The FDA and FTC have gotten together now -- (read, bigger guns!) to warn us all about even more fraudulent products being offered to people who are searching for products that will protect them from the H1N1 swine flu.
This is an update on a H1N1 swine flu scam warning first offered last spring. No difference in the warnings, just a bigger list of products and services that are only intended to separate desperate people from their hard earned money.
I spent a few minutes reading about some of the listed products. I have to shake my head at some of them:
- One site offers a "swine flu reading." For a mere $69 you can talk with someone on the phone who will "read" you and tell you whether you are at risk of catching the flu.
- Another offers flu survival packs -- you know -- because the end of the world is coming. I laughed out loud when I saw they are discounted -- 25% off! I guess if the end of the world is coming, they want to get your money first.
- Even Dr. Andrew Weil got his wrist slapped by the FDA. Dr. Weil, a popular and well-regarded provider of integrated / complementary and alterntive medicines had made some claims on his website the FDA did not approve of. He has since removed them.
In fact, I found that many of the websites, if they still exist, have removed any mention of helping us with flu-related products. Sites like "SwineFluGone" and others -- poof! They have disappeared.
If you are tempted to purchase any products or services that claim to help you either prevent or cure the H1N1 swine, or any flu, then first make yourself familiar with the fraudulent items being offered for sale. Snake oil salesmen are alive and well and just waiting for you to cough up your credit card number! Don't give them the satisfaction.
In fact, did you know you can report fraudulent products to the FDA? If you feel as if you have been scammed, why not blow in the perpetrator? Selling any products that have not been proven to be helpful is against the law. It's criminal activity. You have an opportunity to save others the trouble and their money by reporting scams and frauds to the FDA.
Your better bets are to make yourself familiar with these scams, protect yourself from the flu as best you can, and prepare for the swine or seasonal flu -- just in case. That's what a smart patient does.
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Photo © Michael Bann - Fotolia.com
The FDA only will allow pharmaceutical drugs to be listed as cures, even though they kill, maim, and sometimes cause death. I will stick with natural remedies, because I know they work. Follow the money. Who has ALL the money and power? The FDA, CDC, and Pharmaceutical Companies. They do not want competition.