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Karl Schembri
The importer of the famous supposed cure-all jelly Blue Pain Relief is claiming that health authorities want to ban his product from Malta, months after he was stopped from advertising it on television.
Nidal Binni, who made a name for himself with his unorthodox adverts, is alleging that the Medicines Authority is out to ban his product from the market because of the labelling on the bottle.
When contacted for her version, the authority’s Chief Executive Officer, Patricia Vella Bonanno, said she would not discuss confidential information in public.
Binni is claiming he has been informed by the medicines authority that the wording on the bottles of his jelly imported from the US is unacceptable because it is presented as if it was a medicinal product.
The label states that the jelly is made of pure emu oil, which works “to ease the distress of joint pain, muscle pain and more”.
The label adds that these statements “have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration” – the US authority which assesses medicinal products.
“We make no medical claims, expressed or implied,” the label says.
“They want to remove hundreds of products from the market, mine included,” Binni alleged.
On his programmes on Smash TV, Binni has also been making some serious allegations about Health Minister Louis Deguara, saying that the latter “abused his power” to help out “friends of friends”.
Deguara sued him for libel last Friday.
Last April, Binni was banned from broadcasting Blue Pain Relief adverts in which he made unauthorised health claims.
Binni says he faced a similar ban two years ago when he started importing the products for the first time, prompting him to advertise in Italy and other countries where he started re-exporting it.
“At that time I just gave up and started promoting these products abroad, but as soon as the referendum and election campaigns arrived, the party stations were more than happy to receive massive advertising from my company and nobody complained,” he said.
The Malta Chamber of Pharmacists had welcomed the Department of Public Health’s decision to ban the adverts after a year and a half complaining with the authorities.
“After months of continuous representations by the Malta Chamber of Pharmacists, we have the pleasure in announcing that FINALLY the Department of Public Health has taken action on these unauthorized health claims,” the Chamber had said on its website.
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