Consumer Health Digest, Issue #22-14 (original) (raw)

Consumer Health Digest is a free weekly e-mail newsletter edited by William M. London, Ed.D., M.P.H., with help from Stephen Barrett, M.D., It summarizes scientific reports; legislative developments; enforcement actions; other news items; Web site evaluations; recommended and nonrecommended books; research tips; and other information relevant to consumer protection and consumer decision-making. The Digest’s primary focus is on health, but occasionally it includes non-health scams and practical tips. Items posted to this archive may be updated when relevant information becomes available. To subscribe, click here.

Delicensed Port Angeles, Washington, naturopath sentenced to prison. Richard Marschall, 69, whose naturopathic license was permanently revoked in 2018, has received a federal sentence of eight months in prison plus one year of supervised release for marketing products he claimed could prevent and treat COVID-19, MRSA, and other serious diseases. In October 2021, he was found guilty of a felony charge of introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce. Marschall had been improperly prescribing for more than 25 years despite two similar convictions and repeated disciplinary actions by the Washington Board of Health. In asking for a prison sentence, the prosecutors wrote to the court:

For decades, Marschall lied and broke the law to provide unapproved treatments and healthcare services. Marschall lied to patients. He lied to authorities. He treated patients without examining them. And he prescribed substances in unusually large doses. Marschall repeated that dangerous playbook in this case: lying to the undercover agent about his credentials, treating her and her children over the phone without a physical exam, and recommending an extremely high dose of his drug.” [Former Port Angeles, Washington, naturopath sentenced for scheme to profit on ‘COVID-19 cure’. U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Washington news release, March 28, 2022]

Quackwatch has a detailed account of Marshall’s wrongdoing.

COVID-19 misinformation-spreading physician suspended. A panel of the Inquiry Committee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia has issued an order suspending the registration of Denman Island, British Columbia, family physician Stephen Malthouse. According to the Committee, there was “prima facie evidence that the Registrant has committed misconduct by issuing at least one, and all likelihood, many, false or deceptive vaccine and mask exemptions.” The College’s public notification, issued on March 28, 2022, stated suspending him was necessary to protect the public during the investigation because: “The panel’s assessment was that restrictions on Dr. Malthouse’s practice would not be sufficient to protect the public from the concerns identified in this case.” Malthouse has spread COVID-19-related misinformation in videos, at rallies against public health measures, and in open letters. A fake vaccine exemption form provided by the B.C.-based website EnableAir.com appears to have his signature. EnableAir.com is reportedly under investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. [B.C. doctor accused of spreading COVID-19 misinformation suspended from practice. CBC News, March 28, 2022]

It Works! distributors marketing on TikTok despite MLM ban. Although TikTok banned multilevel-marketing (MLM) schemes in December 2020, an investigative report has found at least 17 accounts of It Works! distributors who were promoting company products and recruiting distributors through TikTok. One recruitment video has received 3.5 million views. The report describes the apparent formula for promoting It Works! on TikTok:

Creators make vague claims about substantial weight loss or money-making opportunities and direct users to their TikTok bios that contain a link to a page with multiple links to their other website pages. From there, users are sent to It Works! products or recruitment pages.

In April 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warned It Works! that the company had unlawfully misrepresented that consumers who become distributors were likely to earn substantial income. New distributors are required to buy a Business Builder Kit; the recommended kit costs 149followedbymonthlypaymentsof149 followed by monthly payments of 149followedbymonthlypaymentsof99 for auto-shipped merchandise. Although the FTC has warned consumers about the dangers of miracle weight-loss products and against products promising lightning-fast weight loss, It Works!’ “best seller” products promise speedy weight loss. [Little O. A predatory MLM scheme is thriving on TikTok. Media Matters for America, March 30, 2022]` The Better Business Bureau says it has received more than 600 complaints about the company in the past three years.

Weight-loss scammers on TikTok have previously been found to get millions of views and thousands of followers by:

Ivermectin treatment of COVID-19 failed major clinical trial. A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial called TOGETHER has found that patients who received ivermectin did not do significantly better than those who received a placebo. [Barrett E. Study finds ivermectin, the horse drug Joe Rogan championed as a COVID treatment, does nothing to cure the virus. Fortune, March 31, 2022] The trial, conducted at 12 public health clinics in Brazil, involved 3,515 patients who had: (a) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2; (b) had symptoms of COVID-19 for up to 7 days; and (c) had at least one risk factor for disease progression. Each patient was assigned to receive, in addition to usual standard COVID-19 care, either: (a) 400 μg of ivermectin per kilogram of body weight once daily for three days (679 patients); (b) a placebo (679 patients); or (c) one of eight other treatments (2,157 patients). Ivermectin has received extensive, unwarranted publicity as being effective against COVID-19. The TOGETHER trial strongly reinforces recommendations by authoritative health agencies against using ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment. The ivermectin section of the Center for Inquiry’s Dubious COVID-19 Treatments and Preventives page discusses many of these recommendations.

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