A pair of federal agencies teamed up for the first time to demand that a website stop offering fraudulent H1N1 influenza supplements.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a joint letter to the administrator of the website, drweil.com. In the letter, the agencies told the website owners to stop marketing their "Immune Support Formula." The website sells a supplement, astralagus, which it says can prevent the flu.
"Astragalus ... is ... used traditionally to ward off colds and flu, and has demonstrated both antiviral and immune-boosting effects in scientific investigation," the site says.
The FDA-FTC letter says that the company's marketing efforts to sell unapproved H1N1 flu-related products is a "potentially significant threat to the public health."
Read the letter