FDA Says Watch Out For Influenza Scams

Written by Stuart Stevens | Wednesday, 06 May 2009 | There are 2 comments

The Food & Drug Administration in America is warning people to be extremely vigilant when it comes to buying medication to treat swine influenza especially if the medicine is purchased online. The FDA said that they had identified around twenty websites which they believed were promoting products which were either fake or which would not actually treat avian or swine influenza.

There is a huge scramble by fraudsters to come up with ridiculous “Swine Flu Protection Packs” which would in fact be completely useless in a full blown pandemic. Some companies were even offering Swine Flu shampoos and conditioners which would supposedly protect you from getting sick.

To give credit to the FDA they have set up a Swine Flu Consumer Fraud Team which will be taking action against any company or web site which makes fraudulent claims and tries to profiteer illegally from the current influenza crisis.

People should also be aware that any website offering to sell Tamiflu or Relenza without a prescription must be avoided because they are both prescription medications and it is illegal to sell them without a doctor’s approval.

A number of products even claim to contain silver which will immediately stop you getting swine influenza but there is no evidence whatsoever that the products work. As with any medication if it is not recommended to you by a doctor you should stay away from it. Ukmedix News has previously reported on other Tamiflu scams which may have even been responsible for a number of deaths.

The problem of the fake Tamiflu and Relenza is likely to grow especially if the influenza pandemic gets worse. You should only buy influenza medication from reputable web sites such as Ukmedix where you can check that your product is genuine using the Pharmacheck System, which allows you to identify the exact United Kingdom pharmacy from where your medication is coming from.

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