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Consumer Health Digest #24-05
February 4, 2024

Consumer Health Digest is a free weekly e-mail newsletter edited by William M. London, Ed.D., M.P.H.
http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/william-m-london
, with help from Stephen Barrett, M.D
http://www.quackwatch.org/10Bio/bio.html
., 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
http://lists.quackwatch.org/mailman/listinfo/chd_lists.quackwatch.org


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Leader of America’s Frontline Doctors reprimanded for Jan. 6 participation

The Medical Board of California has reprimanded
https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2024/02/02145214/reprimand_2024.pdf
Simone Melissa Gold, M.D., J.D. and assessed her $26,739.25 toward the costs associated with the investigation and the prosecuting of its complaint against her. This took place after the Board determined she had been convicted of a crime substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a licensed physician. Dr. Gold pleaded guilty to entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, a misdemeanor, for her participation in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Dr. Stephen Barrett has described Dr. Gold as “one of the world’s most arrogant promoters of COVID-19 misinformation.”
[Barrett S. A skeptical look at Simone Gold and America’s Frontline Doctors
https://quackwatch.org/11ind/a-skeptical-look-at-simone-gold-and-americas-frontline-doctors/
. Quackwatch, Feb 2, 2024]
His article describes her background and activities in detail.

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Ontario Tribunal revokes misinformation-promoting physician’s registration

The Discipline Tribunal of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (Canada) has revoked the certificate of registration of Dr. Mark Raymond Trozzi, ordered him to appear before the panel to be reprimanded, and ordered him to pay the College costs of $94,960. The Tribunal found he committed professional misconduct by engaging in disgraceful, dishonorable or unprofessional conduct and failing to meet the standard of practice of the profession in relation to his statements about vaccinations, treatments and public health measures for COVID-19 in social media postings, on his website and in interviews. This included failing to:

meet the standard of practice of the profession in his care of patients to whom he issued medical exemptions from COVID-19 vaccines
respond appropriately or within a reasonable time to a written inquiry from the College
The 64-page decision
https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2024/01/03203100/Trozzi_revocation_2023.pdf
, which details the reasons for the Tribunal’s conclusions, includes many bizarre claims he made about COVID-19 vaccines. In 2021, the College barred Trozzi and Dr. Rocagne Kilian from issuing medical exemptions for COVID-19 vaccines, masking requirements, and testing.
[2 Ontario doctors barred from issuing medical exemptions for COVID vaccines, masks, tests
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-doctors-covid-1.6214950
. CBC News, Oct 18, 2021]

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NZ radiologist will be penalized for peddling COVID-19 misinformation

New Zealand’s Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal has concluded that Dr. Peter Canaday, a former radiologist with the Taranaki District Health Board, committed professional misconduct. The tribunal has not yet set a penalty.
[Williams D. Taranaki doctor Peter Canaday accused of peddling Covid-19 misinformation committed professional misconduct
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/taranaki-doctor-peter-canaday-accused-of-peddling-covid-19-misinformation-committed-professional-misconduct/X4T5YHBKN5BMTFCGX4XCXODFXI/
. The New Zealand Herald, Jan 30, 2024]
Dr. Canaday made false claims in a radio interview and in two online presentations he gave in 2021 about the pandemic and the country’s vaccine rollout, including:

the vaccine has been linked to sterility, miscarriages, and deaths
other COVID-19 treatments have been suppressed in favor of the Pfizer vaccine, which he described as an “experimental biological agent”
ivermectin is an effective COVID-19 treatment
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GAO criticizes prenatal supplements

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) contracted with an accredited laboratory to test 12 prenatal supplements for amounts of certain nutrients. Eleven of the supplement products had at least one tested nutrient (folic acid, iodine, iron, or vitamin A, C, or E) that, on average, contained an amount outside of acceptable deviations from the amount stated on the label. One product had an average amount of folic acid that may cause a health concern based on metrics established by the Institute of Medicine.
[Prenatal supplements: Amounts of some key nutrients differed from product labels
https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-106689
. GAO-24-106689, Dec 12, 2023]
 The report states:

GAO is recommending that Congress consider measures for allowing FDA sufficient authority to carry out its oversight of dietary supplements. This could include allowing FDA to require dietary supplement manufacturers to notify or register with FDA prior to putting a supplement on the market and to provide a copy of the supplement label. FDA agreed with this matter.

Last year, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) reaffirmed its 2017 recommendation that all persons planning to or who could become pregnant take a daily supplement of folic acid. In 2017, it found convincing evidence the benefits of supplementation substantially outweighed the harms. In the 2023 update, the USPSTF found no new substantial evidence that could change its recommendation.
[Folic acid supplementation to prevent neural tube defects: Preventive medication
https://uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/folic-acid-for-the-prevention-of-neural-tube-defects-preventive-medication
. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, Aug 1, 2023]
As explained in a JAMA Patient Page, folic acid deficiency is the primary preventable cause of neural tube defects.
[Jin J. Folic acid to prevent neural tube defects
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2807744
. JAMA 330:480, 2023]

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AP spotlights Medbed nonsense promoted to conspiracy believers

As part of a series of articles on the role of conspiracy theories in American politics and society, the Associated Press has looked closely at Tesla Biohealing (no relation to the automobile manufacturer). The article called Tesla Biohealing “part of a growth industry marketing unproven cures and treatments to conspiracy theorists and others who have grown distrustful of science and medicine.”
[Klepper D. Miracle cures: Online conspiracy theories are creating a new age of unproven medical treatments
https://apnews.com/article/tesla-miracle-cure-biohealers-medbeds-covid-tiktok-1a790089931d601199c5a07331b7e42b
. Associated Press, Jan 31, 2024]
The Tesla Wellness Hotel and MedBed Center, is described in the article as part motel, part new-age clinic. Located about 45 minutes north of Pittsburgh, it offers nightly rentals in rooms that come equipped with “BioHealers”—canisters the company claims exude “life force energy,” or “biophotons.” Testimonials from the company’s patients speak to the device’s power to treat cancer, dementia, chronic pain, and a long list of other ailments. The canisters are sold for home use at prices ranging from $599 to $11,000, with slightly cheaper versions available for pets and children. QAnon conspiracists promote MedBeds with bizarre claims about their origins and future availability. Tesla Biohealing claims the canisters contain a mix of “fine naturally active stones and activated fine metal, grout, sands and proprietary polymers that are manufactured with a special technology.” But in a TikTok video, a woman recounts her disappointing experience with a Biohealer and reveals that the interior of a canister looks like concrete. She says: “They sold me a can of cement.”

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Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Consumer Advocate
7 Birchtree Circle
Chapel Hill, NC 27517

Telephone: (919) 533-6009

http://www.quackwatch.org (health fraud and quackery)
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