--- title: Unproven Ebola Treatments Targeted in FDA Warning Letter description: The agency says a product marketed as a treatment for Ebola violates laws that require drugs to be approved by the FDA for safety and effectiveness canonical: https://time.com/3425778/fda-cracks-down-on-unproven-ebola-cures/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-24T16:32:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:23:15.975Z article:section: Health og:title: Unproven Ebola Treatments Targeted in FDA Warning Letter og:description: The agency says a product marketed as a treatment for Ebola violates laws that require drugs to be approved by the FDA for safety and effectiveness og:url: https://time.com/3425778/fda-cracks-down-on-unproven-ebola-cures/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4a449821302ea25/6986a380f983e7627304fa6d/ebola-virus1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2100 og:image:height: 1181 og:image:alt: Ebola virus og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Unproven Ebola Treatments Targeted in FDA Warning Letter twitter:description: The agency says a product marketed as a treatment for Ebola violates laws that require drugs to be approved by the FDA for safety and effectiveness twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4a449821302ea25/6986a380f983e7627304fa6d/ebola-virus1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # FDA Cracks Down on Unproven Ebola Cures > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Sep 24, 2014 4:32 PM UTC  Colorized transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of the Ebola virus. Colorized transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of the Ebola virus. Getty Images  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Sep 24, 2014 4:32 PM UTC On Sept. 23, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a [warning letter](http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/2014/ucm416051.htm) to Rima Laibow and Ralph Fucetola of [Natural Solutions Foundation](http://www.nsfmarketplace.com/) informing them that the company’s products, including Silver Sol Nano Silver and High Potency CBD Hemp Oil, which are marketed as Ebola treatments, violate the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Based on the claims made on the company’s [website](http://www.nsfmarketplace.com/) as well as in a [YouTube video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7wNfRCuOZE), the FDA says the products are marketed as drugs, and therefore fall under the agency’s jurisdiction. In the letter, the FDA notes --- > “” --- The company’s claims about its Ebola treatments also violate Federal Trade Commission laws, which prohibit advertising that a product can prevent, treat or cure human disease without reliable and valid scientific evidence. In the past month, the [World Health Organization](http://time.com/3117313/fake-cures-and-ebola-drug-sensationalism-need-to-stop-who-says/) as well as the [FDA](http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm410086.htm) have warned consumers about such unproven therapies. Both remind the public that there are no known cures or treatments for Ebola; the therapy received by a handful of care workers in the U.S. are [still considered experimental](http://time.com/3070925/were-getting-closer-to-vaccines-and-drugs-for-ebola/) and only used as an exception to the agency’s usual drug approval process. The company has 15 days to correct the violations, or face legal action and seizure of the products. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3425778/fda-cracks-down-on-unproven-ebola-cures/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3425778/fda-cracks-down-on-unproven-ebola-cures/"},"headline":"FDA Cracks Down on Unproven Ebola Cures","datePublished":"2014-09-24T16:32:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:23:15.975Z","description":"The agency says a product marketed as a treatment for Ebola violates laws that require drugs to be approved by the FDA for safety and effectiveness","url":"https://time.com/3425778/fda-cracks-down-on-unproven-ebola-cures/","keywords":["ebola","FDA","Infectious Disease"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4a449821302ea25/6986a380f983e7627304fa6d/ebola-virus1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4a449821302ea25/6986a380f983e7627304fa6d/ebola-virus1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ebola virus","caption":"Ebola virus","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ebola/","name":"ebola"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3425778/fda-cracks-down-on-unproven-ebola-cures/","name":"FDA Cracks Down on Unproven Ebola Cures"}}]}] ```