Coronavirus Australia: Pete Evans fined $25K over ‘Wuhan coronavirus’ light machine

Therapeutic Goods Administration comes down hard on celebrity chef for selling $15,000 light machine offering bogus ‘Wuhan coronavirus’ treatment.

Celebrity chef Pete Evans has been fined $25,200. Picture: Supplied

The Therapeutic Goods Administration has fined celebrity chef and My Kitchen Rules star Pete Evans $25,000 for promoting a “light machine” he claimed could be used to treat COVID-19.

In a bizarre promotion during a Facebook livestream earlier this month, the Seven network celebrity chef claimed the BioCharger light “is a pretty amazing tool” that “would take me an hour or two to explain” and which has “a thousand different recipes and a couple on there for Wuhan coronavirus.”

The device — named the BioCharger NG — is being sold through Mr Evans’s website for US$14,990 ($23,617), with a US$500 discount for his followers and billed as a “hybrid subtle energy revitalisation platform” that uses “four transmitted energies” to “stimulate and invigorate the entire body to optimise and improve potential health, wellness, and athletic performance”.

This guy just doesn’t get it. Pete Evans is trying to sell a $15,000 fancy light machine to vulnerable and frightened people to protect them against #COVID_19.
He is not a doctor.
He is not a scientist.
He is a chef. pic.twitter.com/q6nWb3EojB

— AMA Media (@ama_media) April 10, 2020

In a statement on Friday the TGA said it had issued Evans’s company Peter Evans Chef Pty Ltd with two notices over breaches of the laws fining the My Kitchen Rules star a total of $25,2000

“The TGA received a number of complaints about the promotion of a ‘BioCharger’ device that occurred during a Facebook live stream on 9 April 2020.

“Mr Evans allegedly live streamed on his Facebook page, which has more than 1.4 million followers, claims that the device could be used in relation to “Wuhan coronavirus” — a claim which has no apparent foundation, and which the TGA takes extremely seriously,” the TGA said in a statement.

The TGA said it was particularly concerned about bogus claims from manufacturers about supposed treatments for COVID-19.

The BioCharger promoted on Pete Evans’ website.

“Any claim that references COVID-19 is a restricted representation under therapeutic goods legislation, and is of significant concern to the TGA given the heightened public concern about the pandemic.

“The TGA recently published a warning to advertisers and consumers about illegal advertising relating to COVID-19,” the TGA said.

Evans has a long and weird relationship with pseudoscience.

The AMA has previously criticised Mr Evans for putting his fans’ health at risk by spreading misinformation about the alleged dangers of fluoride and sunscreen.

In 2015 Mr Evans authored a paleo cookbook which featured a recipe for a breastmilk replacement for babies made out of chicken liver and bone broth. The Public Health Association of Australia said babies could potentially die from ingesting the nutritionally imbalanced mixture.

The BioCharger NG is manufactured by Advanced Biotechnologies, an American firm that claims to be “the innovation leader within the emerging field of subtle energy revitalisation platforms”.

Advanced Biotechnologies’s website claims the BioCharger NG “utilizes four different energy types – Light, Voltage, Frequencies & Harmonics, and Pulsed Electro-Magnetic Fields (PEMFs)”.

However, Biotechnologies does not claim their flagship product is a medical device that can cure coronavirus, instead stating it is “a subtle energy revitalisation platform that wirelessly projects pulsed electromagnetic energy through a predefined range of frequencies.”

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners President Dr Harry Nespolon said the decision would make an example of anyone seeking to take “advantage of this pandemic to spread false and misleading nonsense on social media.”

“This celebrity chef can carry on all he likes about ‘activated almonds’ and whatever latest fad excites him but he should steer clear of health advice, particularly when it comes to something as serious as COVID-19,” he said.

“I encourage all Australians to ignore his social media content. Please listen to the experts including your GP, we have your best interests at heart and we are doing all we can.

“As I have stated previously this ‘light machine’ doesn’t do anything but drain your wallet. However, the problem is that it may lull people into a false sense of security which means they don’t act as cautiously as they otherwise would on responsibilities such as social distancing.”
Additional reporting: Lachlan Moffet Gray