The “Miracle Water” of Kamateros: The fraud that flooded Greece with false hope of beating

Source: ProtoThema English

“It is not sorrow that breaks us, but lost hope,” Balzac declared in his Human Comedy in the 1830s — capturing in a few words the power of one of humanity’s core elements: hope, which builds dreams when born and shatters them loudly when it dies. Nearly half a century since the scandal of Kamateros’ “miracle water,” history has not forgiven the man who implanted a hope for life in the hearts of thousands — and then destroyed it at its peak.

The News Breaks

It’s February 9, 1976, when newspapers feature a headline that stirs the public: “A water, coming from a spring in Kos, is believed to cure cancer!” The “miracle water” was discovered by 36-year-old lawyer from Kos, Giorgos Kamateros, with his main partner, entrepreneur Kostas Gratsos. In reality, as Kamateros later revealed, it was not the water that was miraculous, but a pink-colored mineral he had found near the “Mecca” spring of Kos. He had named it “Helion”, and claimed that when crushed and dissolved into any water, it gave it healing properties. Kamateros further claimed he had transported a significant quantity of the powdered mineral to Athens in special containers, hidden in secret locations around the city.

A State Caught Off Guard

The Greek government was caught asleep at the wheel. The country was still fragile and recovering from the dictatorship of the Colonels. With many unresolved national issues, a “messiah” offering hope was seen by many as a sign of the times. And the story sold newspapers. A lukewarm statement by the Ministry of Social Services, urging “caution,” was not enough to slow down Kamateros, who flooded the headlines with interviews and bold claims:
That he had found the cure for cancer, spreading false hope to people suffering from the “disease of the century.”

The Plan Was Long in Motion

In truth, the “discovery” had been in the works for some time. Kamateros and Gratsos had carefully cultivated it, relying on word of mouth to spread the rumor. They had already begun distributing the product “hand to hand.” “On the mountain slope of my village, in the water of the crystal-clear spring, still children chasing the Sun… Immersed in happiness. Blessed be the crystal-clear spring of my village, blessed the years when we could live in the Sun. Lost dreams… The Wind defeated the Sun of my Crystal Spring. I was told the spring has now dried… And I remained thirsty for long […] Hope took a few steps back. The Crystal Spring burst forth within me — and I became the source of my own hope.” This poetic passage, and many more like it, was written by Kamateros as early as September 1962, apparently foreshadowing his business idea — or obsession — with a “miraculous product” that would shake the world.

The Press Conference

At a press conference held on February 11, 1976, Gratsos announced: “As of November 6, 1972, a 12-member group of Greek scientists became aware of the absolute healing properties of this water for cancer — and not just that.” However, he added that “National and highly Hellenic reasons” prevented them from revealing the names of the scientists or any further details. So a lawyer and an entrepreneur were announcing, on behalf of unnamed experts, a medical miracle! “Even just considering the backgrounds of the ‘inventors’ should have raised skepticism. Because even if we accept that many discoveries happen by chance, they still come from scientists. […] That kind of common sense should have been enough to maintain one’s skepticism toward the Kamateros-Gratsos duo,”noted journalist Lykourgos Kominis in his book “The Crisis of the Greek Press.”

BEATINGS FOR A FEW DROPS OF “MIRACLE WATER”

But because “hope is a natural form of irrationality,” it can easily lead you down rough and treacherous paths. As long as the myth is sustained—by the state’s awkward silence, which fails to explicitly debunk it, and by the press, which has found in it a sensational popular story—the suffering anonymous masses continue to hope for a cure. Newspaper publishers watch their sales skyrocket, reaching dizzying numbers—up to 500,000 copies daily! “Yesterday’s ‘A’ sold out – Circulated in 300,000 copies,” headlines Apogevmatini, while on February 18, Ta Nea — which had long chosen to “pour water into the mill” of the story — announced their own initiative: “Test on critically ill patient with the anti-cancer water – In 60 hours we’ll know…”
(Note: The test would later come back negative). The newspaper even sent samples of the water to major international research centers. “Since the state did not assume its rightful role, ‘Ta Nea’ steps in—not to support the ‘inventors’ and the ‘invention’, but the Greek people who are anxious and rightly demand to know the truth,” the paper wrote.

The article from Ta Nea. Newspapers of the time saw their sales soar.

TANKER TRUCKS AND DESPERATE CROWDS

Meanwhile, Kamateros and Gratsos organize water distributions using tanker trucks, with locations announced a day in advance. The news of the “miracle water” is swallowed whole by hordes of people, who don’t hesitate to stand for hours in the cold, or even resort to violence over who gets the precious liquid first.

Distribution of the “miracle water” by tanker truck

Police, summoned to restore order, fail to control the frenzied crowds. Thousands of people, arriving from all corners of the country, refuse to leave empty-handed. Kamateros has created total chaos.

THE AUTHORITIES STEP IN

The Chief Prosecutor of the Athens Court of First Instance, Spyros Kaninias, orders a preliminary investigation and requests that samples of the water be tested by the State Laboratory for Drug Control (KEEF) and the National Center for Scientific Research “Demokritos.”

KAMATEROS: “I WANTED TO OPEN A TRIPE SOUP SHOP IN THE CITY”

The situation spins out of control, prompting Kamateros to hold a press conference at a hotel in Syntagma Square. When repeatedly asked by journalists how he justifies, as someone with no medical background, promising cures for serious illnesses, his answer stuns everyone: “God chose me precisely because I’m not a doctor. I had one ambition: to open a tripe soup shop in Istanbul. But you see, the responsibility for this miracle, for all eternity, was given solely to me.” He also claims he discovered the water in 1957, and only realized it was radioactive in 1972. He explains that the spring in question has five or six outlets, but only one contains radioactivity. He talks about “variations in the speed of mass,” of a “water molecule interacting with speed and time,” and much more—statements so absurd that science simply throws up its hands. He concludes, in a narcissistic tone: “We—that is, I—have definitively solved the problem of cancer.” His partner Gratsos chimes in, claiming that the two of them have: “Overturned traditional science and the pharmaceutical establishment,” and even reveals that they have hidden enough of the substance to provide free treatment to 100 million patients worldwide!

A DELIRIUM OUTSIDE LOGIC

The delusional rant is obvious, but when you’re selling hope, you will always find willing customers.
Especially when that hope is hanging daily in bold headlines from every newsstand in the country…Newspapers continue to fuel the story in pursuit of readership. Very few maintain a cautious editorial line.

“Eleftherotypia” reports that parents of 18 children, hospitalized with leukemia and other neoplastic diseases at the “Aglaia Kyriakou” hospital, stopped conventional treatment and supplied their children with Kamateros’s water — resulting in one child’s death and a deterioration in the condition of the others.

The need for state intervention is urgent. The requirement to consume the “miraculous” water — and notably without simultaneous administration of medicines — has made the case extremely dangerous. Kamateros is summoned to the Ministry of Social Services to present the scientific evidence he claims to possess, which supposedly certifies the product’s special properties. He appears but refuses to provide any information. “That way I would confess that Helion is a drug. But no one said it is a drug. Nor that cancer is a disease. Helion is a tool and cancer is an ailment. I have one million objective pieces of evidence to deliver,” (!) he says. On February 20, an order is issued for his bringing before a prosecutor as part of the investigation. When journalists ask him about this, he replies: “They cannot arrest me. Even if they send an entire army to catch me, they will not succeed. The brave survive in battle; they are not killed.” Meanwhile, the “brave” man and his partner are making a fortune. Now, in the name of order and dignity, they have withdrawn the tanker trucks and sell Helion sometimes in ampoules and sometimes in little bottled waters for 20 drachmas. The daily scheduled sales points begin to take a permanent place in newspaper columns next to the classifieds! Sales are usually conducted in churchyards to imply the “holiness” of the matter… The “miraculous water” provokes a frenzy, periodically reinforced by published statements from doctors who accept its healing properties and by celebrities who claim to have tried it and been “cured.

Kamateros with Gkizela Dali. The actress claimed: “I had throat cancer and could only emit inarticulate cries. Thanks to the water, I am well and preparing to return to the theatre.”

On March 15, Nicos Stavridis, suffering from a serious eye disease, declares that after drinking the miraculous water for five days he was cured and can now drive, while his colleague Gkizela Dali, in an interview, assures: “I had throat cancer and could only utter inarticulate cries. Thanks to the water, I am well and preparing to return to the theatre.” The woman will in any case later recover from the disease, years afterwards. A tailwind fills Kamateros’s sails; he even organizes marches to Parliament, protesting those politicians who distrust his… gift to humanity. The water’s “therapeutic properties” now extend to curing blindness! Members of his team have set up a press office, from which they inform the public about the distribution days and hours and announce that the water even cures the blind! On February 23 the findings of KEEF (State Laboratory for Drug Control) and Demokritos are made public. KEEF’s report concludes: “We cannot determine that this is potable (i.e., drinking) water, given that it may be contaminated,” while Demokritos’s report notes: “All measured radioactivity values are within the ranges usually observed in natural environmental waters and therefore do not present particular interest from the point of view of radioactivity.” “I no longer have the slightest doubt that the whole matter of the water is comical,” comments wryly the Deputy Minister of Social Insurance, Nikolaos Brisimis — to which Kamateros replies provocatively: “Mr. Deputy Minister, I slander you and insult you.” Despite the government’s now categorical stance and the cool, detached tone of parts of the press toward the phenomenon, the news of the “miraculous water” is swallowed whole by hordes of people, who do not hesitate to stand for hours in the cold at distribution points or even fight over who will get the precious liquid first. Its supposed therapeutic property has taken on the character of a panacea. It is recommended for every disease — and also for prevention and good health.

A DRUG FOR EVERY DISEASE…

On March 18, in a queue of people stretching from the Nea Filadelfeia stadium to Nea Ionia, Kamateros distributes the product along with his blessings for a good life. The distribution lasts six hours and even includes AEK players who have a morning training session. Football stars wait patiently in line. None of the gathered crowd cares about them. The issue is the water. Hope triumphs for a few more days — and when it comes time for it to die, it is torn down noisily by the very man who inspired it…

On March 23, at the Liosia football stadium, Kamateros speaks to 8,000 people who came to hear him. He says he bets on the people’s love to give him strength to: 1) take the City, 2) restore the king to his position, 3) erase the island Sasona of Albania, which Greece ceded to the neighboring country in 1914, and subsequently 4) wipe out Turkey and perhaps Siberia! “My hands will become fists for the communists, the dissenters, and all those who work against the interests of our Greece!” The disillusioned crowd disperses silently. Hope fades, to vanish entirely in the following days.

The original article: https://en.protothema.gr/2025/10/11/the-miracle-water-of-kamateros-the-fraud-that-flooded-greece-with-false-hope-of-beating-cancer/ belongs to ProtoThema English .