2,436 and $5,220 -- includes the Indian Mud herbal mixture in addition to coffee enemas, dietary supplements and daily use of an electrical device called a "bio-resonance oscillator" or "molecular enhancer."
Aside from asking that Walker stop promoting his treatment, the state's lawsuit also seeks an unspecified amount of civil penalties and restitution.
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