My Kitchen Rules star Pete Evans is fined $25,200 for promoting a bizarre lamp that he claimed could help treat the ‘Wuhan coronavirus’
- Pete Evans fined $25K for promoting lamp he claimed could help treat COVID-19
- Fines were issued for social media video and for advertising on Evans’ website
- He was slammed by medical bodies for claiming the lamp could help COVID-19
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Pete Evans has been fined $25,200 for promoting a bizarre lamp that he claimed could help treat coronavirus.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration issued two infringement notices Evans’ company for alleged breaches of the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989.
He allegedly live streamed a video on Facebook on April 9 claiming a ‘Biocharger’ device could be used in relation to ‘Wuhan Coronavirus’.
Pete Evans has been fined $25,200 for promoting a bizarre lamp that he claimed could help treat coronavirus
The My Kitchen Rules star said he and his family use the ‘non-invasive’ lamp ‘pretty much every day’
The TGA said the claims have no apparent foundation and are treating the allegations very seriously.
Any claim the references COVID-19 is banned under the legislation and the TGA has recently issued a warning to advertisers about the legality of it.
The fines were issued for the video and for advertising on Evans’ website.
The advertisements on the website claimed the lamp could ‘proven to restore strength, stamina, co-ordination and mental clarity’ and ‘sharpening your mental clarity’.
The My Kitchen Rules chef promoted his BioCharger NG Subtle Energy Platform on social media earlier this month, describing it as a ‘hybrid subtle energy revitalisation platform’.
Evans claimed he and his family use the ‘non-invasive’ lamp ‘pretty much every day’.
‘It works to optimize your health, wellness, and athletic performance by aligning and balancing the energy of every cell in your body,’ he said.
Evans also said the lamp is programmed with thousands of recipes with ‘a couple on there for Wuhan coronavirus that you may be interested in’.
There is no evidence it has any effect on the virus.
Evans was slammed by the Australian Medical Association for spruiking the machine.
‘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,’ a spokesman for the AMA said on Twitter.
‘He is not a doctor. He is not a scientist. He is a chef.’
Advanced Biotechnologies, the Massachusetts-based company behind the device, have distanced themselves from the celebrity chef’s claims.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Evans for comment.
The machine (pictured) claims to use ‘Light, Frequencies & Harmonics, Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields (PEMFs), and Voltage. These are all natural energies found in nature’