EDMONTON — Alberta NDP MLA Janis Irwin's 2021 medical advice, urging people not to take the "horse dewormer" medication Ivermectin, resurfaced on Friday as Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi uses the drug to treat a rare chronic facial disease. "Ok Alberta, I hate that I have to say this, but please don’t take horse dewormer. Thanks so much," wrote Irwin in an X post from August 2021..Irwin's remark is referring to Ivermectin, a meddication traditionally used to deworm horses, that also produced conflicting results in helping individuals deal with the effects of COVID–19. Despite the unclear effectiveness of Ivermectin some Albertans desired to take the risk and try the medication, prompting them to begin calling feed stores, asking to see if they sell it. As word of the usage spread, CBC published an article about the trend. Irwin's comments were posted in response to the article. .Her comments resurfaced after Nenshi announced on Tuesday that he is using Ivermectin to help treat Morbihan Syndrome, a chronic disease that affects the upper two-thirds of an individual's face and causes firm swelling.Though Ivermectin is used on horses, it is also used treat river blindness in humans and Nenshi said that it is one of the few treatments that has been effective in helping him combat the effects of Morbihan Syndrome. "So there you go, folks, Ivermectin actually does work for something," Nenshi said.Nenshi also said that the effects of Morbihan Syndrome are only cosmetic. "The challenge is, of course, in this job, purely cosmetic, when you're on TV every day, means a lot of kind people like (concerned viewer), go, are you okay? And give me great ideas about things to take down the swelling on my face," Nenshi said. .AHS ultimately decided in October 2021 to release an official statement in which that said that Ivermectin would not be used in Alberta to help treat individuals infected with COVID–19. "Although some early studies into the use of ivermectin against COVID-19 suggested possible benefit, none of the recent high-quality trials where results have been reviewed and assessed have supported these findings," reads an AHS statement.In January 2025, a COVID–19 taskforce, commishned by Premier Danielle Smith, among other things, reccomended that Alberta allow for alternative treatments, such as Invermectin, to be used to treat individuals, in the event of a future pandemic. The report was criticized by some of Alberta's medical experts, and Nenshi called it "authoritarian" and "quackery."
