Consumer Health Digest, Issue #22-07

February 13, 2022

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.

Fake COVID-19 immunization and vaccination card peddler strikes undisclosed plea deal. Juli Anne Mazi, a licensed California naturopath, has reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors after being charged with wire fraud and making false statements in connection with selling “homeoprophylaxis immunization pellets” and fraudulent “vaccination cards.” The cards falsely stated that customers had received the FDA-authorized Moderna vaccine. Details of the plea agreement have not yet been divulged. The charges against her carried a combined maximum federal prison sentence of 25 years. [Dinzeo M. California doctor strikes plea bargain on charges of selling fake COVID vaccine cards. Courthouse News Service, Feb 3, 2022] According to California’s Naturopathic Medicine Committee, Mazi’s naturopathic license is current and has an expiration date of November 30, 2023. Quackwatch has additional information about Mazi and the charges against her.

Telemedicine doctor who prescribes ivermectin to treat COVID profiled by NPR. Kathleen Ann Cullen, M.D., 54, is a Florida-based telemedicine practitioner who prescribes the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin for COVID-19 as advocated by the misinformation-promoting organization America’s Frontline Doctors. The Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, American Medical Association and two pharmaceutical societies have warned that ivermectin has not been proven safe or effective for this purpose. An investigative report by NPR reveals that Cullen:

  • had her Alabama medical license revoked in November for working with telemedicine company Bronson Medical LLC to order genetic tests to generate billable event for patients she had not actually seen.  (Bronson no longer has a functioning website. Its owner, Andrew McCubbins, 39, of Draper, Utah, pleaded guilty in 2020 to federal health-care fraud charges.)
  • had her medical license in Kansas suspended for failure to pay fees
  • let her board certification in internal medicine lapse
  • has a medical license listed as clear and active on the Florida Department of Health website, but two administrative complaints about her are on file
  • is licensed in North Carolina, whose medical board would not disclose whether she is under investigation

[Brumfiel G. What a bottle of ivermectin reveals about the shadowy world of COVID telemedicine. NPR, Feb 9, 2022]

Guilty plea in COVID-19 vaccine fraud scheme. Odunayo “Baba” Oluwalade, age 25, of Windsor Mill, Maryland, pleaded guilty to a federal wire-fraud conspiracy. His role was to obtain bank accounts for use in a scheme that involved the creation of a fake domain named “Modernatx.shop” that looked like a real biotechnology company’s home page. The fake domain had the text: “YOU MAY BE ABLE TO BUY A COVID-19 VACCINE AHEAD OF TIME,” with a link to “Contact us.” Oluwalade faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. [Windsor Mill man pleads guilty to federal charge for fraud scheme purporting to sell COVID-19 vaccines. U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Maryland news release, Oct 29, 2021] Key evidence came from an undercover Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent who called a number listed on the fake domain, placed an order, and received an invoice for $6,000 for 200 doses of the vaccine. [Three Baltimore-area men facing federal charges for fraud scheme purporting to sell COVID-19 vaccines. U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland, news release, Feb 11, 2021]

Purchasers of fish oil supplements to receive refunds. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that it is sending refunds totaling $396,431 to more than 1,800 consumers nationwide who bought fish oil supplements Hepaxa and Hepaxa PD. The FTC’s complaint, filed last year, alleged:

  • BASF paid DIEM Labs to advertise and distribute both supplements in the United States
  • until mid-2020, the companies deceptively advertised Hepaxa and Hepaxa PD as clinically proven to reduce liver fat in adults and children with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

The orders settling the Commission’s charges banned the companies from making unproven health claims about Hepaxa or similar products and required them to provide the refund money. [FTC sends full refunds to consumers who bought deceptively marketed fish oil supplement. FTC press release, Feb 8, 2022]

FDA spotlights tianeptine risks. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that vendors continue to illegally market the unapproved drug tianeptine, which some people use as an opioid alternative, or to self-treat anxiety or depression. Some people have difficulty stopping their tianeptine use. The drug’s toxicity and withdrawal effects are similar to those of opioids. Reports to poison control centers about tianeptine increased from 11 between 2000 and 2013 to 151 in 2020. [Tianeptine products linked to serious harm, overdoses, death. FDA Consumer Update, Feb 10, 2022] Last year, Consumer Reports described “significant shortcomings” of the FDA’s enforcement efforts regarding illegal dietary supplements containing tianeptine. [Felton R. An illegal dietary supplement named tianeptine is being sold to Americans, and the FDA knows it. Consumer Reports, Feb 4, 2021; and Felton R. The FDA waited 9 months to warn the public on tianeptine, a supplement ‘worse than heroin’. Consumer Reports, Feb 24, 2021] The few federal enforcement actions related to tianeptine include:


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