Entrepreneurs and Internet scam artists try to cash in on SARS scare
By MARIA BABBAGE
OTTAWA (CP) - Face masks and frequent hand-washing may be the best defence against SARS, but they aren't stopping scam artists and would-be entrepreneurs from cashing in on public fears of the deadly disease.
Internet scam artists often convert such scares into new money-making opportunities, says Gerald Crowell, a spokesman for the Ontario Ministry of Consumer and Business Services. "We're always concerned that people get misled in a situation like this," he says.
At Toronto's Union Station, vendors have already set up shop selling face masks and hand sanitizer lotion to train commuters. Suppliers in Montreal were overwhelmed in early April with requests for dried isatis root after a local Chinese newspaper printed a recipe containing the ingredient as a supposed treatment to prevent SARS.
But others are trying to convince consumers that they can do more to avoid contracting the disease - for a price.
A number of companies touting products to prevent or fight the respiratory disease have emerged on the Internet, claiming to boost the immune system or even fight the virus with a blend of expensive herbs.
Those who died from the disease "didn't have the chance to use the knowledge from our book," claims one Web site, advertising an online SARS prevention book for $14.95.
"Are you alarmed? You should be," it says, citing Canada's tainted blood scare and warning consumers against trusting government authorities.
Other sites advertising various treatments, from immune system-boosting supplements to a one-month supply of Chinese virus-fighting tea for $98 US, draw in potential shoppers with tantalizing phrases such as "new Asian virus treatment" or "alt treatment for SARS."
"The Internet certainly exploded the type and variety of scams," says Crowell.
The ministry has received a number of consumer complaints about possible SARS treatments, from homeopathic remedies to bogus vaccines, but nothing "concrete enough" to investigate, he added.
"It's just started this week. We're getting a number of calls."
Twenty Toronto-area people have died from SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, since the outbreak began in February. As of Saturday, there were 345 probable and suspect cases of the disease reported in Canada, according to Health Canada.
Last week, the World Health Organization advised travellers to avoid Toronto, spreading fears that the outbreak has not been contained despite protests from municipal, provincial and federal health officials.
Ryan Baker, a spokesman for Health Canada, says he's not aware of any home remedies that would effectively treat or prevent SARS.
But the department is investigating two complaints about products that claim to prevent or treat SARS, he said.
Practising good personal hygiene, such as thorough hand-washing with soap, is the best way to prevent the spread of the disease, Health Canada advises.
Dr. Dana Hanson, president of the Canadian Medical Association, says many of the purported SARS remedies on the Internet are not clinically proven to have any effect at all, other than confusing the public about what they can do to prevent the spread of the disease.
"One always has to, when you're looking at things such as this, say: 'Is this being opportunistic? Am I preying upon people's fear and anxiety?' That would be a question that would be uppermost in my mind," he says.
Hanson says he fears people buying into these claims will be led into a false sense of security and ignore good preventative advice from public health officials.
"It adds an element of confusion to a situation that already has enough reasonable questions in it to begin with," he says. |
