Learning English - Words in the News 31 January, 2007 - Published 18:47 GMT Fears over Greek olive 'cure' | ||||||||||||
The Greek Health Ministry is concerned about public faith in a new 'miracle cure' for cancer. Doctors have warned patients against taking a blend of olive tree leaves and water. The Health Ministry's anger over the new olive elixir is mainly directed at the country's populist television chat shows which have been whipping up a frenzy. Several elderly cancer sufferers have been paraded on screen to recount how the mixture of raw olive leaves and water had healed them. The Central Medical Council has warned that the so-called 'miracle cure' had not been tested and expressed fears that sufferers will abandon conventional medicine and die as a result. Even though Greece is covered with olive trees, profiteers have been convincing the gullible to part with forty five to sixty euros for a kilo of the 'magic' leaves. In southern Greece at the weekend, two middle aged brothers had a furious argument over whether they should give the beverage to their third brother who is sick with cancer. The eldest brother grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed his forty year old sibling three times in the chest and stomach. He rushed him to hospital but it was too late elixir whipping up a frenzy paraded on screen recount conventional medicine profiteers the gullible part with beverage sibling Do a quiz based on this story | LATEST STORIES 27 May, 2011 Destruction of smallpox virus delayed 25 May, 2011 Micro-finance 'misused and abused' 20 May, 2011 Lonely planets 18 May, 2011 Germany to invest in more electric cars 16 May, 2011 Argentina builds a tower of books Other Stories | |||||||||||