FTC Settles Xenadrine Weight Loss Case

by: Lee Labrada - Posted in: Labrada News

27-Apr-2009

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of false weight loss claims and the negative effect that they have on misinformed consumers. The damage can be very personal and far-reaching. Here’s a typical scenario: Overweight consumer falls for misleading ad touting a “miracle fat loss pill.” Consumer tries the pill. Nothing happens. Consumer blames himself for the failure. Consumer resigns hinself to staying overweight. We have enough problems with two-thirds of our population being overweight!

This from an article that appeared in NutraIngredients-USA.com :

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reached agreement on a lawsuit it lodged against a US-based distributor in 2005 for marketing and distributing a product making misleading weight loss claims, as its crack down on testimonial advertising gathers steam.

The FTC affirmed a 2006 US District Court for the District of New Jersey ruling that RTC Research & Development (RTC) was guilty of “false and unsubstantiated advertising” of the weight loss product, Xenadrine EFX.

Much of the offending material was in the form of testimonials and comes at a time when the FTC is mulling over potential amendments to the laws that govern such marketing so that companies may find it more difficult to employ them.

The ruling

The 2006 ruling stated RTC, along with its owners, Tracy Chinery, and her husband Robert Chinery, Jr, who were also defendants in the case, had to pay $8m to compensate deceived consumers and to limit future advertising claims.

Xenadrine EFX was marketed as being clinically proven to cause rapid and substantial weight loss and was said to be more effective than ephedrine-based diet products that were banned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2004.