Darrell Charles Burnett used Inet Herbal to sell supplements advertised as cancer treatments

A former airconditioning electrician advertised and sold herbal remedies as cancer treatments for about a year despite no proof the tablets were successful. Here is how it unfolded.

A former airconditioning electrician advertised and sold herbal remedies as cancer treatments for about a year despite no proof the tablets were successful.

For about 12 months in 2018, Darrell Charles Barnett used his company FuturePro, trading as Inet Herbal, to sell herbal remedies like gumbi gumbi and bloodroot. He spruiked the remedies on Facebook, eBay and his own website as “complimentary (sic) and beneficial natural cancer treatments”.

Bloodroot and gumbi gumbi have not been proven to treat cancer.

Barnett and FuturePro pleaded guilty in the Southport Magistrates to seven charges each, including advertising therapeutic goods, exporting therapeutic goods, importing therapeutic goods, manufacturing therapeutic goods and supplying therapeutic goods.

Magistrate Gary Finger on Thursday fined Barnett $25,000. He placed FuturePro on a $5000 good behaviour bond for three years.

“It is not in my view (an offence) of a trivial nature and they are certainly not trifling,” he said.

“It was a deliberate practice on your part and the company’s part.

“You knew of the warning given to another party in a similar situation, but you continued to trade.”

The court was told Barnett, 58, advertised and sold products such as gumbi gumbi capsules, bloodroot capsules, Zen Pain Relief drops and Zenith Salve with DMSO.

It was stated in court documents: “The business sells therapeutic goods that are represented as providing complimentary (sic) and beneficial natural cancer treatment as well as beneficial treatments for other ailments.”

None of the remedies had been approved for use by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, a fact Barnett noted on the website.

Documents provided to the court also stated: “The online shop was advertised to users as a shop that is ‘focused to bring complimentary (sic) and beneficial natural cancer treatments as well as beneficial treatments for other ailments’.”

The Facebook and eBay pages also made similar claims, the court was told.

On eBay, Barnett and Inet Herbal instructed users to go to a Facebook discussion to “find out all the wonderful benefits of bloodroot and learn how people naturally treat their cancers”.

The court was told Inet Herbal had a turnover of about $25,000 in the year it was operating.

Defence barrister Carl Tessmann, instructed by Potts Lawyers, said some of that turnover had come from other items sold by Inet Herbal.

He told the court Barnett started selling the herbal remedies after a friend who had terminal cancer used them and said he imported them in small quantities from the United States.

Mr Tessmann said Barnett had worked for most of his life as an airconditioning electrician until an injury in 2015 left him unable to work.

He changed his airconditioning business to Inet Herbal in 2018.

Mr Tessmann said Barnett had used painkillers to allow him to be able to help flood affected northern NSW residents with electrical issues but that Barnett was unable to use painkillers full time due to side effects.

Follow @leae