The Powers Of Other State And Federal Agencies

By Author: Candance Smith
Total Articles: 194
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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has the authority to recall products that it determines pose hazards to public health. The U.S. Postal Service can also obtain court injunctions barring companies from receiving mail orders. Additionally, states can sue corporations for consumer fraud. Outcomes of such suits include agreements not to market some products in some states. The case of Cal-Ban 3000, a so-called miracle diet product, is illustrative.

In ads in the pages of beauty magazines and tabloids, Cal-Ban 3000 was touted as a means of losing "up to 30 pounds in 30 Cartier Replica days or your money back!" In July 1990, after documenting one death and numerous injuries from the product, the FDA asked the company to recall it. But the FDA was not the first agency to act. In 1987, the U.S. Postal Service had obtained a court injunction barring the company from receiving mail orders for the diet product. The manufacturers responded by substituting a toll-free telephone number. In 1989, the state of Iowa went to court against the product. ...
... The result was the company's agreement not to sell Cal-Ban 3000 in Iowa. Florida also moved to ban the sale. The company that produced the product, Health Care Products of Tampa, settled the civil suit in Florida by agreeing that it would never again sell the product in the United States. The company also paid a $1.3 million fine. In early July 1990, federal officials obtained a court order of their own, barring both mail and telephone sales of the product. This last action effectively ended the company.

Cal-Ban used guar gum, a commercial thickening agent found in some beverages and diet products. When combined with moisture, guar gum swells. The swelling inside the stomach was supposed to make the dieter feel full. In its uncoated form, Cal-Ban could swell while in the throat, causing life-threatening obstructions. One Florida user died of complications from surgery to remove the swollen gum from his throat. A postal inspector estimated that before the company's demise, between $20 and $30 million worth of Cal-Ban had been sold.

In August 1999, the FDA announced that it had launched a computer system designed to track Web sites engaged in the illegal sale of prescription drugs. Of prime concern to the FDA are foreign Web sites that ship medications, from steroids to antibiotics. Such packages sometimes slip past customs officials. To help protect U.S. consumers from receiving inappropriate or dangerous medications, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy has begun offering its seal of Omega Replica Watches approval to online pharmacies that are properly licensed and meet its other standards. This practice is designed to help the Internet surfer avoid counterfeit, counterproductive, and potentially dangerous medications. The reason for the concern is clear. Earlier in 1999, a man who was at risk for heart disease and as a result should not have taken Viagra ordered it through an online pharmacy. Use of the pill purchased over the Internet cost him his life.

Newspapers are cooperating in spreading the word that self-medication and self-prescription through the Web can be problematic. "If you recently bought an at-home AIDS test called EZ Med over the Internet," noted an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer in August 1999, "expect a letter from the government urging you not to use it. The AIDS test is illegal, and worse, studies show it cannot detect the deadly virus as it claims."