Health Canada Warns Consumers About Products Claiming to Prevent COVID-19

Eager to capitalize on the concerns of consumers regarding their risk of contracting the novel coronavirus, some companies are reportedly marketing health products with false and misleading claims. Health Canada has not approved any health products for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19, the sickness caused by the novel coronavirus.

Health Canada has issued an advisory regarding the risks of purchasing health products advertised as having the ability to prevent, treat or cure COVID-19. The agency advises consumers who have purchased such products to stop using them immediately.

The advisory applies to drugs, natural health products, homeopathic products and medical devices that make false or misleading claims related to COVID-19 prevention or treatment.

Health Canada has reportedly sent letters ordering companies to immediately remove such claims from their advertising materials and websites.

Examples of products that have been sold with false or misleading COVID-19 claims include some types of masks, disinfectants, Chaga mushroom blends, colloidal silver, plant-based elixirs and formulas, ultraviolet lamps, oregano oil, and hand sanitizers.

It is illegal to sell or advertise health products in Canada with false or misleading claims.

Due to the unprecedented demand for health products during the COVID-19 crisis, Health Canada announced on March 18 that it would facilitate access to products that don’t meet current regulatory requirements as an interim measure. These products include hand sanitizers, disinfectants and personal protective equipment like masks and gowns.

You can find out if Health Canada has authorized a drug or natural health product for sale by looking for an eight-digit Drug Identification Number, Health Product Number or Homeopathic Drug Number.

If purchasing health products online, make sure you buy them from a legitimate company or pharmacy.

If claims seem too good to be true, they probably are.

A Winnipeg acupuncturist was revealed through a hidden camera investigation to be selling a herbal tea that he told his clients can prevent COVID-19.

“COVID-19 is here…. So is herb tea to prevent COVID-19,” Guojian Huang wrote in an email sent on March 18. The email urged clients of his acupuncture clinic to “order your coronavirus prevention tea now.” The tea was also mentioned on Facebook, according to CBC.ca.

Last month, a CBC reporter used a hidden camera and acted as a customer interested in the tea sold by Huang. The recommended six-day treatment reportedly cost $60.

Huang allegedly claimed that 200 doctors and medical staff treated patients in Wuhan, China who were infected with the novel coronavirus. None of them got sick, Huang claimed.

Huang reportedly mixes the tea at his clinic, which is called Ankang Acupuncture Healing Centre. He claims he follows a recipe from Chinese doctors who had traveled to Wuhan, China, where the novel coronavirus was originally detected.

“Sometimes experience is more important than science,” he allegedly told the CBC reporter.

Cedric Cheung, the national president of the Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Association of Canada, called the coronavirus health claim “outrageous.”

“You cannot make a statement that can possibly mislead a patient,” he said.

He notes that Chinese medicine can be helpful in pandemic situations, but only when used in conjunction with Western medicine.

“We will happily combine them to do the best that we can to establish a success rate,” Cheung says.

Medical professionals are concerned that consumers who are scared of contracting the novel coronavirus are desperate for a cure.

“They take this stuff and then now they think they’re invincible, and they don’t do the precautions that will actually protect them, because now they’re trusting in this particular tea,” said Dr. Peter Lin, a Toronto physician who treated patients during the SARS outbreak.

“Everybody wants to find that magical ‘take vitamin C and you’ll be OK’ … kind of thing,” he said. “But unfortunately, with this particular virus, it gets into your lungs and it attaches there. So the best thing is to avoid it coming into your lungs. In other words, protect your personal borders.”

To avoid the spread of COVID-19, Lin recommends that people wash their hands often, avoid touching their face, and maintain social distancing.

If you have any information about products that are potentially being sold with false or misleading claims, use this online complaint form to report it to Health Canada.

Canadians are not the only ones to be targeted with false and misleading claims for products that purportedly prevent or treat COVID-19. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been issuing warning letters to companies that were selling such products.

Have you seen any products that claim to prevent or cure the coronavirus? Tell us your story in the comment section below!

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