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Consumer Health Digest #23-12
March 19, 2023
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###
FTC orders social media and video platforms to disclose ad standards and policiesThe Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has ordered eight social media and video streaming providers <https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/P224500-Social-Media-6b-Model-Order.pdf> to explain how they scrutinize and restrict advertising that is deceptive or exposes consumers to fraudulent health-care products, financial scams, counterfeit and fake goods, or other fraud.
The recipients are
*** Meta Platforms, Inc.;
*** Instagram, LLC;
*** YouTube, LLC;
*** TikTok, Inc.;
*** Snap, Inc.;
*** Twitter, Inc.;
*** Pinterest, Inc.; and
*** Twitch Interactive, Inc.
[FTC issues orders to social media and video streaming platforms regarding efforts to address surge in advertising for fraudulent products and scams
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/03/ftc-issues-orders-social-media-video-streaming-platforms-regarding-efforts-address-surge-advertising. FTC press release, March 16, 2023]
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Medical clinic ordered to stop unsupported claims in adsOn behalf of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the U.S. Department of Justice has sued Dr. Dalal A. Akoury and companies she controls that operate as AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center for making false or unsupported claims for addiction treatment services, cancer treatment services, and the treatment of other serious conditions. The proposed order
https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/awaremed-settlement-order.pdfsettling the Commission’s complaint
https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2023/03/19121017/awaremed_complaint.pdfbars Akoury and her AWAREmed clinic, currently located in Johnson City, Tennessee, from making such unsupported claims and requires her to pay a $100,000 civil penalty. In their ads, the defendants allegedly:
*** described their clinic as the “Most Effective Medical Clinic Anywhere,” and claimed it “Boasts a 98% Improvement Rate…Treating Just About…Anything,” including addictions to methadone and other drugs, alcohol, food, and gambling
*** continued to claim without evidence that their treatment was “rapid, painless, effective, and safe,” and had better results in less time than 30-day treatment programs, even after the FTC warned them that making unsupported addiction treatment claims is unlawful
*** claimed their cancer patients would experience “exceptional results,” and that virtually all patients at any disease stage would improve moderately to significantly after treatment at the AWAREmed clinic
*** claimed near-universal success in treating chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
The FTC also alleged that in 2017 and 2018, when the clinic was located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Akoury appeared in nearly 100 brief TV segments hosted by reporters with Fox News’s Myrtle Beach affiliate, promoting AWAREmed in what appeared to be news interviews. It was never disclosed, however, that some of those appearances were paid ads placed by Akoury.
[FTC sues medical clinic and its owner for false or unsubstantiated claims its treatment could cure addiction and other diseases
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/03/ftc-sues-medical-clinic-its-owner-false-or-unsubstantiated-claims-its-treatment-could-cure-addiction. FTC press release, March 16, 2023]
In 2015, Dr. Stephen Barrett asked the Tennessee Department of Health to do something about Akoury’s advertising and use of chelation therapy, but the agency did not pursue the problem he described.
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CDC and FDA correct Florida surgeon general about COVID-19 vaccinesU.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D., and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle P. Walensky, M.D., MPH, have sent a letter
https://www.fda.gov/media/166159/downloadcorrecting misinterpretations and misinformation about data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/ensuringsafety/monitoring/vaers/index.html(VAERS) in response to a letter from Florida’s Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo, M.D., PhD.
[FDA and CDC response to the Florida surgeon general
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2023/p0313-letter.html. CDC newsroom release, March 10, 2023]
In the letter, they explain:
*** The claim that the increase of VAERS reports of life-threatening conditions reported from Florida and elsewhere represents an increase of risk caused by the COVID-19 vaccines is incorrect, misleading and could be harmful to the American public.
*** Reports of adverse events to VAERS following vaccination do not mean that a vaccine caused the event.
*** The Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) for the COVID-19 Vaccines require sponsors and vaccine providers to report certain adverse events through VAERS, so more reports should be expected.
*** Despite increased reports of these (adverse cardiovascular events), when the concern was examined in detail by cardiovascular experts <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9939951/>, the risk of stroke and heart attack was actually lower in people who had been vaccinated, not higher.
*** In addition to VAERS, FDA and CDC utilize active surveillance systems to monitor the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.
*** Based on available information for the COVID-19 vaccines that are authorized or approved in the United States, the known and potential benefits of these vaccines clearly outweigh their known and potential risks. Additionally, not only is there no evidence of increased risk of death following mRNA vaccines, but available data have shown quite the opposite: that being up to date on vaccinations saves lives compared to individuals who did not get vaccinated.
*** The most recent estimate is that those who are up to date on their vaccination status have a 9.8 fold lower risk of dying from COVID-19 than those who are unvaccinated and 2.4 fold lower risk of dying from COVID-19 than those who were vaccinated but had not received the updated, bivalent vaccine.
*** Ladapo has repeatedly spread falsehoods about COVID-19 vaccines.
[Mole B. Florida surgeon general wrong on vaccines and bad at his job, CDC and FDA say
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/03/florida-surgeon-general-wrong-on-vaccines-and-bad-at-his-job-cdc-and-fda-say/. Ars Technica, March 13, 2023]
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Former FDA official calls for better herbal-product oversightNoting that many herbal products are “complex, highly variable, impure, and unsafe” and “virtually exempted from oversight” due to passage of the Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act of 1994(DSHEA), former U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official Henry I. Miller, M.S., M.D., is calling for Congress to take long overdue actions, including:
*** requiring all dietary-supplement makers to register with the FDA, so regulators will have reliable information about how many supplement makers exist, where they are located, and the range of products they are selling
*** empowering the FDA to issue “a mandatory recall order” if there is a reasonable likelihood a supplement is spiked with a harmful substance or could otherwise cause serious health problems
*** empowering the FDA to publish an inclusive list of supplement ingredients from which manufacturers could not deviate except to allow a reasonable margin for harmless impurities
*** requiring manufacturers to have their supplements analyzed by an independent, nongovernmental entity to ensure the label on the bottle accurately reflects both the ingredients and the number of dosages. A model is the Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories—the prototype of which is Underwriters Laboratories, a large nonprofit organization that tests and certifies more than 20,000 categories of products ranging from lighting fixtures and surge protectors to bulletproof glass.
*** DSHEA permits products to be marketed without assurance that they are effective. To fix this problem, DSHEA would have to be repealed.
[Miller HI. Death by dietary supplement
https://www.acsh.org/news/2023/03/09/death-dietary-supplement-16917. American Council on Science and Health, March 9, 2023]
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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)
Author
Topic: FTC orders social media and video platforms to disclose ad standards and policie (Read 61 times)