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Consumer Health Digest #21-41
October 17, 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.
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Advertisers warned about misleading endorsementsThe Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sent a Notice of Penalty Offenses
https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/attachments/penalty-offenses-concerning-endorsements/npo_endorsement_template_letter.pdf to more than 700 companies
https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/attachments/penalty-offenses-concerning-endorsements/list-recipients-endorsement-notice.pdf, including some sellers of health-related products or services. The notice warns recipients that they could incur civil penalties of up to $43,792 per violation by engaging in conduct that has been found unlawful in a previous FTC administrative order
https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/penalty-offenses/endorsements, other than a consent order.
[FTC puts hundreds of businesses on notice about fake reviews and other misleading endorsements
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/10/ftc-puts-hundreds-businesses-notice-about-fake-reviews-other. FTC press release, Oct 13, 2021]
Such conduct includes these unfair or deceptive trade practices:
*** making claims that falsely represent, expressly or by implication, that a third party has endorsed a product or its performance
*** misrepresenting that an endorsement represents the experience, views, or opinions of users or purported users of products
*** misrepresenting an endorser as an actual, or recent user of a product or service
*** continuing to advertise an endorsement unless the advertiser has good reason to believe that the endorser continues to subscribe to the views presented in the endorsement
*** using testimonials to make unsubstantiated or otherwise deceptive performance claims even if such testimonials are genuine
*** failing to disclose a connection between an endorser and the seller of an advertised product or service, if such a connection might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement and if the connection would not be reasonably expected by consumers
*** misrepresenting explicitly or implicitly by using testimonials that the experience described by an endorser represents the typical or ordinary experience of users
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Human rights group calls for disciplining doctors who spread COVID-19 misinformationPhysicians for Human Rights (PHR) has urged the U.S. Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) to work with its members to stop the spread of COVID-19 misinformation.
[Doctors who repeatedly spread COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation should lose medical licenses: PHR
https://phr.org/news/doctors-who-repeatedly-spread-covid-19-misinformation-and-disinformation-should-lose-medical-licenses-phr/. Physicians for Human Rights press release, Oct 13, 2021]
In July, FSMB warned
https://www.fsmb.org/advocacy/news-releases/fsmb-spreading-covid-19-vaccine-misinformation-may-put-medical-license-at-risk/ that, “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.” On September 21, the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners adopted a policy
https://html.scribdassets.com/71lj46ovpc923a22/images/1-3174766c40.jpgconsistent with the FSMB warning, but no other medical boards appear to have done so.
[Doctors who spread COVID-19 misinformation could face discipline, says Tenn. medical board
https://newschannel9.com/news/coronavirus/doctors-who-spread-covid-19-misinformation-could-face-discipline-says-tenn-medical-board. WTVC, Oct 7, 2021]
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Anti-COVID-vaccine chiropractors in Kansas spotlightedNPR’s Kansas City station has reported on chiropractors in Kansas who discourage people from getting COVID-19 vaccinations.
[Hammill R. Kansas chiropractors spread misinformation about COVID vaccines, without consequence
https://www.kcur.org/health/2021-10-12/kansas-chiropractors-spread-misinformation-about-covid-vaccines-without-consequence. KCUR, Oct 12, 2021]
The station’s report notes:
On September 20th, at a “health freedom” event in Lenexa, Kansas, all of the speakers promoted vaccine fears, The event was sponsored by: (a) Kansas City chiropractor Jay Goodbinder’s Epigenetics Healing Center at the “Royal” level with a donation of at least $10,000, (b) Docere Life Center in Wichita at the “Silver” level of $1,500, and (c) Thrive Chiropractic of Topeka, which funded a prize that could have ranged from $500 to $1,500.
In 2020, the FTC sent a warning letter to Goodbinder’s Epigenetics Healing Center
https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/warning-letters/warning-letter-epigenetics-healing-center-llc about its promotion that intravenous vitamin C and antioxidant glutathione treatments were effective against the coronavirus. In 2019, the Kansas Board of Healing Arts in 2019 censured Goodbinder
http://www.ksbha.org/boardactions/Documents/goodbinder_19.pdf for “acts of unprofessional or dishonorable conduct,” including sponsoring misleading and false advertisements, holding himself out as a medical doctor and failing to document treatments he recommended for patients. He agreed to pay a $1,250 fine, submit to billing and documentation monitoring, and take continuing education courses on proper advertising practices.
In August 2021, Lawrence, Kansas, chiropractor Amelia Rodrock, who had posted advice to “see a chiropractor to increase your chances for survival from coronavirus,” was censured, fined $4,000, and ordered to take 24 hours of continuing education on ethics and advertising
http://www.ksbha.org/boardactions/Documents/rodrock_21.pdf.
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Spread of non-English misinformation exposedIn a 20-minute video, comedian John Oliver provides a humorous but shocking report on how non-English-language misinformation easily spreads online among immigrant diaspora communities. He reported on how YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp, and WeChat have failed to appropriately respond and how the misinformation often taps into culturally-specific interests or fears. Oliver also describes how WeChat makes it impossible to embed links to access source material for fact-checking and how many people lack access to trustworthy information sources.
[Misinformation: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5jtFqWq5iU YouTube, Oct 11, 2021]
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Spread of health misinformation among U.S. Latinos investigatedThe data firm Nielsen has investigated media use by U.S. Latinos and concluded:
Latinos are consistently encountering false claims aimed at undermining confidence in our healthcare and medical science. This fake news spreads widely in social media and group chat applications more commonly used in the Latino communities.
[Inclusion, information, and intersection: The truth about connecting with U.S. Latinos
https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/report/2021/inclusion-information-and-intersection/. Nielsen Diverse Intelligence Series, Sept 2021]
The report found:
12% of news websites with an audience of 10% or more of Latinos contain content that was mixed, biased, extremely biased, conspiracy, or pseudoscience.
28% of news websites with an audience of 20% or more of Latinos contain such misinformation content.
Outsized use by Latinos of social media and messaging platforms such as WhatsApp with user-generated and shared content in Spanish, Spanglish, or colloquial Spanish, challenges conventional fact-checking and content moderation procedures to keep up.
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Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Consumer Advocate
7 Birchtree Circle, Apt. 703t
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
Telephone: (919) 533-6009
http://www.quackwatch.org (health fraud and quackery)
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