Use healthy dose of skepticism about flu products

Welcome to the Internet, the global marketplace and home of modern-day cyber snake oil salesmen who are happy to sell freaked-out consumers all sorts of products that might, but probably won’t, protect them from the H1N1 — or "swine flu" — virus.

The H1N1 vaccine now is readily available and the seasonal flu season is beginning to wind up. Yet, with some experts saying another wave of H1N1 still may arrive and expectations that H1N1 will continue to be a viral player next fall, too, it’s a time to consider the bizarre connection between health anxiety and Internet marketing.

What sort of alleged flu-fighting products can be found on the Internet? Just check out the list of fraudulent H1N1 products listed on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Web site.

Included on that list are air filtering products, antiseptics, dietary supplements and drugs, masks and gloves, hand sanitizers, inhalers and even alleged home testing products whose manufacturers went, in the FDA’s estimation, a bit too far in claiming what the products can do to or with the H1N1 virus.

Dr. Lawrence Sands, chief health officer for the Southern Nevada Health District, says that, while he’s not personally familiar with any such products, he’s not suprised whenever someone capitalizes on a health scare.

"Oftentimes, people do find opportunities in situations like this that may not be appropriate," he says.

Hearing descriptions of the items on the FDA’s list, Sands notes that some seem to involve "some basic concepts that might be somewhat valid, but they build off of that idea."

For example, he says, "we emphasize hand washing and keeping your hands clean." But, a marketer then may "elevate or take off on that" and pitch a product "that may not be completely appropriate."

"I think people are doing it to prey off of people’s fears and anxiety," Sands says, noting that a similar dynamic occurred several years ago when some panicked about what many in the media described as "flesh-eating bacteria."

"People are taking advantage of people’s often irrational fears," Sands says, and laymen who "are trying to gain control over a situation, sometimes they will gravitate to one of these types of products or solutions."

Often, there does seem to be a thin line between vigorous marketing and seeming fraud. But, says Michael LaTour, chairman of the department of marketing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, "I would consider it very ethically questionable to do such a thing if there’s not a credible reason to be tying (a product) to preventing disease."

There are "many ethical marketers out there" who state their products’ abilities accurately, LaTour says. "But what is especially inappropriate about it is, they take advantage of people’s emotions, and we are creatures of emotion more than we are consciously aware of."

One way to evaluate any product’s claims is to see whether the manufacturer offers information not only about what it’s supposed to do — preferably, via data obtained from solid testing or research — but also about what it doesn’t do.

"I understand marketing under pressure in the short run. They want a product to do well, and they’re tempted to not say anything that they think in any way would talk about the limitations of the product," LaTour says. "But, for the long run, if they want to build trust around a brand, you’ve got to be ethical, and you can’t withhold information relating to the product."

Also view product claims with a wary eye. Consider, Sands says, "what kind of claims they make and what claims have been tested."

The FDA requires manufacturers to rigorously test products if they plan to make health claims for them. So, Sands says, read the small print, because it’s there that consumers often will find a note that "this hasn’t been approved by the FDA. They say things just up to the point of making an actual health claim.

"So it’s consumers who really have to evaluate and see what information they have and what they base their claim on."

Actually, we may not be quite the suckers Internet hawkers assume us to be. Dr. Cynthia Herrick, a clinical assistant professor in the University of Nevada School of Medicine’s Department of Internal Medicine, says that, since the beginning of the flu season last year, "the patients I’ve encountered were rightly concerned about it, but not overly so."

Herrick says she can’t recall patients who have asked her about questionable Internet-touted products. "I would say most of the questions I have had regarding flu were, ‘What can we do to protect ourselves?’ " she says.

The answer, Herrick adds, comes down to the same basics we’ve been hearing all along: Frequent hand washing, covering the mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing, not going out if sick, staying away from others if you are sick, and, most of all, to "get your flu shot, especially people in higher-risk groups."

Dr. Michael Bachman, medical director of the emergency department at Sunrise Children’s Hospital, agrees.

"I have not had a lot of specific questions regarding these products," he says. "From time to time, people will ask about things that are being marketed for cold and cough, and there isn’t a lot of good research or data on recommendations for their usage."

"I think," Bachman adds, "there’s a lot of awareness now about good hygiene practice."

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0280.