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Consumer Health Digest #08-12
March 18, 2008
Current # of subscribers: 11,762
Consumer Health Digest is a free weekly e-mail newsletter edited by
Stephen Barrett, M.D., and cosponsored by NCAHF and Quackwatch. 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.
###
Quackwatch and Dr. Barrett need your help.
If you haven't already done so, please read
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support our work.
###
MLMs dropped from proposed Business Opportunity Rule.
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The FTC has withdrawn its proposal to protect prospective
distributors from exaggerated income claims by multilevel marketers.
In April 2006, the FTC proposed to require all sellers of business
opportunities to provide enough information to enable prospective
buyers to make an informed decision about their probability of
earning money. The most important provisions pertained to MLM
companies, in which independent distributors sell products, recruit
more distributors, and theoretically profit from both their own sales
and those of the people they recruit. This week, after considering
public comments, the agency issued a revised notice of proposed
rulemaking (RNPR) that excluded MLM companies. The RNPR claims:
**The initial rule would have imposed greater burdens on the MLM
industry than other types of business opportunity sellers without
sufficient countervailing benefits to consumers.
**Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act remains a "flexible
and effective weapon against MLMs that engage in unfair and deceptive
practices."
Neither of these claims is valid. MLM companies nearly always
exaggerate what new distributors are likely to make. The vast
majority of newly recruited MLM distributors do not make significant
income. In addition, few if any health-related products have a
legitimate market because they provide no significant benefit, are
grossly overpriced, or both. Meaningful disclosure, which might deter
millions of people each year from wasting their time and money by
signing up as distributors, would cost very little. Moreover, the FTC
lacks both the willingness or the resources to attack misleading
claims by hundreds of companies on a case-by-case basis. Comments on
the RNPR can be made online until May 27, 2008. (The submission page
is not yet posted.) Thereafter, rebuttal comments can be made up to
June 16.###
Bogus cancer therapist sentenced to prison.
Paul John Rana, of Wyndam Vale, Australia, has been sentenced to six
months in prison for breaching Australia's Trade Practices Act.
[Bogus cancer therapist jailed. Herald Sun, March 20, 2008]
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23407922-5005961,00.html Rana and his company, NuEra Wellness. marketed expensive regimens
with claims that it could cure cancer. The RANA System, which cost up
to AU$35,000, included vitamin and mineral supplements; laetrile
(also known as vitamin B17); Cesium or high PH therapy; devices
called parasite/energy zappers, Zen Chi Massages, and Magnetic
Pulsers; coffee enemas, ozone therapy, diets described as eating
according to blood type; live blood analysis; and thermal imaging. In
2006, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)
challenged Rana and the company to document their claims. When they
failed to provide documents, the ACCC obtained an injunction
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/federal_ct/2007/695.html and
initiated criminal charges.
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Nutri-Energetics ordered to stop unsubstantiated claims.
The British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ordered
Nutri-Energetics Systems (NES) to stop claiming that its system can
"map the quantum electrodynamics body-field" and that its products
can solve a wide range of health problems. NES is based on the notion
that the "human body field" is the "master control system of the
biochemical processes of the body." Alleged problems are assessed by
placing the patient's hand in a "body field scanner" that detects
problems that can be corrected by administration of liquid
"infoceutical" products that contain traces of minerals encoded to
"realign" and "energize" the body field so the body can heal itself.
The treatment is available through a network of practitioners who
have been trained and "certified" by NES. The advertising brochure
that the ASA examined stated:
"When you take an Infoceutical as drops in water, the QED information
acts as a magnetic signpost to the subatomic particles in your
body-field; aligning these particles helps to restore optimal heath
... the NES software is able to 'read' your body-field and compare it
to the optimum human body-field, which is encoded into the software.
The NES Infoceuticals then provide the proper information (or
software) to restore your body's proper functioning. The aspects of
the human body-field that a screening reveals include: Major organ
systems, Environmental toxins, Nutrition, Musculoskeletal, Emotional
states, Viruses/Bacteria. Correction of these essential criteria can
be vital in solving a wide range of complaints, including digestion,
weight, muscular, nervous and skin problems as well as fatigue,
headaches, and other health problems. After a short time using the
Infoceuticals, most clients experience increased health, vitality,
mental and emotional clarity."
NES told the ASA that the brochure was obsolete and that supportive
research has been done since it was published. The ASA responded that
the research was insignificant and ordered the company (a) not to
make future advertising claims without supportive evidence available
and (b) not to claim effectiveness against serious or prolonged
medical conditions. [ASA Adjudication: Nutri-Energetics Systems Ltd.
March 19, 2008]
http://www.casewatch.org/foreign/asa/nutri-energetics.shtml Current
claims on the NES Web site are as blatant as those in the brochure,
but the ASA does not have jurisdiction over Internet advertising.
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Vaccine-related settlement misrepresented.
Antivaccination zealots are misrepresenting the significance of a
case that has been dismissed from the Omnibus Autism Proceeding.
http://www.uscfc.uscourts.gov/omnibus-austim-proceeding Early this
month, U.S. government agreed to compensate the family of Hannah
Poling, one of the approximately 5,000 families that had claimed that
vaccines had caused their children to become autistic. Children with
proven reactions to certain vaccines are entitled to payment from the
National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).
http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/default.htm Several years
ago, those seeking to link vaccination and autism were grouped
together in the Omnibus proceeding. The centerpiece of their argument
is that a mercury-containing preservative (thimerosal) causes autism.
Although there is no scientific evidence of any such connection,
antivaccination groups are claiming that that the Poling case
supports their argument. However, Hannah was removed from the Omnibus
proceeding because her case differed from the rest. The government
concluded that her vaccinations had probably aggravated a rare
underlying mitochondrial disorder and produced a brain condition with
"features of autism spectrum disorder"-but not autism. This made the
family eligible for compensation under the VICP. [Parikh RK. What the
Poling autism case means: The widely publicized court victory for the
family who claimed vaccines caused autism in their daughter does not
prove a link. Casewatch, March 13, 2008]
http://www.autism-watch.org/news/poling.shtml###
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--
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Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Board Chairman, Quackwatch, Inc.
Chatham Crossing, Suite 107/208
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