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Consumer Health Digest #23-32
August 6, 30
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###
Marketers agree to stop advertising supplements as COVID-19 treatmentsQuickwork LLC and one of its managers, chiropractor Eric Anthony Nepute, are alleged to have deceptively marketed dietary supplements during the COVID-19 pandemic, in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act and the COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act. They have now agreed to injunctions and will pay civil penalties to resolve resulting lawsuits. The injunctions prohibit the defendants from:
*** advertising that their supplements can prevent, cure, mitigate, or treat COVID-19 without competent and reliable scientific evidence to support such claims
*** misrepresenting the results of COVID-19 research in their advertising
In an order entered on Nov. 14, 2022, Quickwork agreed to an injunction and a $1 million civil penalty, partially suspended due to an inability to pay. On July 19, 2023, the court concluded there was no reasonable basis on the record to support the company’s claims that zinc can treat or prevent COVID-19, or that Vitamin D or zinc provide equal or better protection against COVID-19 than the available COVID-19 vaccines.
In an order entered on Aug. 2, 2023, Nepute agreed to an injunction and to pay $80,000 in civil penalties. The defendants also agreed to pay damages if they make prohibited representations in the future.
[Permanent injunctions and judgment of over $1 million in civil penalties entered in case of deceptive marketing of purported COVID-19 treatments
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/permanent-injunctions-and-judgment-over-1-million-civil-penalties-entered-case-deceptive. U.S. Department of Justice press release, Aug 3, 2023]
Details about the allegations against the defendants in a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in April 2021
https://www.ftc.gov/system/files?file=documents/cases/2023188eneputecomplaint_0.pdf, were previously discussed in Consumer Health Digest
https://quackwatch.org/ncahf/digest21/21-15/. An FTC filing in March 2022 called for Nepute to be held in civil contempt if he continued to ignore a consent order he signed in May 2021
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.moed.187806/gov.uscourts.moed.187806.15.0.pdfstating that Quickwork LLC (doing business as Wellness Warrior) and Nepute would not claim their vitamin and mineral products could treat or cure COVID-19, had been proven to do so in studies, or were equal to or better than vaccines. Nevertheless, Nepute allegedly hyped vitamin D as a COVID-19 treatment in a radio broadcast.
[Patrick R. Feds say Creve Coeur chiropractor defying court order with claims of COVID cure
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/feds-say-creve-coeur-chiropractor-defying-court-order-with-covid-claims/article_3e825509-b9ba-523d-851e-e47cf42f2325.html. St. Louis Post Dispatch, March 7, 2022]
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Balance of Nature to pay $1.1 million in false-advertising settlementUtah-based supplement company Evig, doing business as Balance of Nature, has agreed to pay $850,000 in civil penalties and investigative costs and $250,000 in customer restitution to settle a consumer protection lawsuit filed by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. The company was charged with making unlawful false advertising claims for its dietary supplements, purportedly made from ground-up fruit and vegetables and sold in capsule form. Under the settlement, the company is prohibited from claiming:
*** its supplements can prevent, treat, or cure serious diseases including diabetes, fibromyalgia, arthritis, heart disease, and cancer
*** one serving of one product contains the nutritional equivalent of five servings of fruit
*** one serving each of two of their products would provide as much nutrition as 10 servings of salad
The company recommended that customers take 12 capsules each of its Fruits and Veggies supplements if they had been “diagnosed with life threatening illness.” Balance of Nature was also charged with using customer testimonials to make false claims.
The judgment calls for any California resident who purchased a Balance of Nature product in the past six years to be told how to claim a refund from the restitution fund.
[Supplement company to pay $1.1 million in false advertising settlement
https://countyda.sccgov.org/news/news-release/supplement-company-pay-11-million-false-advertising-settlement. County of Santa Clara Office of the District Attorney news release, July 26, 2023]
TruthInAdvertising.org has been warning about Balance of Nature’s advertising since 2016.
[Balance of Nature to pay $1.1m to settle regulatory action over false health claims
https://truthinadvertising.org/articles/balance-of-nature-to-pay-1-1m-to-settle-regulatory-action-over-false-health-claims/. TINA.org, July 27, 2023]
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Researchers, journalists chastised for exaggerating impact of medical errors as cause of deathMary Chris Jaklevic, the Association of Health Care Journalists’ topic leader for patient safety, has criticized journalists and researchers for failing to note flaws in reports claiming that medical errors are a leading cause of death.
[Jaklevic MC. ‘Medical errors are the third leading cause of death’ and other statistics you should question
https://healthjournalism.org/blog/2023/07/medical-errors-are-the-third-leading-cause-of-death-and-other-statistics-you-should-question/. Covering Health, blog of the Association of Health Care Journalists, July 27, 2023]
The flawed studies have included:
(a) a 2016 analysis published in The British Medical Journal (BMJ) suggesting medical errors are the third leading cause of death,
(b) the 1999 Institute of Medicine’s estimate of 44,000 to 98,000 annual deaths from unsafe care, and
(c) a 2013 paper that claimed annual deaths exceed 400,000. Jaklevic also notes:
Meanwhile, lower estimates get ignored. As far as I can tell, no mainstream news outlet covered a 2020 meta-analysis
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7351940/by researchers at Yale University that found evidence of about 22,000 preventable deaths annually, mostly in people with less than three months to live.
Based on input from McGill University science communicator Jonathan Jarry, MSc, and Benjamin Mazer, M.D., a pathologist who wrote about why debatable estimates of medical error are accepted
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/917696, Jaklevic assembled these suggestions for reporters and editors:
*** include the range of uncertainty in estimates of harm
*** examine how representative the study group was of the population of interest
*** determine how medical errors were defined
*** point out studies that show a different result
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Dairy caught making disease-prevention claims for raw cheddar cheeseA consent decree
https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2023/08/07151938/order_2010.pdfhas been entered in a federal case against RAW FARM, LLC, a California-based company that manufactures and sells raw milk, raw cheese, and raw-milk products.
In 2010, when the company was named Organic Pastures Dairy Co., LLC, a federal court ordered it to stop interstate marketing of raw-milk products
https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2023/08/07151938/order_2010.pdf. In March 2023, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) moved for contempt, alleging that the company had violated the 2010 injunction by:
*** distributing an unapproved new drug in interstate commerce: cheddar cheese promoted for the prevention of diseases such as heart disease, osteoporosis, and viral infections
*** failing to affix required statements on its invoices, packaging slips, and websites
In July 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California:
(a) concluded that Organic Pastures, its founder, and its president had violated the 2010 injunction, and
(b) granted the FDA additional oversight, enforcement, and inspection authority over the company.
[FDA Roundup
https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-roundup-august-1-2023. FDA News Release, Aug 1, 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)
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