Supplement Marketer Must Stop Health Claims
The Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement last week with dietary supplement direct marketer Karbo Enterprises, Robert Barefoot and Deonna Enterprises in which the defendants agreed to stop claims that Coral Calcium Supreme is a treatment for cancer, heart disease and other illnesses.The settlement stems from an FTC complaint last June alleging that Karbo, Barefoot and Deonna along with Kevin Trudeau, Shop America (USA) LLC, Shop America Marketing Group LLC and TruStar Global Media Ltd. made false and unsubstantiated claims in an infomercial for Coral Calcium Supreme. The case against Trudeau and his companies still is pending, the FTC said.
The settling defendants are required to recall any product packaging that makes such claims, the FTC said, and to advise resellers and distributors of the FTC's action and tell them to stop using promotional materials containing the deceptive claims. The settlement also prohibits them from making similar claims about any other dietary supplement and from misrepresenting the results of medical studies.
