By Kevin Stawicki

Law360 (March 9, 2020, 5:47 PM EDT) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission are cracking down on supplement companies and televangelist Jim Bakker for pushing unapproved drugs that purport to treat coronavirus.

Vital Silver, Quinessence Aromatherapy Ltd. and other companies that sell or advertise teas, essential oils and other alternative therapies such as colloidal silver were served with the joint letters from the federal agencies on Friday ordering them to correct their websites or face legal action.

"The FDA considers the sale and promotion of fraudulent COVID-19 products to be a threat to the public health," FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn said in a statement. "We will continue to aggressively pursue those that place the public health at risk and hold bad actors accountable."

Florida-based Vital Silver promotes its nasal sprays, soaps and lotions containing colloidal silver as being able to boost immune system support and advertised their ability to protect against COVID-19. The National Institutes of Health maintains that colloidal silver isn't a useful dietary supplement, and the FDA has taken action against companies that made misleading statements about its effectiveness.

"I was unaware that my company was violating FDA standards, or that any of the statements could be considered fraudulent," Jennifer Hickman, owner of Vital Silver, said in an email. "As per the FDA's request I have removed all statements concerning the COVID-19 from my website and social media outlets."

Xephyr LLC, GuruNanda LLC, Vivify Holistic Clinic and Herbal Amy LLC were among the other companies that received warnings.

A GuruNanda spokesperson said the company has removed "any information related to treatment or prevention of COVID-19 and the coronavirus."

Representatives from the other companies did not respond to requests for comment.

Amy Weidner, owner of Idaho-based Herbal Amy Inc., said in an email that a product description for one her herbal products only quoted an herbalist's views about its effectiveness.

"Because it's an all natural herbal product, the FDA does not want me to quote anyone saying anything in the product description that would insinuate that it treats, mitigates or cures any diseases," she said. "That quote has been removed to adhere to the FDA requirements."

Televangelist Jim Bakker, whose show focuses on end times prophecies and survival products, was also served with a warning letter ordering him to stop advertising products as being able to protect against the coronavirus. Bakker's office didn't respond to requests for comment on Monday.

FTC Chairman Joe Simons said in a statement that the warning letters are "just the first step" and that a task force will continue to monitor online marketing.

"What we don't need in this situation are companies preying on consumers by promoting products with fraudulent prevention and treatment claims," he said. "We're prepared to take enforcement actions against companies that continue to market this type of scam."

The warning letters are the latest in the FDA's crackdown on companies misleading consumers about their products' performance, only heightened in recent weeks in response to COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

After the FDA told the maker of Purell, Gojo Industries Inc., in January to stop marketing its hand sanitizer as reducing or preventing diseases, including the Ebola virus and the flu, consumers across the country filed lawsuits alleging consumer protection violations.

Last week, Germ-X, another company that makes a popular hand sanitizer, was sued in federal court for allegedly falsely claiming that it can fight off coronavirus and certain other disease-causing germs.

--Additional reporting by Mike LaSusa. Editing by Adam LoBelia.

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