Better in their words…

Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace is demanding answers from the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) about why the federal agency has not promoted nasal sprays as a treatment and prevention of COVID-19.

In a four-page letter released to The Epoch Times, Mace asks HHS Secretary Xavier Beccera why the agency has ignored studies that show that nasal sprays are an effective treatment of COVID-19 and why it hasn’t promoted their use to the public during the pandemic. The freshman South Carolina House Republican implies a coverup by HHS and other federal agencies over the benefits of nasal sprays against COVID-19 in her letter.

“It has come to my attention that even prior to the initial vaccines, HHS, and its components; the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), were aware of data and expert determinations that simple nasal hygiene could serve as an effective additional layer of protection against the SARS-COV-2 virus,” Mace wrote in her Feb. 15 letter to Beccera.

Mace also demands that the agency explain why HHS and other federal agencies “haven’t informed the American people about the potential benefits” of nasal sprays and other “prophylaxis and therapeutics.”

The letter follows stories by The Epoch Times about a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Xlear for promoting its all-natural xylitol and grapefruit seed-based nasal spray as a prevention and treatment of COVID-19. The stories covered several world studies including ones conducted in the United States that concluded the spray had proven virucidal effects.

One of the stories also featured an exclusive interview with Dr. Mark Cannon, a global expert on the use of xylitol, who discussed the longtime use of the natural sweetener in other countries against viruses, specifically respiratory viruses like COVID-19.

Robert Housman, senior counsel for Xlear, told The Epoch Times that he expects more members of Congress like Mace to demand that federal agencies like the FTC explain why it is filing lawsuits that appear to be suppressing beneficial treatments of COVID-19.

“The federal government’s failed plan to vaccinate its way out of the pandemic is falling apart and I think you are starting to see people realizing in the meantime that nasal hygiene…. in the expert community and within some Congress as well—can be an important adjunct in upper respiratory disease and prevention and treatment,” Housman told The Epoch Times, “I don’t really get what the government is doing, but I think a big piece of solving that is going to be our court case.”

Housman served as a senior advisor under the Clinton administration and was appointed staff director of the White House Task Force on Drug Use in Sports including the U.S. Olympics. He also served as a legal advisor to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)

His client Xlear is one of several companies that received warning letters from a federal government agency since the start of the pandemic ordering them to stop promoting their nasal spray products as a prevention and treatment of COVID-19. It is the only company challenging the demand. Housman emphasized to The Epoch Times that it repeatedly offered to work with federal agencies to study the benefits of nasal sprays so that it could win FDA approval.

In alluding to the DOJ suit against the company Xlear, Inc. Mace asks the HHS to explain why it didn’t work with manufacturers to facilitate and fast track testing “and if warranted EUA approvals.”

Last May, Housman submitted a “research professionals citizen’s petition” seeking guidance from the CDC regarding the use of nasal sprays to combat COVID-19 and cited the studies to show it was anti-virucidal. The petition represented researchers and health care professionals who had been treating COVID-19 patients and was studying ways to counter the disease.

In a letter dated June 16, 2021, the CDC denied that response. Sandra Cashman, executive secretary to CDC’s chief of staff wrote in the letter that there was “no hard evidence of efficacy” of nasal sprays “in terms of viral load reduction.”

Among the studies presented by Housman included a Florida study conducted in November that specifically found that Xlear’s nasal spray “demonstrates virucidal effects against SARS-CoV-2.” They also concluded that “using a virucidal nasal spray could become a cutting-edge element in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 disease”

The study was led by Dr. Gustavo Ferrer, named one of the best doctors in the United States by U.S. News and World Reporter. Ferrer, a former White House consultant for the Affordable Care Act, is the founder of the Cleveland Florida Cough and Interstitial Lung Disease Clinic and former director of respiratory research for the United Nations University, the research arm of the U.N. He has frequently appeared on several national television networks including CNN and NBC news.

Cashman also wrote the CDC’s denial of the petition was also due to concerns about the safety of nasal sprays, stating that “while nasal sprays and irrigations are generally safe, they are not without risk.” Cashman said that there had been “serious infections” associated with Neti-pots “or other exposure to tap water or use of adulterated products.”

The DOJ and FTC filed their lawsuit after the FTC sent a letter to Xlear in October, a month before the Florida study findings were released, warning it was violating federal law and demanding it immediately stop advertising its nasal spray to treat COVID-19.

“It is unlawful under the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § 41 et seq., to advertise that a product or service can prevent, treat, or cure human disease unless you possess competent and reliable scientific evidence, including, when appropriate, well-controlled human clinical studies, substantiating that the claims are true at the time they are made,” said Serena Viswanathan, acting associate director division of FTC’s Advertising Practices in her letter to the Utah-based company.

Viswanathan told Xlear company that within 48 hours of receipt of her letter that it is to contact FTC’s Assistant Director Richard Cleland via e-mail with a description of specific actions it had taken in response to the agency’s concerns.

Cleland, Viswanathan, and Beccera never responded to requests made by The Epoch Times for comment about Mace’s requests or the pending DOJ/FTC lawsuit.