|
|
|
Food Selection for Gastric Bypass Patients
Dieters who dejectedly complain they are figuratively “stuck” with their excess fat may be surprised to learn there is a scientifically-accurate truth to their statement. Fat cells -- which are created when the body is unable to convert excess...
Innovations in Hair Transplant and Other Alternatives to Hair Loss
Although many people do not have visible hair loss, hair loss is
a natural daily occurrence. Approximately 50 to 150 hairs are
lost each day, but most hair regenerates because the hair
follicle remains intact. If the follicles shrink due...
Top 4 Sunless Tanning Methods
Tanning products, both sunless and sun, go to work on the epidermis, or the outside layer of your skin, and not the dermis or inner layer. However, the layer of epidermis that is affected by sunless versus the layer affected by sun tanning...
Which Hair Regrowth Product Will I Use Today?
When you decide to select a hair regrowth product off the store shelves without first doing research about it, you could be throwing your money away. Every one of these products advertise that they are clinically proven to be successful. Just think...
Why Don’t We Hear So Much About Female Baldness?
Female baldness is not as common as male baldness, which is probably why we don’t hear as much about it. Women are more self-conscious about baldness when it occurs and tend to suffer a lot more psychologically because of it than men do. Female...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Diet Pills and Consumer Fraud
Diet pills have met with many different fates, and come with many different promises. But at what point does the line between misleading advertising and outright fraud cross? And how long will health products be allowed to cross this line? Some diet pills have proven very effective, but were then found to have serious health side effects. Other diet pills have had short, explosive life spans. And some diet pills just plug right along. But one hallmark that remains true about the diet pill industry is that there’s always some new “breakthrough” with a new set of promises that aren’t easily verified.
Cortislim is one of newer generations of diet pills. Cortislim promised to reduce fat around the abdomen by reducing levels of the “stress hormone” cortisol. In October of 2004, the FTC charged the makers of Cortislim of claiming falsely and without substantiation, that their products can cause weight loss and reduce the risk of, or prevent, serious health conditions.
According to the FTC, the defendants began marketing CortiSlim in August 2003, through nationally disseminated infomercials featuring Cynaumon and Talbott that aired on a number of television channels, including Access Television, Travel Channel, and Discovery Channel. The FTC alleges that the defendants promoted cortisol control as “the answer” for
anyone who wants to lose weight, especially abdominal weight. According to the FTC’s
complaint, the defendants’ broadcast ads, print ads, and Web sites claimed that persistently elevated levels of cortisol, the “stress hormone,” are the underlying cause of weight gain and weight retention and also claimed that CortiSlim effectively reduces and controls cortisol levels and thereby causes substantial weight loss. The FTC alleges that the defendants claimed that CortiSlim: (1)
causes weight loss of 10 to 50 pounds for virtually all users; (2) causes users to lose as much as 4 to 10 pounds per week over multiple weeks; (3) causes users to lose weight specifically from the abdomen, stomach, and thighs; (4) causes rapid and substantial weight loss; (5) causes long-term or permanent weight loss; and (6) causes weight loss. The FTC also alleges that the defendants claimed that the effectiveness of CortiSlim and its ingredients is demonstrated by over 15 years of scientific research. According to the FTC’s complaint, these claims are false or unsubstantiated.
Cortislim eventually withdrew their initial advertising, and adopted a tamer approach, but not before lawyers started collecting signatures for a class action suit alleging fraud.
Which raises the fundamental question – how long will diet pills and other similar products be allowed to engage in questionable advertising?
Prescription drugs are required to pass many tests to prove their usefulness and safety. But with over the counter and herbal remedies, manufacturers can essentially claim whatever they want of their products without publishing any study results. This creates a scenario where companies nearly have a green light to make outrageous claims about diet products. The makers of Cortislim are said to have made $50 million.
But when the government puts a company in the crosshairs, other lawsuits are nearly always soon to follow. Within a few days of the Vioxx withdrawal, a class action suit was filed. These trends will continue, and if the FTC stays aggressive in pursuing false advertising, the incentives for bad marketing practices on unproven diet pills will decrease.
http://www.cortislimfacts.info
About the Author
Rex Ryan maintains the website:
http://www.cortislimfacts.info
|
|
|
|
|
|