It may also pose the risk of side-effects, since it is untested, and squalamine in shark liver oil comes with a variety of other chemical compounds present in the oil, many of which may be harmful. The Mote Marine Institute's Dr. Carl Luer is perhaps the one man most often misquoted and misrepresented as supporting shark cartilage as a cure for cancer. Dr. Luer's past research is commonly used as the foundation for the shark cartilage manufacturer's claims that cartilage can cure cancer. Dr. Luer, however, has publicly disputed that claim and stated that shark cartilage does not and can not cure cancer. Dr. Luer directly disputes the claims of the cartilage distributors with his own web page on the subject at the Mote Marine Institutes's Home Page.
Sharks are mean, nasty creatures that eat people.
Shark attacks are rare, and your chances of being killed in a car wreck or plane crash are infinitely greater than your chances of being attacked by a shark. Those shark attacks that do occur rarely result in death, and are usually attributed to mistaken identity. The benefit that we, as humans, may gain by preserving and protecting sharks are as yet untold. Their ignorance is further manifested by their claim that sharks have existed unchanged for 400 million years, an outright falsehood. I guess they know something that all the marine biologists and paleontologists don't.