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Consumer Health Digest #09-17
April 23, 2009
Current # of subscribers: 11,774
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FTC attacks Kellogg cereal ads.
Kellogg Company, the world's leading producer of
cereal, has agreed to settle FTC charges that
advertising claims touting a breakfast of Frosted
Mini-Wheats as "clinically shown to improve kids'
attentiveness by nearly 20%" were false and
violated federal law. According to the FTC
complaint, Kellogg claimed in a national
advertising campaign that a breakfast of Frosted
Mini-Wheats cereal had been shown to improve
children's attentiveness by nearly 20%. However,
the clinical study to which the ads referred
found that only about half the cereal-eaters
showed any improvement in attentiveness, and only
about one in nine improved by 20% or or more. The
proposed settlement bars deceptive or misleading
cognitive health claims for Kellogg's breakfast
foods and snack foods and bars the company from
misrepresenting any tests or studies. The
settlement contains no admission of wrongdoing or
financial penalty.[Kellogg settles FTC charges
that ads for Frosted Mini-Wheats were false. FTC
news release, April 20, 2009]
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/04/kellogg.shtm Noting that Kellogg's 2007 sales exceeded $11
billion, Dr. Stephen Barrett submitted the
following public comment to the FTC:
"I believe that Kellogg should be required to pay
a fine because its advertising was
unconscionable. The fact that the ad
misrepresented the numbers in the study was only
part of the problem. The study itself was
deliberately designed to be misinterpreted
because it compared children who were hungry (no
breakfast) to children who were fed. A real study
to determine the value of Mini-Wheats would
compare children who had various types of
breakfast. Your failure to press for a fine
signals other companies to do the same. If you
really want to deter wrongdoing, you should also
insist that Kellogg issue a corrective ad stating
that the study itself was poorly designed."
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CSPI issues açai scam warning.The Center for Science in the Public Interest is
warning consumers not to enroll online in
supposedly free trials of diet products made with
the Brazilian açai berry. There's no evidence to
suggest that açai pills will help shed pounds,
flatten stomachs, cleanse colons, enhance sexual
desire, or perform any of the other commonly
advertised functions. And thousands of consumers
have had trouble stopping recurrent charges on
their credit cards when they cancel their free
trials. [CSPI warns consumers about Web-based
açai scams. CSPI news release, April 23, 2009]
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/PhonyAds/acai.html###
Bogus "board certifications" under fire.
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal
has announced an investigation and issued an
urgent warning about the sale of bogus medical
board certifications. Blumenthal's concern was
triggered by a complaint from the American Board
of Internal Medicine (ABIM). Blumenthal's office
has reported that Keith Alan Lasko-a/k/a/ K.
Lasko, Keith Ferrari, K. Ferrari, and KA James
Windsor -has sold bogus certifications to doctors
who submit only basic information and a fee as
high as $500. The scheme particularly targets
foreign-born or foreign-taught doctors who may be
unaware of the proper certification process. The
bogus board names include American Board of
Geriatric Medicine, American Board of Geriatrics,
United States Medical Specialists Federation,
American Board of Diabetes, American Academy of
Cardiology, American College of Christian
Physicians, and American Academy of Oncology.
[Connecticut Attorney General warns of bogus
medical board certification scam targeting
immigrant doctors. Press release, Connecticut
Attorney General's Office, April 9, 2009]
http://www.credentialwatch.org/reg/lasko.shtml###
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Other issues of the Digest are accessible through
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information about the National Council Against
Health Fraud, see
http://www.ncahf.org/about/mission.html. If you
enjoy the newsletter, please recommend it to your
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