{"id":1814,"date":"2020-03-30T00:40:54","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T00:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/?p=1814"},"modified":"2020-03-30T00:40:54","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T00:40:54","slug":"medical-experts-warn-against-claims-by-winnipeg-acupuncturist-advertising-coronavirus-prevention-tea-another-coronavirus-chinese-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/?p=1814","title":{"rendered":"Medical experts warn against claims by Winnipeg acupuncturist advertising ‘coronavirus prevention tea’ — Another Coronavirus-Chinese Connection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Medical experts warn against claims by Winnipeg acupuncturist advertising ‘coronavirus prevention tea’<\/span><\/h1>\n
\n
\n

Social Sharing<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Hidden camera reveals acupuncturist claimed tea prevented doctors in Wuhan from catching COVID-19<\/h2>\n
\n
Caroline Barghout<\/a>, Kristin Annable<\/a><\/span> \u00b7 <\/span>CBC News \u00b7 <\/span>
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/div>

Guojian Huang, a Winnipeg acupuncture therapist and Chinese medicine specialist, has claimed drinking an herbal tea made from a blend of six ingredients can prevent COVID-19. (CBC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Medical experts are warning Canadians not to believe the hype\u00a0after a hidden camera investigation\u00a0revealed\u00a0a Winnipeg acupuncturist was selling an\u00a0herbal tea that he claims can prevent COVID-19.<\/p>\n

In an email blast to clients last week, Guojian Huang, an acupuncture therapist and specialist in traditional Chinese medicine, said drinking a blend of six herbs in a tea over six days would keep people safe.<\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

“COVID-19 is here.\u2026 So is herb tea to prevent COVID-19,” said the email, which was sent March 18.<\/p>\n

It told clients of the acupuncture clinic to “order your coronavirus prevention tea now.”<\/p>\n

A Facebook post from the same day made a similar claim.<\/p>\n

“This is quite outrageous,” said Cedric Cheung, the national president of the Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Association of Canada, when told about the claim.<\/p>\n

“You cannot make a statement that can possibly mislead a patient.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/div>

Ankang Acupuncture Healing Centre emailed customers on March 18 claiming to have a tea that prevents COVID-19. The clinic said drinking a blend of six herbs in a tea over six days would keep people safe from the illness. (Ankang Acupuncture Healing Centre Inc.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Health Canada has not approved any product to prevent, treat or cure COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.<\/p>\n

“Selling unauthorized health products or making false or misleading claims to prevent, treat or cure COVID-19 is illegal in Canada,” a Health Canada spokesperson said in an email to CBC News.<\/p>\n

“We take this matter very seriously and we are taking action to stop this activity.”<\/p>\n

Tea bags sold to reporter<\/h2>\n

Using a hidden camera, a CBC\u00a0reporter posed last week as an interested customer and visited Huang’s clinic to pick up the tea. The recommended six-day treatment cost $60.<\/p>\n

He claimed that about 200 doctors and medical staff travelled to the Chinese city\u00a0of Wuhan \u2014 where the virus was first detected in December \u2014\u00a0and treated patients infected with the disease, but none of them got sick.<\/p>\n

“Before going to Wuhan everybody drink this kind of tea, everybody safe after they come back,” Huang told the CBC reporter. “They stay almost one month\u00a0there.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

WATCH |\u00a0Hidden camera video inside Winnipeg’s Ankang Acupuncture Healing Centre:<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n

Hidden camera video inside Winnipeg’s Ankang Acupuncture Healing Centre<\/h3>\n