(AFP) – Listening to a sound to “cure” cancer: on social networks, very shared videos relay relaxing music by lending them therapeutic virtues, a sometimes lucrative fashion, which can prove dangerous if it leads to discontinuation of medical treatment.
On TikTok, videos of “sacred music theory” – under the keyword #solfeggiofrequencies – have accumulated more than 42 million views. This belief, with unclear origins, consists in attributing to sound frequencies – measured in hertz – various therapeutic virtues.
If Internet users are content to highlight soothing or spiritual properties, others claim that these sounds could outright cure “acne, cancer, flu”, “eliminate toxins, stimulate the immune system” or even “clean infections” .
On Spotify and Deezer, there are many playlists titled “Destruction of cancer cells by sacred music theory” or “Sacred music theory, healing music for DNA activation”.
– Risks –
“Listening to beautiful music is relaxing and can undoubtedly help to soothe anxiety, perhaps also pain,” says Pierre Saintigny, oncologist and researcher. But he points out that sound frequency healing is “absolutely not” scientifically recognized.
For the sociologist of science and beliefs Romy Sauvayre, there is a risk of delay in care, or even loss of chance for patients when they think that this alternative treatment can replace traditional medicine. “It’s always more pleasant to listen to sounds than to undergo chemotherapy, or than to know that there is no treatment”, she continues.
The General Directorate of Health (DGS) for its part points to a risk of sectarian aberration that may arise from this practice, even if the Interministerial Mission for Vigilance and the Fight against Sectarian Aberrations (Miviludes) indicates that it has not yet received reporting on the “sacred music theory”.
“To say that we can regenerate cells is a dangerous discourse that is part of the New Age and anti-science wave. It is common to play on spirituality, well-being, and personal development to propose remedies This can be a gateway to a hold,” warns Marie Drilhon, vice-president of the National Union of Associations for the Defense of Families and Individuals Victims of Sects (UNADFI).
In particular, the finger is pointed at paid and particularly lucrative formulas associated with these “healing frequencies”.
On the “developpementperso.com” site, music called “therapeutic healing frequencies” is sold for 149 euros. A frequency, that of 528 hertz, is marketed for 47 euros on the mental-waves.com site under the name “miraculous frequency” accompanied by a description ensuring – without any scientific basis – that it “has been proven that just listening to a single and simple musical note vibrating at 528 Hz could repair our DNA”.
– False promises –
“You have to make the difference between well-being with rocking music and the promise of a cure for cancer, the latter being akin to misleading advertising”, notes Ms. Drilhon.
The Directorate for the repression of fraud (DGCCRF) explains that these practices are a “misleading commercial practice” which can be punished by two years’ imprisonment and a fine of 300,000 euros since it is a question of “falsely asserting that ‘a product or service is likely to cure illnesses, dysfunctions or malformations’.
The DGS calls to be wary of a site which “denigrates conventional medicine and the treatments it offers, encourages people to stop treatment, promises a +miracle+ cure even at an advanced stage of the disease”.
For the DGS, “sacred music theory” falls within the field of “musicotherapy”, which “is part” of unconventional care practices (PSNC), which have been growing rapidly for fifteen years and which have accelerated since the Covid.
Questioned by AFP, the French Society of Music Therapy indicates that “sacred music theory” is “neither recognized nor practiced” by their members and that “music therapy must come in addition to drug treatments for cancer”.