| U.S. Federal Trade Commission |
FTC News Release, Jan 22, 2004
Marketers of Coral Calcium Product Are Prohibited from Making Disease Treatment and Cure Claims in Advertising
Under a settlement with the Federal Trade
Commission, Robert Barefoot, Deonna Enterprises, Inc., and
Karbo Enterprises, Inc. are prohibited from making claims that
the dietary supplement “Coral Calcium Supreme” or any other
coral calcium product can treat or cure cancer, multiple
sclerosis, heart disease, high blood pressure, and other
serious diseases. The defendants also cannot make unsupported
claims that the body absorbs coral calcium better than other
calcium supplements in the market.
The settlement resolves charges in a June 9,
2003 complaint filed by the Commission in the federal district
court alleging that the settling defendants, together with
defendants Kevin Trudeau, Shop America (USA), LLC, Shop
America Marketing Group, LLC, and TruStar Global Media, Ltd.,
made false and unsubstantiated claims in a widely disseminated
infomercial that Coral Calcium Supreme would treat or cure
cancer, MS, heart disease and other serious diseases. The FTC
also challenged claims that a daily serving of Coral Calcium
Supreme provides the same amount of bioavailable calcium as
two gallons of milk, and that the body absorbs significantly
more of the calcium in coral calcium - up to 100 times more,
and at a significantly faster rate - than the calcium
contained in commonly available calcium supplements. (The case
against Kevin Trudeau and his companies still is pending.)
The FTC alleges that the challenged claims
go far beyond the existing scientific evidence concerning the
recognized health benefits of calcium.
Under the settlement, the defendants cannot
make the challenged efficacy claims including that scientific
research proves that calcium supplements are able to reverse
or cure cancer in the human body. The settlement also
prohibits the defendants from making the types of comparative
bioavailability claims challenged in the complaint. In
addition, the settlement prohibits the defendants from
misrepresenting that any dietary supplement can prevent,
treat, or cure any disease and from making unsubstantiated
claims about the health benefits, performance,or efficacy for
all dietary supplements, foods, drugs, cosmetics, devices, or
services. The settlement further prohibits the defendants from
misrepresenting the existence, contents, validity, results,
conclusions, or interpretations of any test or study for any
foods, drugs, dietary supplements, cosmetics, or services.
The settlement requires the defendants to
recall any product packaging that makes the challenged claims.
It also requires them to send a notice to resellers and
distributors advising them of the FTC’s action, and directing
them to stop using promotional materials containing the
deceptive claims, and informing them that if they do not
comply, the defendants will stop doing business with them.
The settlement allows the FTC to recover all
royalties owed to defendant Barefoot in connection with the
Coral Calcium Supreme infomercial marketing. Based on the
defendants’ financial condition, the settlement does not
require additional redress. The settlement does, however,
contain an avalanche clause of $3 million, if the court finds
that the defendants misrepresented their financial
condition.
Finally, the settlement contains various
recordkeeping requirements to assist the FTC in monitoring the
defendants’ compliance.
The Commission vote to authorize staff to
file the proposed stipulated final order for permanent
injunction was 5-0. The stipulated final order was entered by
the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois,
Eastern Division, on January 15, 2004.
The text in this article was prepared by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.