Cancer Claims Continue Attracting Federal Enforcement Actions
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Herbal and supplement products allegedly making deceptive cancer cure claims prompted the Federal Trade Commission to file complaints against 11 firms, including five that rejected settlement offers and are contesting the complaints
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The chief administrative law judge appointed by the Federal Trade Commission dismisses the commission's complaint against Franklin, N.C., firm Gemtronics Inc., and its owner, William Isely, because FTC did not adequately prove that Isely or the firm was responsible for deceptive advertising of an herbal remedy advertised falsely as a cancer cure. Isely admitted to selling the product RAAX11, which was "promoted as a mixture of chrysobalanus icaco, a derivative from a tropical bush, and agaricus, a medicinal mushroom," according to FTC, but he denied advertising or selling the product through 1www.agaricus.net, the Web site where the offending claims appeared. FTC has 30 days from Sept. 16 to appeal. FTC charged Gemtronics and Isely with making deceptive and false claims in September 2008 (2"The Tan Sheet" Sept. 22, 2008). The firm was one of 11 challenged under "Operation False Cures," a "law enforcement sweep aimed at peddlers of phony cancer remedies," FTC noted