While the country is watching the news of every new Ebola case very closely, the federal government doesn’t want the worrying to get so out of hand that people start looking for medications to prevent or treat Ebola. Since there are currently none approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the government is already cracking down on a handful of companies promising to provide relief from Ebola.
When there’s fear to be mongered, there are people willing to take advantage of that, prompting the FDA to warn at least three companies in the last month for shilling treatments, solutions or therapies for Ebola, reports USA Today, because there are no FDA-approved drugs or vaccines currently available to treat or prevent the deadly virus.
All those companies have removed their claims from products or totally abandoned them, though one of the companies says it’s going to stand by its product.
“Right now we’re not seeing a lot of websites making these types of claims, but our concern is that if the risk level increases, that there will be more of a temptation to move into this area, so we are in the process now of monitoring the internet and looking for these types of claims,” said Rich Cleland of the Federal Trade Commission’s advertising practices division.
Some of the products the agencies have issued warnings to their companies about include essential oils from a company in Utah that “could help against Ebola” and oregano, which can be used for “athlete’s foot, candida, canker sores, Ebola virus,” according to the FDA.
FDA cracks down on Ebola scams [USA Today]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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