The
Federal Trade Commission doubled down Wednesday on allegedly bogus health
claims in ads on TV and elsewhere.
Notlong after announcing a settlement with Nestle over claims for its BOOSTprobiotic kids drink, the FTC announced that dietary supplement maker Iovate Health Sciences USA and
a pair of affiliated Canadian companies will pay $5.5 million to settle charges
it made bogus claims for a variety of products in TV ads, online pitches and
print ads in magazines. Iovate has also agreed to stop making the claims unless
it can back them up with evidence, including approval of the FDA for health
claims and scientific evidence for weight loss.
Those
claims, which appeared, among other places, on "various cable
channels," included that Accelis, nanoSLIM, Cold MD, Germ MD and Allergy
MD products could help users lose weight or prevent colds and other illnesses.
The
FTC is particularly focused on such bogus health claims because of the
potential, often immediate, harm deceptive claims can represent to consumers.
