Don't Believe Mr. Pillow Guy

I'm rather disappointed that I even need to write this blog.  But this is the age of "Anti-Science" and it seems there are a lot of impressionable people - people who would believe a Mr. Pillow huckster- about how to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.  

So let me spare you reading and give you the cliff notes to this blog:

DO NOT TAKE OLEANDRIN TO PREVENT OR CURE COVID-19.

Nerium Oleander is a highly toxic plant.  

This should not even be a story, except that The My Pillow Guy, Mike Lindell, inventor, businessman, entrepreneur and friend of Donald Trump, claims he is inspired by the Bible to promote Oleandrin as a preventative and a cure for Covid-19. He has invoked Dr. Ben Carson, Secretary of HUD as a proponent also to give credibility to his claim.  Lindell is newly on the board of Phoenix Biotechnology, a company that is making the substance as a nutraceutical, meaning it can be promoted without the oversight of the FDA.

"Its the miracle of all time", boasts Lindell, "the media is trying to take away this amazing cure."  Lindell claims he and friends have taken the substance and that there are peer-reviewed studies that show its success.  

There are no such studies.

This would hardly make news, except for the fact that President Donald Trump stated he is "looking into it" and that Lindell is his good friend.  Given the Hydroxychloroquine scandal that distracted scientists and confused the public during a lethal pandemic (172,000 U.S. deaths today, August 19, 2020), the fact that we are again being told about a dangerous and unproven remedy is truly shameful.