FDA warns doctor: Stop touting camera as disease screening tool
FDA warns doctor: Stop touting camera as disease screening tool
Apr 25, 11|Trine Tsouderos, Chicago Tribune
On Dr. Joseph Mercola's popular website, women are warned against getting mammograms to screen for breast cancer.
Instead, the Chicago-area physician touts thermograms — digital images of skin surface temperatures — as an early detection tool for a wide range of conditions from cancer to back pain, from lupus to arthritis.
Now Mercola is in a fight with federal regulators about his claims for the Med2000, a thermographic camera that he calls "revolutionary," though science has yet to back his claims.
Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent the osteopathic physician a warning letter accusing him of violating federal law by marketing the Med2000 for uses not approved by the federal agency.
The letter is the third since 2005 for Mercola, whose online empire draws traffic that places it in the top 400 websites nationally. He offers thermography through his Natural Health Center in Hoffman Estates.
Mercola said he stands by his right to make the claims about thermograms on his site. "We will fight the FDA on this issue if they decide to take this further," he wrote in an email to the Tribune.
The letter is part of a recent FDA crackdown on health care providers who make broad claims about thermographic cameras, which are approved to produce images of skin temperatures but, according to the agency, are not to be used as stand-alone tools for diagnosing disease or for screening.
On April 4, the agency sent Meditherm, the Florida-based maker of the Med2000, a warning letter for allegedly making illegal "false or misleading claims" about its device. Since 2007, the FDA has sent three other providers and companies similar warning letters about claims involving thermographic cameras.
The FDA's letter to Mercola notes that his website promotes the Med2000 as a "revolutionary and safe diagnostic tool" that "detects hidden inflammation" and as "the newest safe cancer screening tool."
"Yes, it's true," the site states. "Thermograms provide you with early diagnosis and treatment assistance in such problems as cancer, inflammatory processes, neurological and vascular dysfunction and musculoskeletal injury."
In the letter, the FDA asked Mercola to respond in writing within 15 working days and to "immediately cease making claims, identical or similar to those described above."
As of Monday, Mercola had not taken down or altered the statements singled out in the warning letter.
Thank God someone has our back. Mercola does a lot of good.
The FDA is not your friend.
I use Thermography Center Santa Barbara (310) 804 1103 (805) 560-7602
