|
E-mail this page to a friend!
Senior Alert
FTC Stops False Claims about Fountain of Youth Oral
Sprays
Spays do not contain or cause body to produce human
growth hormone
 Oct.
18, 2005 – The Federal Trade Commission has won a temporary restraining
order against marketers of oral sprays that supposedly contain human
growth hormone (HGH) to stop them from making alleged false and
deceptive claims and from sending illegal spam. The FTC charged that the
sprays, marketed on dozens of Web sites and through spam, do not cause
weight loss, reverse the aging process, or prevent or treat diseases as
advertised.
The FTC alleged in a complaint that the sprays do
not contain HGH or cause the body to produce it.
The complaint also charged that the defendants made
false and deceptive product claims, misrepresented the security of their
online ordering pages, and sent hundreds of thousands of illegal spam
messages advertising the sprays.
The defendants are Pacific Herbal Sciences, Inc.
and its president, John A. Brackett, Jr., and Natural Health Product,
Inc. and New Star Marketing Group, Inc. and their president, Lei Lu,
also known as Lei Li, also doing business as IE Marketing, Inc.
The temporary restraining order also freezes the
defendants’ assets.
According to the FTC complaint, the advertisements
for “HGH Revolution” and “Natural Rejuvenator HGH-R” made incredible
claims such as:
“LOSE WEIGHT WHILE YOU SLEEP without DIETING or
EXERCISE”
“Experience up to an 82% IMPROVEMENT in body fat
loss while erasing 10 YEARS in 10 WEEKS!”
The marketing pitches for the sprays referred to
clinical studies and prestigious publications to give credibility to
their claims.
In its complaint, the FTC alleged the defendants
made false claims about their products, lacked substantiation for those
claims, and falsely stated that scientific studies validate their
claims. Specifically, the defendants’ ads made false or misleading
claims that the sprays:
-
contained HGH or increased the body’s production of
HGH;
-
caused users to lose weight, without dieting or
exercise;
-
would turn back or slow the aging process,
including increasing strength and energy, restoring the size of “bodily
organs that shrink with age,” and improving memory; and
-
would prevent, treat, or cure diseases and medical
conditions, such as strengthening the immune system, lowering blood
pressure, lowering cholesterol, increasing bone density, improving
vision, quickening healing from injuries, acting as an antidepressant,
and stabilizing mood swings.
The defendants also claimed their Web site ordering
pages were secure, saying, “NOTE: To ensure your personal privacy, all
of the information that you submit to us after this point will be
secured using SSL encryption technology.” The FTC charged that the Web
sites were not, in fact, encrypted, and consumer information transmitted
was not secure.
The FTC alleged that the defendants drove traffic
to their Web sites through spam, sent by marketers they paid. Consumers
forwarded more than 200,000 of these e-mails to the FTC in 18 months.
The FTC’s complaint contends that much of the defendants’ email violated
the CAN-SPAM Act by using falsified headers and deceptive subject
headings; leaving out an Internet-based mechanism to opt-out of
receiving future e-mails; and omitting required information, including
the sender’s physical postal address, identification of the e-mail as an
advertisement or solicitation, and an opportunity to decline receiving
further e-mails from the sender.
The FTC is seeking a permanent ban on the
defendants’ false and misleading claims and illegal spam, as well as
money back for consumers.
The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file
the complaint was 4-0. The complaint was filed under seal in the U.S.
District Court for the Central District of California on October 6, with
an ex parte temporary restraining order and asset freeze granted on the
same day.
NOTE: The Commission files a complaint when it has
“reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated, and it
appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest.
The complaint is not a finding or ruling that the defendant has actually
violated the law. The case will be decided by the court.
Copies of the complaint are available from the FTC’s Web site at
http://www.ftc.gov and also from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center,
Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. The FTC
works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair
business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help
consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or
Spanish (bilingual counselors are available to take complaints), or to
get free information on any of 150 consumer topics, call toll-free,
1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357), or use the complaint form at
http://www.ftc.gov. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity
theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a
secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law
enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
Click to More Senior News on the
Front Page
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
