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Consumer Health Digest #21-33
August 22, 2021
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; news reports; Web site evaluations; recommended and nonrecommended books; and other information relevant to consumer protection and consumer decision-making. Its primary focus is on health, but occasionally it includes non-health scams and practical tips. To subscribe, click here
http://lists.quackwatch.org/mailman/listinfo/chd_lists.quackwatch.org###
Chiropractic practice-builders who promote baseless stem-cell treatments get suedThe Federal Trade Commission and the Georgia Attorney General’s Office have sued the co-founders of the Stem Cell Institute of America for marketing stem-cell therapy with bogus claims that it is effective against arthritis, joint pain, and other orthopedic ailments.
[FTC, Georgia Attorney General sue Stem Cell Institute of America co-founders for deceptive joint pain cure-all marketing scheme
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/08/ftc-georgia-attorney-general-sue-stem-cell-institute-america-co. FTC press release, Aug 17, 2021]
The joint agency complaint
https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/1._complaint.pdfnames as defendants Steven D. Peyroux; Brent J. Detelich; Regenerative Medicine Institute of America, LLC, doing business as Stem Cell Institute of America, LLC (SCIA); Physicians Business Solutions, LLC (PBS); and Superior Healthcare, LLC (SHC). The complaint alleges:
The defendants, based in Canton, Georgia, promoted false or unsubstantiated claims that stem-cell therapy is comparable or superior to surgery, steroid injections, and painkillers.
Peyroux, a chiropractor, owned and managed SHC, a clinic that provided a range of healthcare services, including, between 2015 and mid-2019, stem-cell therapy. Peyroux also founded PBS, a consulting firm that taught chiropractors and other practitioners how to expand their businesses.
Detelich, a former chiropractor and longtime business associate of Peyroux, worked with PBS as a coach and speaker and managed some of its business operations.
In 2015, Peyroux and Detelich co-founded SCIA, which taught practitioners how to add stem-cell therapy to their practices. SCIA taught how to recruit patients through advertising, host free educational seminars, and conduct consultations. It also provided access to a “vault” of sample advertisements, fact sheets, and PowerPoint slides, and provided client clinics with the appearance of being part of a nationwide network under the SCIA name and logo.
The defendants also hosted free seminars for consumers that promoted SHC and pitched stem-cell therapy as effective against joint pain and other orthopedic conditions. The seminars targeted seniors and retirement communities and would schedule attendees for consultations at SHC’s clinic. SHC charged approximately $5,000 per joint injection, with many patients receiving more than one as part of their treatment.
In 2018, the defendants began offering a program through PBS that taught practitioners how to set up and market “regenerative medicine.” The program included seminars, conferences, one-on-one consultations, access to “PBS University” (an online platform with training videos), and demonstrations at the SHC clinic on how to administer stem-cell injections.
In addition to making false and unsubstantiated claims, the defendants violated Georgia’s Fair Business Practices Act related to the distribution of false or misleading information using a computer or computer network.
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Misleading claims rife on weight-loss- and muscle-building-supplement packages Researchers have analyzed the packaging of all 110 products sold in the weight-loss and muscle-building sections of a CVS Pharmacy, a Shaw’s supermarket, and a Target superstore in the Boston, Massachusetts area during 2013.
[Hua SV, and others. A content analysis of marketing on the packages of dietary supplements for weight loss and muscle building
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211335521001947. Preventive Medicine Reports, Volume 23, September 2021]
The study found:
Products averaged 6.5 claims per package.
Prices ranged from $1.49 (an individually packaged protein bar) to $42.79 (a bottle of 56 pills).
The median price per daily dose was $2.03 among the 71 products (64.5%) that listed a recommended maximum daily dosage.
Claims about reducing weight, BMI, or body fat were the most common (60.9%), followed by protein claims such as “high protein” (40.0%), and claims about guaranteed success (31.8%).
About a quarter of the products included claims about quick weight loss, being low in calories, or being able to boost metabolism.
47% of products had claims about scientific research supporting product use.
27% of products made claims that described the product as “fast-acting,” “long lasting,” or “maximum strength.”
13% featured a person endorsing the product.
14% boasted about awards.
Only 54% included the required FDA disclaimer
https://whitecoatunderground.wordpress.com/quack-miranda-warning-2/The researchers concluded:
This study revealed that weight-loss and muscle-building supplements display a high number of marketing claims that have not been evaluated by the FDA. In addition, the presence of a hard-to-find FDA disclaimer was associated with more claims. For these reasons, we recommend the government require a disclaimer on all dietary supplements that is prominently displayed on the front of the packaging. An even better step would be to restrict the use of marketing claims on dietary supplements for weight loss and muscle building that are not supported by rigorous scientific evidence.
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Medical boards fail to thwart COVID-19 misinformation spreaders The board of directors of the Federation of State Medical Boards, the national non-profit organization that represents medical boards within the United States and its territories that license and discipline physicians, issued this statement:
Physicians who generate and spread COVID-19 vaccine misinformation or disinformation are risking disciplinary action by state medical boards, including the suspension or revocation of their medical license. Due to their specialized knowledge and training, licensed physicians possess a high degree of public trust and therefore have a powerful platform in society, whether they recognize it or not. They also have an ethical and professional responsibility to practice medicine in the best interests of their patients and must share information that is factual, scientifically grounded and consensus-driven for the betterment of public health. Spreading inaccurate COVID-19 vaccine information contradicts that responsibility, threatens to further erode public trust in the medical profession and puts all patients at risk.
[FSMB: Spreading COVID-19 vaccine misinformation may put medical license at risk
https://www.fsmb.org/advocacy/news-releases/fsmb-spreading-covid-19-vaccine-misinformation-may-put-medical-license-at-risk/. FSMB, July 29, 2021]
However, a Medscape article that describes the spread of misinformation by several notorious U.S. physicians has concluded:
“So far, state licensing boards and federal and state medical associations generally have been reluctant to discipline or publicly call out physicians who have spread misinformation about the causes, treatments, vaccines, and prevention strategies for COVID-19.”
[Meyer H. Shouldn't docs who spread false COVID-19 info lose their licenses
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/956796? Medscape, Aug 18, 2021]
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Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Consumer Advocate
287 Fearrington Post
Pittsboro, NC 27312
Telephone: (919) 533-6009
http://www.quackwatch.org (health fraud and quackery)
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Topic: Chiropractic practice-builders who promote baseless stem-cell treatments get sue (Read 128 times)