By *Jomo Sanga Thomas
(“Plain Talk” April 5, 2024)
In a landmark legal victory for freedom of choice and the right to seek medication that may assist in the battle against illness, an appellate in Southern Texas has slammed the Food and Drug Administration, the watchdog body that oversees food and drugs and declares them fit for human consumption.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturned the lower court’s dismissal of the doctors’ suit, ruling that the law did not authorise the FDA to give medical advice. U.S. Circuit Judge Don Willett, writing for the court, said, “The FDA can inform, but it has identified no authority allowing it to recommend consumers stop taking medicine.”
As the COVID plandemic ravaged the world beginning in 2020, many doctors desperately tried to find effective cures or treatments. One of the treatments that proved safe and effective was Ivermectin. Ivermectin is a drug discovered and developed to treat parasitic illnesses. However, very early it was found to have viral and bacteriological applications and benefits.
Ivermectin was so effective that the two doctors who developed it won a Nobel Prize for medicine. The drug was also a staple on the World Health Organization’s schedule of effective medicines.
Apart from being safe and effective, Ivermectin presented a huge problem for the medical and pharmaceutical establishment. It was readily available and, more importantly, cheap. Doctors who prescribed it for the treatment of COVID were censured, smeared and dismissed from their jobs. In St. Lucia, Dr. Gilbertha St. Rose was barred from practising medicine and hauled before the medical board because she advocated the use of ivermectin.
A monumental disinformation and misinformation campaign was launched against the drug. Our chief medical officer, Simone Keizer-Beache, issued warnings against its use. Pharmacies were warned against dispensing Ivermectin. The FDA propaganda was far-reaching and effective. When yours truly announced that I used ivermectin in September 2021, I was laughed at and accused of taking horse medicine.
Doctors in the US sued, and the FDA was forced to settle. According to a settlement dated March 21, the U.S. FDA agreed to remove social media posts and webpages that urged people to stop taking ivermectin to treat COVID-19.
The FDA has already removed a page titled “Should I take ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19? No.” Within 21 days, it will remove another page titled “Why you should not use ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19.”
The page currently states, “The FDA has not authorized or approved ivermectin for use in preventing or treating COVID-19 in humans or animals.” It also says that data do not show Ivermectin is effective against COVID-19, despite some studies it cites showing it is effective against the illness.
In the settlement, the FDA also agreed to delete multiple social media posts strongly opposing Ivermectin, including one that stated, “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”
In exchange, doctors who sued the agency are dismissing their claims, the filing states.
“FDA loses its war on vermectin and agrees to remove all social media posts and consumer directives regarding ivermectin and COVID, including its most popular tweet in FDA history,” Dr Mary Talley Bowden, one of the doctors, said in a statement. “This landmark case sets an important precedent in limiting FDA overreach into the doctor-patient relationship.”
“We are extremely pleased with the settlement’s outcome, as it is a victory for every doctor and patient in the United States,” added Dr. Paul Marik, chief scientific officer of the FLCCC Alliance and another plaintiff. “The FDA interfered in the practice of medicine with its irresponsible language and posts about ivermectin. We will never know how many lives were affected because patients were denied access to a lifesaving treatment because their doctor was “just following the FDA”.
An FDA spokesperson said the agency “has chosen to resolve this lawsuit rather than continuing to litigate over statements that are between two and nearly four years old”. The damage is already done.
Ivermectin was approved by the FDA in 1996 to treat several conditions, including onchocerciasis, a tropical disease caused by a parasitic worm.
In the United States, doctors often prescribe medicine off-label or for a different purpose than the one for which the medicine is approved. A right-to-try law in the US allows doctors to prescribe a drug once there is full disclosure to the patient. The FDA completely disregarded this law as it relates to Ivermectin.
After some doctors began prescribing ivermectin for COVID-19, the FDA ramped up its campaign, including the Aug. 21, 2021, post on Twitter, now known as X.
Dr. Bowden and two other doctors sued the FDA, arguing the agency’s actions went beyond its authority, as conferred on it by Congress.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown dismissed the case in 2022, ruling that the FDA did not act outside the authority. But an appeals court in 2023 ruled for the doctors, finding that the agency “has identified no authority allowing it to recommend consumers ‘stop’ taking medicine”. Between the ruling and the settlement, the FDA refused to change any of its statements on ivermectin and asked for a fresh dismissal of the suit.
The FDA propaganda campaign had worldwide repercussions. Drs. Robert Apter, Bowden, and Marik, who brought the case, said they suffered repercussions after prescribing Ivermectin to patients with COVID-19, and that the FDA was to blame.
One can only speculate how many people suffered and died unnecessarily because a safe and effective drug was propagandised to the detriment of people’s health. It is significant that while this drug was barred from use, expensive, ineffective and unsafe drugs made their manufacturers, Pfizer and Moderno, billions of dollars in profit.
The suit said the FDA illegally interfered with doctor-patient relationships. The doctors said that regarding ivermectin, the FDA overstepped its authority conferred on it in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
Ivermectin advocates and users get the last laugh. However, the damage has already been done. Untold numbers suffered because they had no access to early treatment, and big businesses became richer while the people suffered.
*Jomo Sanga Thomas is a lawyer, journalist, social commentator and a former senator and Speaker of the House of Assembly in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The opinions presented in this content belong to the author and may not necessarily reflect the perspectives or editorial stance of iWitness News. Opinion pieces can be submitted to [email protected].
Jomo are you saying you won? Clinical results at the time were inconclusive. It shows that it is better to err on the side of caution. Don’t blow your own horn .
Great article Jomo.
This medication has been known to cause neurological toxicity! It kills brain cells!
There is not a shred of conclusive scientific proof that Ivermectin is anywhere close to preventing COVID deaths or serious illness compared to the established vaccines that have saved millions of lives around the world.
This is exactly what the Eastern Caribbean court of appeal will rule when it overturns the high court mandatory vaccination ruling in the not too distant future.
Jomo should do a little reading to find out Ivermectin is only good for killing parasites like genital crab lice, an infection that is rampant in little SVG because of our nasty promiscuous behaviour.
The mRMA vaccines and other Covid-19 have damaged people’s heart, kidneys, brain, and other organs. Excess deaths are on the rise and we are wondering why. Connect the dots. Fibrous blood clots are found in the living and the dead. The vaccines are depopulating the world and are causing a host of diseases in people’s body across the world. The truth will soon come to the mainstream corrupt media.