I’m going to guess it comes as no surprise that some people are using the widespread fear over the H1N1 (Swine Flu) virus to sell products that may do everything from nothing at all to making you even sicker.

In other words, folks, there’s a lot of fake Tamiflu being offered on the Internet. If you’re ordering prescription drugs online, without a prescription, you are headed for trouble. You have no way to verify what is in the substance you’re about to put into your body.

Then again, if you’ve been reading this site for any amount of time at all, you’re not even going to respond to those emails advertising discount prescription drugs, are you?

That’s what I thought.

Federal officials are also targeting online retailers who sell “alternative medicine” products that claim to help you fight H1N1. They even sent a letter to Dr. Weil, over his “Immune Support Formula!”

That one made me do a double-take. Apparently, the site “offers a product for sale that is intended to diagnose, mitigate, prevent, treat or cure the H1N1 Flu Virus in people,” which is kind of a rookie mistake. Dr. Weil’s people probably should have known better than to put that out there.

Now, I believe 100% that there are many non-drug substances that can make your body (including your immune system) function better. Human beings didn’t just suddenly create medicine the moment the FDA appeared. Something was helping people get over illnesses for the thousands of years before the advent of modern chemistry and government regulation. More to the point, I’ve experienced firsthand that the “garbage in/garbage out” principle applies to the human body. Fill your body with trash, it will perform poorly in all areas (mental health, immune system, strength, weight, etc.).

However, you have got to be so careful about what kind of supplements you take. Personally, I like Dr. Weil. I think he’s done his homework when it comes to treatments that people have been using for thousands of years (and he acknowledges that modern medicine is also valid). But there are some people out there, especially on the Internet, who are just selling any old thing and making wild claims. Even if they’re hawking something that should be safe and effective, you don’t know for sure what you’re getting in those capsules. Some herbs can really put the hurt on you.

And then you’ve got people selling Air Sanitizers and Photon Machines. This stuff is just utter garbage. Even if you actually get the item you paid for, you’re not getting anything that actually works. Proving a negative isn’t valid—”I bought the Photon Machine and didn’t get Swine Flu” is a flawed statement. It doesn’t prove that the machine worked at all.

I hate to break this to you, but you’re not going to sanitize the air. I mean, there’s an awful lot of it, isn’t there? You’re really fighting an uphill battle trying to sanitize the stuff.