Diabetes Canada stresses it doesn't endorse medical products after ads suggest otherwise

Amina Zafar · CBC News

· Posted: May 30, 2025 6:10 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

Diabetes Canada says it's received a surge successful reports from radical who've seen ads for oregon bought products that usage the charity's logos without authorization.

Since January, Diabetes Canada says it's had implicit 300 calls to its 1-800 enactment and emails from radical reporting misleading advertisements for diabetes products that person the charity's logo.

Diabetes Canada isn't the lone enactment being affected. Products ranging from purported medications and supplements to devices that assertion to beryllium humor glucose monitors are besides carrying the logos of Obesity Canada and Health Canada. Some of the groups accidental they privation the ads taken down and societal media companies are doing that, but caller ads support appearing.

A people of injectable medications known arsenic GLP-1 agonists, sold successful Canada nether the marque sanction Ozempic and Wegovy are approved to dainty Type 2 diabetes and obesity, respectively. These drugs request to beryllium administered by doctors and distributed by pharmacists. They are besides not endorsed by Diabetes Canada, Obesity Canada oregon Health Canada.

Some of the misleading ads are for products that doctors accidental are not effectual but mimic the names of these much recognizable medications. These see GLP-1 oral drops, said Laura Syron, the president and CEO of Diabetes Canada.

"They're surely not endorsed by us," Syron said connected Thursday. "We bash not endorse immoderate aesculapian wellness product."

Doctors accidental it's important for radical who unrecorded with diabetes to get close humor sweetener readings. That's wherefore Syron recommends anyone considering changing their medication, trying a caller attraction oregon getting a caller monitoring instrumentality speech to their health-care supplier first.

The enactment said immoderate ads falsely assertion the enactment volition besides connection patients a subsidy.

Use of logo created consciousness of trust

Joel Snitman, 81, of Thornhill, Ont., has Type 2 diabetes and checks his humor sweetener levels astatine slightest erstwhile a week. Snitman said helium saw a Facebook advertisement for a merchandise with a photograph identifying it arsenic a glucose monitor. He said helium trusted it due to the fact that the advertisement showed Diabetes Canada's logo.

"This gadget offered to bash it without sticking a needle successful your finger," Snitman recalled. "I thought I would springiness it a shot."

The merchandise turned retired to beryllium an oximeter, a instrumentality utilized to measurement humor oxygen levels, not humor sugar.

Snitman contacted Diabetes Canada, saying helium felt helium got sucked successful by seeing their logo connected the ad.

He said helium wasn't capable to find the sanction of the shaper oregon retailer beyond a bid of consonants. He emailed the transportation institution and asked them if they knew their client. The reply was no.

Similarly, Syron said Diabetes Canada recovered it hard to get successful interaction with anyone astatine the company.

CBC News was besides incapable to interaction the company.

Concerns astir delayed treatment

Dr. Kaberi Dasgupta, a physician, idiosyncratic and prof of medicine astatine McGill University, says determination are nary drops oregon patches that would springiness a akin effect to GLP-1 medications, which request to beryllium administered by doctors and distributed by pharmacists.

"Those products, the GLP-1 patches and drops, they're conscionable trying to … articulation the enthusiasm and benignant of, I would accidental madness, surrounding these medications that surely tin heighten value simplification and tin amended humor sweetener power successful diabetes," Dasgupta said from Halifax.

Her interest is that if idiosyncratic with diabetes uses the drops oregon patches, it could hold oregon forestall them from receiving due aesculapian care.

Talia Wiebe, manager of selling and communications astatine Obesity Canada, says the enactment is alert of a institution fraudulently utilizing Obesity Canada's name, logo and an representation of its founder, Dr. Arya Sharma, to beforehand an unregulated supplement called HHVB GLP-1 Moringa Slimming & Health Boost Drops.

Obesity Canada tried to find the supplement shaper without success.

"We are moving with our ineligible squad to hopefully scope retired to them and cease and desist and person these products taken down," Wiebe said.

Diabetes Canada says it has reached retired to assorted societal media platforms wherever the ads utilizing their logo person appeared and reported the contented to Health Canada.

"All aesculapian devices authorized for usage successful Canada are listed successful the Medical Devices Active Licence Listing database," a spokesperson for Health Canada said. A hunt of Remifa oregon Briskix, the merchandise and seller of Snitman's purchase, did not output immoderate results.

Syron added different situation is that erstwhile 1 advertisement disappears, different rapidly pops up.

A spokesperson for Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said Friday that it has removed the advertisement from its platforms and is continuing to investigate.

Meta says its policies prohibit contented that "defrauds radical by promoting mendacious oregon misleading wellness claims, including those related to value loss, and we region this benignant of contented erstwhile we go alert of it."

Meta besides notes that the situation spans platforms, industries and communities, which is wherefore it works with instrumentality enforcement, regulators and backstage manufacture to combat scams.

"We proceed to put resources and further amended our enforcement connected this benignant of content," the spokesperson said.

Health Canada did not respond to CBC News regarding the usage of its sanction connected immoderate advertisements.