What Is the Cancer Information & Support Society (CISS) at ciss.org.au?

CISS is an independent Australian organisation that provides information about alternative cancer therapies, evaluates conventional therapies, and offers personal support to people who choose their own treatment programme. It is aimed at people with cancer who want to take control of their health decisions, and it is explicitly not a conventional medical clinic. Detailed information is reserved for members; the public site mainly sets out the organisation's philosophy, its independence, and how to join or donate.

What CISS says it does

According to its own site, CISS:

• Provides information about alternative cancer therapies and support for those who choose to use them.
• Also evaluates conventional therapies rather than only promoting alternatives.
• Offers personal support in person, by phone, or by email.
• Supplies detailed, comprehensive information to members — both individual and corporate.

The site frames its role as helping people decide their own treatment programme "after being given accurate, unbiased, evidence based options about available treatments," and then supporting them in the programme they choose.

The core beliefs behind the organisation

CISS states several positions that shape everything it publishes:

• Cancer is a systemic disease, not just a local tumour.
• Emotional factors play a significant part in its cause.
• Healing comes from within; treatment is what other people do to help.
• Effective treatment should deal with body, mind, emotions, and spirit.
• People get the best results when they take responsibility for their treatment choices and believe in them.

It also applies a "First Do No Harm" principle: most conventional cancer therapies are described as invasive, some with the potential for serious harm, and in CISS's view they should be used only in immediately life-threatening situations and where there is proven evidence they do more good than harm. The site cites a Cochrane analysis of mammography for breast cancer screening as an example of an intervention it says results in treatments that do more harm than good.

Independence and how it is funded

CISS describes itself as independent: not influenced or funded by any government or private organisation with vested interests. It says it survives on membership fees, donations, and bequests from people it has helped, plus unconditional corporate philanthropy. This funding model is the basis for its claim to provide unbiased information — worth weighing alongside the fact that detailed information is a member benefit.

What you can and cannot get without joining

The site does not present itself as a source of free detailed treatment information; that content sits behind membership.

How this differs from a typical cancer information site

Most mainstream cancer information services are tied to hospitals, government health bodies, or cancer charities that follow conventional oncology guidelines. CISS positions itself differently on three points:

1. Scope — it treats alternative therapies as legitimate options to be informed about, not just things to be warned against.
2. Evaluation stance — it applies a harm-focused test to conventional therapies, questioning whether some do more good than harm.
3. Holistic framing — it treats emotional and spiritual factors as part of both cause and treatment, which is not the standard biomedical model.

If you want information aligned with conventional oncology protocols, a hospital or national cancer body will serve you better. If you want a source that takes alternative therapies seriously and is sceptical of some conventional ones, CISS is designed for that audience.

The disclaimer you should read before acting on anything

CISS's own site carries a warning: you should always consult a medical practitioner or specialist familiar with both conventional and alternative cancer therapies — one who practises evidence-based medicine generally, or informed choice in particular — when considering relevant cancer therapies. It also notes that opinions expressed on the website belong to the authors of the articles, not necessarily to CISS as a whole.

That disclaimer matters because the site's content includes positions that diverge from mainstream oncology. Treat CISS as one input into a decision you make with a qualified clinician, not as a substitute for one.

Practical next steps

• If you want the detailed therapy information and ongoing support, you need to join as a member or donate; the public pages describe how.
• If you are weighing conventional treatment, use CISS alongside — not instead of — a specialist who knows both conventional and alternative approaches.
• If you are evaluating the organisation itself, note the funding model (memberships, donations, bequests) and the fact that detailed content is member-only when judging how independent and complete its information is likely to be.