| U.S. Federal Trade Commission |
FTC News Release, Jun 3, 2004
Marketers of “Supreme Greens” and “Coral Calcium Daily” Come under Fire from the FTC
The Federal Trade Commission has
charged marketers of two dietary supplements with falsely
claiming that their products can prevent and cure cancer and
other diseases. According to the FTC’s complaint, Boston-area
marketers Direct Marketing Concepts, Inc. (DMC), ITV Direct,
Inc. (ITV), and Donald Barrett (Barrett), along with their
business partners, California corporations Healthy Solutions,
LLC and Health Solutions, Inc., and their principals Alejandro
Guerrero (a.k.a. Alex Guerrero), Michael Howell, and Greg
Geremesz; and Wayne, Pennsylvania-based Triad ML Marketing,
Inc., King Media, Inc., and Allen Stern, have sold “Supreme
Greens with MSM” and “Coral Calcium Daily” to consumers
through two widely-aired infomercials. The FTC alleges that
the Supreme Greens infomercial promoted the supplement as a
means to treat, cure, and prevent cancer and other diseases,
and to cause significant weight loss, as well as being safe
for consumption by all, including pregnant women and persons
on medication. The FTC further alleges that the Coral Calcium
Daily infomercial touted the supplement as a means to treat
and cure cancer and other diseases and as a superior form of
calcium based on its purported bioavailability.
The FTC’s complaint further alleges that
DMC, ITV, and Barrett failed to disclose that the infomercial
promoting Supreme Greens is a paid commercial advertisement
and not an independent television program, and that these
defendants charged consumers’ credit cards for automatic
product shipments without authorization.
The FTC is seeking a temporary restraining
order against the marketers of Supreme Greens, and is seeking
permanent injunctive relief, including redress to consumers
who purchased the products, against the marketers of both
products.
Supreme Greens
According to the FTC, defendants DMC, ITV,
Barrett, Healthy Solutions LLC, Health Solutions, Inc.,
Guerrero, Howell, and Geremesz (the Supreme Greens defendants)
began marketing Supreme Greens in August 2003 through a
nationally disseminated infomercial featuring Barrett and
Guerrero. The infomercial promoted Supreme Greens as an
effective treatment to cure or prevent cancer, heart disease,
diabetes, and arthritis. The FTC also alleges that the
defendants claimed Supreme Greens will cause significant
weight loss of up to four pounds a week and up to 80 pounds in
eight months, and that the product is safe for everyone,
including pregnant women, children, and persons on
medication.
The FTC’s complaint alleges that the Supreme
Greens defendants violated the FTC Act by making deceptive
efficacy and safety claims for the product. In addition, the
complaint alleges that defendants DMC, ITV, and Barrett
deceptively represented that the infomercial viewers were
watching was an independent TV program, when it was in fact
paid commercial advertising. Further, according to the FTC,
defendants DMC, ITV, and Barrett charged automatic shipments
of the product to consumers’ credit or debit cards without
their authorization.
The FTC has asked the court to enter a
temporary restraining order against the Supreme Greens
defendants to prohibit them from making the challenged claims.
The Commission also has asked the court to freeze the assets
of DMC, ITV, and Barrett, and to appoint a temporary receiver
over DMC and ITV.
Coral Calcium Daily
The FTC’s complaint also alleges that
defendants DMC and Barrett, together with Triad ML Marketing,
Inc., King Media, Inc., and Allen Stern, marketed Coral
Calcium Daily to consumers throughout the United States
beginning in 2002. Coral Calcium Daily is a dietary supplement
that purportedly contains a form of calcium derived from
marine coral. According to the FTC, the defendants promoted
the product through a nationally televised infomercial
featuring Kevin Trudeau and Robert Barefoot, whom the FTC sued
in June 2003 in connection with an infomercial promoting
another coral calcium product. The Coral Calcium Daily
infomercial aired on national cable networks such as PAX
Television, Women’s Entertainment, and the Food Network. The
defendants also advertised in free-standing newspaper inserts,
and sold the product through retail outlets such as CVS, Rite
Aid, and Walgreen’s. According to the FTC, the defendants
promoted Coral Calcium Daily as an effective means to prevent,
treat, and cure cancer, heart disease, and various
degenerative and autoimmune diseases including multiple
sclerosis, lupus, and Parkinson’s disease. In addition, the
FTC alleges that the defendants had no basis for their claims
that Coral Calcium Daily was superior to other calcium
supplements in terms of the amount of calcium absorbed by the
body and the speed of that absorption, and that the defendants
had no basis for claiming that scientific research published
in the Journal of the American Medical Association and the New
England Journal of Medicine proves that calcium supplements
are able to prevent, reverse, or cure cancer in humans.
The FTC alleges that the defendants’ health
benefit and superior bioavailability claims for Coral Calcium
Daily are false and/or unsubstantiated.
In a related action, on April 19, 2004, the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent a warning letter to
Barrett, president of ITV and DMC, stating that labeling for
the firm’s dietary supplement product Supreme Greens with MSM,
including a brochure and customer letter included when the
product was ordered caused the product to be out of compliance
with the provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic
Act. The brochure and letter contained unsubstantiated claims
about the product’s benefits such as “[n]atural weight loss,”
“balance the body’s pH,” and “neutralize acidity...heartburn,
acid-reflux.” In addition, disease claims were made on the
firm’s website. For example, the product claimed to “helped
(sic) thousands of people with cancer, diabetes, arthritis,
lupus, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome....” The claims
cause the product to be an unapproved new drug. Subsequently,
a response from the firm’s attorneys stated that they intend
to remove all the violative claims. FDA will continue to
monitor the marketplace to ensure that this product remains
lawfully marketed.
The Commission vote to
authorize staff to file the complaint was 5-0. The
complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the
District of Massachusetts, in Boston, on June 1, 2004.
The text in this article was prepared by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.