A Las Vegas store allows its customers to buy Ivermectin, a horse dewormer, if they can present a picture of themselves with their horse.
According to IFL Science, ATV&V Track and Feed animal feed store had seen a rising demand for the said drug over the past several months, raising suspicions that customers are not using it to deworm their horses.
A customer verified such suspicions to the store manager, noting quite casually that he had been regularly taking the drug even though he was experiencing bothersome side effects.
Sally Smith, the manager, said in a Local 12 report; she had a gentleman entered the store, an older man, telling her that his wife wanted him to engage in the Ivermectin plan.
Immediately she told the customer it wasn't safe for him to take the drug. The latter then answered they have been taking it, and the only side effect he has experienced is that he cannot see in the morning. The store manager continued saying what the man described is a "big side effect", and thus she recommended not to take it.
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Just for Horses
Agreeing with what the Food and Drug Administration has said that one should not take horse drugs if he is not a horse, the manager placed a sign to make their policy clear. This said policy specifies that the drug will only be purchased if the buyer is a horse owner.
Part of its sign read: "MUST SHOW PIC OF YOU AND YOUR HORSE" alongside the warning that use of the drug developed for horses can result in severe injury or even death in humans.
Despite the standard agreement that one should never buy medicines for humans from pet stores, ATV&V is not the only animal store seen to have a rising demand for Ivermectin.
For instance, Modern Pet Foods in northwest Harris County told ABC 13 that they would only normally sell roughly 10 packets each month. Now, the sales have increased to approximately 50 to 100 each.
A Miracle Drug for the 'Anti-Vaxxers'
This horse dewormer has been acclaimed by anti-vaxxers as a miracle drug despite the absence or unavailability of data to support such claims.
One meta-analysis that did not show favorable results for Ivermectin has been redacted at the request of the authors after discovering fake or falsified data in one of the studies.
After taking out the study that contained falsified data, the meta-analysis did not benefit survival by taking the horse drug.
The message of the FDA on taking horse-dewormers stays clear. For one thing, the FDA wrote on its website; animal drugs are frequently highly concentrated as they are used for large animals such as cows and horses, which can weigh a lot more than humans do, "a ton more." It added such high doses could be extremely poisonous in humans.
No Proven Efficacy Against COVID-19
FOX5 Vegas reported that the FDA has not proven Ivermectin is safe to use by humans. It has not even shown any proof of efficacy as a treatment for COVID-19.
The FDA also said poison control centers across the United States see a spike in people experiencing adverse health effects after taking this animal drug.
Related report about the purchase of Ivermectin in Las Vegas is shown on News Today's YouTube video below:
Check out more news and information on COVID-19 in Science Times.
