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Companies seek to benefit from Ebola

WASHINGTON — One company championed a cure for Ebola through a silver-based antibacterial agent. Another recommended cinnamon bark oils to ward off the virus. A third suggested its oregano treatments.

As fears of the disease escalate, American companies are touting all manner of Ebola-related products — including dietary supplements, protective suits, and virus-themed toys.

The Food and Drug Administration wrote scathing letters last month to three companies whose websites or consultants claimed products could help eradicate Ebola. The FDA has not approved any treatment for the virus.

During illness outbreaks, fraudulent products “all too often appear on the market,” said Jennifer Rodriguez, an FDA spokeswoman.

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Officials are working with the Federal Trade Commission, which helps police companies that swindle or mislead consumers.

“Our concern is that if public anxiety increases over Ebola here, we will see a lot more marketing,” said Richard Cleland, assistant director in the FTC’s division of advertising practices. “We’re trying to get in front of that curve.”

Some marketers say they offer legitimate products, such as protective gear. But the more questionable cases fit into familiar categories: products that promise a cure, charities that sprout up with unclear origins, and e-mails that mention the virus and request personal information.

Regulators faced similar situations in years past with avian flu, an anthrax scare, and the respiratory disease known as SARS. But heavy media coverage of Ebola, and criticism that the Obama administration has mishandled the situation, only helps fuel uncertainties.

A recent survey by the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan Washington think tank, found concerns about exposure to the virus had risen to 41 percent from 32 percent in early October.

Enter marketers.

Natural Solutions Foundation, based in New Jersey, advertised a “family protection pack” on its website and broadcast a YouTube video that disputed that no Ebola treatment exists. “That is not true,” a woman named Dr. Rima proclaims. “In fact, there is a well-known, well-characterized nutrient.”

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This prompted a September letter from the FDA and the FTC, blasting the company for marketing Nano Silver — an experimental drug that includes small particles of silver — as a treatment for the deadly disease.

The FTC, which cowrote the letter, demanded the company review its claims and ensure these “are supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence.”

Natural Solutions could not be reached for comment.

Two Utah businesses, doTERRA International and Young Living Essential Oils, also received FDA warning letters for allowing paid consultants to post Facebook and Twitter messages that insist certain oils stave off the disease.

McKay Brown, a spokesman for doTERRA, said the company tries to educate more than one million of its “wellness advocates” and has resolved the concerns. Young Living did not respond to requests for comment.

An FDA spokeswoman did not specify how widespread the questionable marketing campaigns are or how they compare with those in previous outbreaks.

But consumer groups see an increase in the pace.

“You don’t need very much to set up a new company, and you don’t need very much to set up the latest scam,” said Katherine Hutt, a spokeswoman at the Council of Better Business Bureaus, which monitors consumer fraud.

The council’s New England affiliate warns consumers about phone calls that plead for money to combat the disease and inauthentic fund-raising sites. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman this week issued an alert about fake preparedness kits and preventive medicines. The Massachusetts attorney general’s office has not put out a warning because it has not received complaints, a spokesman said.

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Untested cures worry experts because they play to people’s vulnerabilities.

“Supplements move right into that emotional uncertainty,” said Marion Nestle, a professor in New York University’s Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health and an expert on food politics. “They market to people’s fears.”

The promotions led the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a leading trade association for the dietary supplement industry, to issue an advisory with four other organizations that warned against alternative Ebola treatments.

Interest in the disease extends much further than nutrients. The online marketplace Redbubble features 125 options for Ebola throw pillows, most costing about $20.

GIANTmicrobes has sold out of Ebola-themed toys worldwide, including stuffed animals molded in the shape of the virus.

The Connecticut company, which says it has distributed Ebola toys for nearly a decade, markets the furry version of the virus as a way to educate children about illness and current events.

“It doesn’t make light of these conditions but rather is designed to create a light-hearted response that allows for education to come through,” said Laura Sullivan, the company’s vice president of operations. “It takes a little bit of the scariness out.”

Parents are purchasing the plush toys, she said, but so are state health departments, schools, medical professionals, and researchers.

Rapper Cameron Giles, a.k.a. Cam’ron, is selling a surgical mask with his face on it for $19.99. “Ebola is no joking matter,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “So if u have to be safe. Be fashionable.”

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No matter that the disease is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids — not airborne. The proliferation of products has made some wince.

“They are exploiting what is a tragedy in certain countries and causing unnecessary hysteria here,” said Susan Linn, director of Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and a psychologist at Harvard Medical School.

A number of entrepreneurs see Ebola as a simple business opportunity to offer a needed service. “It’s about meeting demand in the market,” said Joshua McLean, who set up ebolasuits.com in Florida last month to sell protective gear, gloves, masks, and replacement filters. “It’s no different than any other product.”

McLean said he has sold more than 5,000 packages, some to hospitals. Manufacturers are so back-ordered he struggles to get products.


Jessica Meyers can be reached at jessica.meyers@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @jessica-meyers.