To the Members of the List: This is the copy of the article appearing
in the Washington Post today. I found it intgeresting, and hope you
will too.
John Bjork
U.S. Aims to Help E-Buyers Beware
By Susan Okie
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 29, 1999;
Computer users surfing the Internet to look for a remedy for painful
joints can type in the words "arthritis cure" and get a list of more
than 10,000 Web sites, many of them promising miracles. But if they go
to the home page for a product called ArthritiCure, they're in for a
surprise. "Be pain-free FOREVER!" "Read our testimonials!" "Only
$19.95!" declares the advertisement. But if you click anywhere on the
ArthritiCure home page, the next message you read warns, "You could
have been SCAMMED!" and offers advice on how to recognize fraudulent
health claims
ArthritiCure doesn't exist. The Web site, brought to you by the Federal
Trade Commission (FTC), is part of a new effort by that agency to
crack down on fraudulent advertising for health products on the
Internet. By going after some of the worst offenders and by educating
consumers, the FTC is trying to cope with a flood of phony treatments
and cures being peddled online.
"The Internet has become a very yeasty place for fraudulent operators
... to pursue old-time scams," said Jodie Bernstein, director of the
FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, at a news conference last week
announcing Operation Cure.All, the new project. Last year more than 22
million Americans used their computers to sell medical information,
making health concerns the sixth most common reason for using the
Internet. The number of people going online for this purpose is growing
by 70 percent a year, said Scott Reents, of the market research firm
Cyber Dialogue Inc., who noted that women and seniors make up an
increasing share of such Web surfers.
Much of what they can find online is reliable and helpful: sites
operated by government agencies, medical schools and teaching hospitals,
consumer organizations, support groups and reputable doctors. But
they'll also encounter quacks galore. "Sites touting remedies for
serious diseases like cancer, heart disease, HIV/AIDS and arthritis are
exploding," Bernstein said. A team of Web surfers at the FTC visited
about 800 sites – 400 in 1997 and 400 in 1998 – that contained
questionable claims for products
purporting to treat or cure six serious diseases. In each case, the
agency sent an e-mail message to the owners advising them that such
claims must be scientifically substantiated and that they might be
violating federal law.
When FTC employees revisited a sample of the 1998 sites two months
later, they found that in 28 percent of the cases, either the site or
the questionable claims were gone. In 10 percent of the cases, some
change had been made. But at the majority – 62 percent – there had been
no change in content
Last week, the agency announced that it had charged four companies with
making unsubstantiated health claims for products advertised on the
Internet. In each case, the company agreed to settle and is prohibited
from making such claims for products in the future. Under the terms of
the settlements, those charged must make periodic compliance reports to
the FTC and must show the agency their advertisements, said Richard
Cleland, a staff attorney who directs Project Cure.All.
One company, Arthritis Pain Care Center, marketed CMO, a fatty acid
obtained from beef tallow, as an arthritis cure. Another, Body Systems
Technology Inc. (BST), sold shark cartilage capsules and products
containing cat's claw, a Peruvian plant, promoting them as treatments
for cancer, AIDS and arthritis. BST was ordered to notify purchasers
and refund their money.
Two other companies, Magnetic Therapeutic Technologies Inc. and Pain
Stops Here! Inc., promoted magnetic therapy devices to treat such
ailments as cancer, high blood pressure, liver disease and arthritis.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can also take action against
Internet site operators if claims made for medical products violate
labeling laws, said Gary Dykstra, deputy associate FDA commissioner for
regulatory affairs. "The FDA, just like the FTC, has got to look at
these things on a case-by-case basis," he said.
There are thousands of sites promoting health products on the Internet,
far too many for the federal government to police effectively, the
FTC's Bernstein acknowledged.
"They're like mushrooms," said David Schardt, an associate nutritionist
at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer
organization. "You can cut them down or trim them back and they keep
reappearing. ... By the time the FTC has contacted 400 of them, there
are 400-plus more sites. It just grows exponentially."
Since 1994, the FTC has brought charges for fraudulent advertising
against the operators of 91 Internet sites, including eight that sold
health-related products. Bernstein said the agency hopes such actions
will deter other would-be snake oil peddlers.
The FTC advises consumers to beware of marketing, on the Internet or
elsewhere, that uses the following techniques:
Claiming the product will quickly cure a variety of
ailments.
Using words such as "scientific breakthrough,"
"secret ingredient" or
"ancient remedy."
Using impressive-sounding "medicalese."
Claiming the government, scientists or the medical
profession have
conspired to suppress the product.
Including undocumented case histories or testimonials
citing miraculous
results.
Advertising the product as available from only one
source.
The ArthritiCure home page is part of an FTC effort to reach and warn
consumers who may be vulnerable to fraudulent health claims. The agency
has created similar Web pages advertising two other nonexistent
products, a purported weight loss aid called NordiCaLite and Virility
Plus, which claims to be an alternative to the impotence treatment
Viagra.
Computer specialist Dawne Holz, who designs FTC Web sites for consumer
and business education, said the agency has put 12 such "teaser sites"
on the World Wide Web to educate people about questionable marketing
tactics. "We advertise them to search engines or we wait for the search
engines to sen their spiders out" and find the sites, she said.
To check out products that sound too good to be true, FTC officials
suggest asking a doctor, pharmacist or – what else? – going on the
Internet. A major government site at www.healthfinder.gov provides
links to 5,000 reliable health resources. The FTC's home page, with
advice on how to evaluate diet, health and fitness products, can be
found at www.ftc.gov.
