Allaxys Communications --- Transponder V --- Allaxys Forum 1
Aktuell im WWW => *** PRESSEMELDUNGEN *** => Topic started by: Krik on March 06, 2024, 12:12:44 PM
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Consumer Health Digest #24-09
March 3, 2024
Consumer Health Digest is a free weekly e-mail newsletter edited by William M. London, Ed.D., M.P.H.
http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/william-m-london
, with help from Stephen Barrett, M.D
http://www.quackwatch.org/10Bio/bio.html
., It summarizes scientific reports; legislative developments; enforcement actions; other news items; Web site evaluations; recommended and nonrecommended books; research tips; and other information relevant to consumer protection and consumer decision-making. The Digest’s primary focus is on health, but occasionally it includes non-health scams and practical tips. Items posted to this archive may be updated when relevant information becomes available. To subscribe, click here
http://lists.quackwatch.org/mailman/listinfo/chd_lists.quackwatch.org
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Multilevel marketing companies commonly misrepresent distributor earnings
A TruthInAdvertising.org (TINA.org) investigation
https://truthinadvertising.org/industries/mlm-companies-income-claims/
into multilevel marketing (MLM) companies found that 98 of 100 companies misrepresented how much typical recruits were likely to earn. The study included all 93 companies on the June 1, 2023, Direct Selling Association membership list
https://truthinadvertising.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/DSA-Member-Directory-as-of-6_1_23.pdf
plus Tupperware, LegalShield, Pruvit, doTerra International, Monat Global, Vida Divina, and eXp Realty. For those that provided enough information to calculate overall earnings, TINA.org found more than 80% of their distributors made $1,000 or less for the year (before deducting business expenses) and many distributors made no money at all. TINA.org’s database includes more than 4,300 examples dating from 2018 to the present of companies and/or their distributors making inappropriate earnings claims on their websites and social media platforms,
[MLMs continue to recruit with deceptive earnings claims
https://truthinadvertising.org/articles/mlms-continue-to-recruit-with-deceptive-earnings-claims/
. TINA.org Consumer News, Feb 26, 2024]
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Dubious canine cancer-drug marketer receives 97-month prison sentence
Jonathan Nyce, 73, of Collegeville, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced to 97 months in prison, as well as three years of supervised release and a $500 special assessment for carrying out a years-long scheme to defraud pet owners of money by falsely claiming to sell drugs that could cure canine cancer. A federal jury convicted Nyce of wire fraud and the interstate shipment of misbranded animal drugs in December 2022. In perpetrating the scheme, Nyce:
*** created several companies, including “Canine Care,” “ACGT,” and “CAGT,” through which he purported to develop drugs intended to treat cancer in dogs
*** beginning in 2012, used various websites for these companies and marketed “cancer-curing” medications to desperate pet owners using the drug names “Tumexal” and “Naturasone”
*** made numerous false and fraudulent claims on the websites regarding the safety and efficacy of these supposed drugs, including that “Tumexal is effective against a wide variety of cancers,” and, “Tumexal will almost always restore a cancer-stricken dog’s appetite, spirit and energy!”
*** through email and telephone conversations, induced the owners of terminally ill dogs to pay him hundreds or thousands of dollars for these drugs by touting the effectiveness of his products in treating a host of canine cancers
*** told prospective customers their pets could become part of clinical trials but, in order to do so, they had to pay him large sums of money
*** sold nearly $1,000,000 worth of drugs to approximately 900 different victims
*** claimed in promotional materials that his company’s research was “funded in part by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration”
Nyce’s products were nothing more than a collection of bulk ingredients from various sources the defendant blended at a facility in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. His marketing, sale, and shipment of these drugs violated the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act because the drugs were not FDA-approved.
[Collegeville man sentenced to 97 months in prison for scheme to sell fraudulent canine cancer drugs to pet owners
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/collegeville-man-sentenced-97-months-prison-scheme-sell-fraudulent-canine-cancer-drugs
. U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania press release, Feb 16, 2024]
Nyce initiated his scheme immediately after completing an eight-year sentence for the 2004 bludgeoning death of his wife
https://www.inquirer.com/news/jonathan-nyce-sentenced-associated-press-2005-20200204.html
in their Hopewell Township, New Jersey, home.
[Roebuck J. First, he killed his wife. Now, a Collegeville man is headed back to prison for selling fake cancer drugs for dogs
https://www.inquirer.com/news/jonathan-nyce-sentence-dog-cancer-treatment-michelle-rivera-20240216.html
. The Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb 16, 2024]
Brennen McKenzie, VMD, MSc, discussed important details regarding Nyce, Tumexal, and the problem of veterinary quackery in his SkeptVet blog posts in 2014
https://skeptvet.com/Blog/2014/03/tumexal-wonder-drug-of-snake-oil/
, 2020
https://skeptvet.com/Blog/2020/02/snake-oil-tumexal-and-purveyor-jonathan-nyce-finally-face-the-law/
, and 2023
https://skeptvet.com/Blog/2023/01/a-tiny-bit-of-justice-for-victims-of-jonathan-nice-and-tumexal/
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Polish Health Ministry responds to advocates of dubious Lyme disease care
The LymeScience website has posted an English translation of a report by Miłosz Parczewski, M.D., Ph.D., that the Polish Health Ministry used to respond to dubious methods promoted by the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS). The report was shared on January 30, 2024.
[ILADS method should not be used, says Polish Health Ministry
https://lymescience.org/ilads-guidelines-dangerous-poland/
. LymeScience, Feb 18, 2021]
Professor Parczewski noted “according to current knowledge and the WHO classification, there is no ‘chronic Lyme disease.’” He concluded:
In summary, the “ILADS method”. . .has become a common basis in clinical practice in Poland for long-term (even over a year and several years!) use of many antibiotics, often in combinations (including drugs from the Beta-lactams, rifampicin, metronidazole, macrolides and others). . . The effectiveness of long-term antibiotic therapy has not been confirmed in randomized clinical trials on large enough groups and may lead to significant side effects and result in. . . antibiotic resistance in the general Polish population. Medical literature precisely describes cases of complications after long-term antibiotic therapy used in cases of Lyme disease. Additionally, there is scientific evidence in a randomized clinical trial (published after the publication of the “ILADS method” in 2016) describing the lack of benefit from long-term antibiotic therapy (12 weeks) compared to shorter therapy.
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“Leaky gut syndrome” not medically recognized
McGill University science communicator Jonathan Jarry looked closely at the dubious diagnosis of leaky gut syndrome and concluded:
Leaky gut syndrome is not a medically accepted diagnosis but is common in “integrative medicine,” naturopathy, and “functional medicine.”
Changes to the permeability of the intestine have been noted in inflammatory bowel disease, gut infections, and HIV/AIDS, but they appear to be consequences of these conditions not their cause.
The lactulose-mannitol test sometimes used to diagnose leaky gut syndrome is not reliable; and the use of dietary supplements to treat the alleged syndrome is not based on good scientific evidence.
[Jarry J. You probably don’t have a leaky gut
https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/medical-critical-thinking/you-probably-dont-have-leaky-gut
. McGill University Office for Science and Society, Feb 23, 2024]
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Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Consumer Advocate
7 Birchtree Circle
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
Telephone: (919) 533-6009
http://www.quackwatch.org (health fraud and quackery)