Laser therapy is useless, if you want to kick smoking

Public Citizen petitioned the Food and Drug Administration 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, said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group.

Photo: Laser therapy is useless, if you want to kick smoking

Laser therapy is useless, if you want to kick smoking

The FDA will evaluate the petition, spokeswomanSusan Cruzan said. The FDA has cleared the so-called biostimulation lasers or laser acupuncture devices to be marketed only to help provide temporary pain relief, according to its Web site.

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., president Craig Nabat said.

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, said Nabat, who wants to open franchises nationwide, according to the AP.

Dr. Norman Edelman, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, said any institutional review board likely would find such trials unethical.