New York Attorney General Letitia James said Thursday that her office has ordered InfoWars' Alex Jones to immediately stop selling and marketing products as a "cure" or "treatment" for the coronavirus COVID-19.
Jones has been selling toothpaste, dietary supplements, creams and several other products through his website that claim to treat or prevent and cure the coronavirus, according to a news release from James' office. One of the products, a Superblue Toothpaste, claimed to kill "the whole SARS-corona family at point-blank range" and had approval from the U.S. government, according to the release.
There are currently no vaccines or approved drugs to treat or prevent the coronavirus, which has infected at least 1,300 people in the United States, killing at least 38, according to Johns Hopkins University.
"As the coronavirus continues to pose serious risks to public health, Alex Jones has spewed outright lies and has profited off of New Yorkers' anxieties," James said. "Mr. Jones' public platform has not only given him a microphone to shout inflammatory rhetoric, but his latest mistruths are incredibly dangerous and pose a serious threat to the public health of New Yorkers and individuals across the nation."
A spokesperson for Jones denied that the products, including the Superblue Toothpaste, were marketed as treatments or cures for any disease, including the coronavirus.
"Any suggestion to the contrary is false and is expressly disavowed," the spokesperson said in an email.
This is not the first cease-and-desist warning James has sent related to fraudulent coronavirus products. On Wednesday, James sent cease-and-desist orders to two companies that sold colloidal silver, which has been cited as being not safe or effective to treat any disease.
The FDA, along with the Federal Trade Commission, also sent a warning letter to televangelist Jim Bakker on Monday for selling unapproved products that claimed to treat coronavirus.
"The FDA considers the sale and promotion of fraudulent COVID-19 products to be a threat to the public health. We have an aggressive surveillance program that routinely monitors online sources for health fraud products, especially during a significant public health issue such as this one," FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn said in a statement.
