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Jim Bakker is in trouble with the state of Missouri for selling a product that he claims can cure coronavirus. Attorney General Eric Schmitt sued the televangelist on Tuesday.
The lawsuit alleges that on an episode of the “Jim Bakker Show” a guest claimed that a product sold through his online store can cure the coronavirus. Those claims are not backed by reliable scientific evidence, the lawsuit says. COVID-19, the disease’s official name, has killed more than 4,000 people and infected more than 100,000 throughout the world. Two people have been diagnosed in Kansas and Missouri.
VIDEO: Bakker hawks the product
The goal of the lawsuit filed in Stone County Circuit Court, spokesman Chris Nuelle said, is to stop misinformation. “We wouldn’t want a consumer seeing this and thinking it could help them with the coronavirus,” he said. “If there’s misinformation out there, we want to combat it. If there’s misrepresentations being made, we want to prevent that.”
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The lawsuit requests a permanent injunction ordering Bakker to stop marketing the product as a treatment for the coronavirus. It cites the Merchandising Practices Act, which says any misrepresentation when selling products is unlawful. The attorney general’s office also filed a request for a restraining order.
In an episode of his nationwide show on Feb. 12, Bakker asked his guest, Sherill Sellman, if the Silver Solution would be effective against the coronavirus. “Let’s say it hasn’t been tested on this strain of the coronavirus, but it’s been tested on other strains of the coronavirus and has been able to eliminate it within 12 hours,” Sellman said.
She went on to say the product “has been proven by the government that it has the ability to kill every pathogen it has ever been tested on, including SARS and HIV.”
But according to the Food and Drug Administration, the product is an unapproved new drug that violates the law. There are no over-the-counter products that treat or cure the coronavirus, according to the FDA.
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
