Coral Calcium Sellers Faces FTC Legal Action

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It was not a good month for sellers of the supplement, coral calcium, with multiple regulatory actions and the discovery of lead in Bob Barefoot's Coral Calcium Supreme.

Here's a roundup of the news reports received.

• FTC: Supplement Cancer Claims Fraudulent Agency Moves Against Seasilver, Coral Calcium Supreme [American Cancer Society News; 23 June 2003] According to the agency’s complaint, the programs and brochures sent with the product say that research in reputable medical journals like the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has shown that calcium can reverse cancer and treat other diseases like multiple sclerosis and high blood pressure. “These and other claims go far beyond existing scientific evidence regarding the recognized health benefits of calcium,” the agency said in a statement announcing the court action. The agency also wants refunds for consumers who purchased the product. The agency is not seeking to stop sales of Coral Calcium Supreme, Hippsley said, just the false health claims.
• Coral Calcium Crumbles, But Did The Government Cite All The Hucksters? And Does Alkalinity Really Cure Cancer? [06/11/2003] By Bill Sardi
• FTC targeting sellers of coral calcium items
  Claims that a calcium supplement made from dead marine coral can cure everything from heart disease to cancer are too good to be true, federal fraud fighters said Tuesday, announcing legal actions against marketers of the product. The FTC and the Food and Drug Administration also are sending dozens of warning letters to retail and Internet marketers of coral-calcium products, ordering them to remove false or deceptive advertising. [MercuryNews.com; Jun. 11, 2003]
• The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), which represents the interests of about 70 large dietary supplement ingredient suppliers, manufacturers, and companies that service the industry, issued a letter urging federal agencies to crack down on coral calcium advertising. It sought federal action against Barefoot and other manufacturers making what it calls "egregious" claims. "The problem with coral calcium is [that] many of the claims are over the top, with no scientific validity," said John Hathcock, the group's vice president for scientific and international affairs. [Consumer Health Digest; Issue #03-20, May 20, 2003]
• As far back as 1999, the FDA issued a warning letter to a coral calcium marketer for unfounded therapeutic claims on its product labels. No further enforcement action was taken, according to an agency spokeswoman. In a recent interview, an FTC official said that coral calcium "is certainly an area that historically, priority-wise, we would be very interested in." [From the depths: Many experts don't swallow extraordinary claims for calcium supplements derived from sea coral.Packer-Tursman J. Washington Post, May 20, 2003]
  
• On June 10 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) formally charged Robert Barefoot, Kevin Trudeau, and their companies with making false and unsubstantiated claims about the health benefits of coral calcium. The agency said it will ask a federal court to freeze the assets of both parties and order restitution to consumers who purchased their product, Coral Calcium Supreme. In addition, the FTC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are sending warning letters to websites that sell coral calcium. [FTC and FDA take new actions in fight against deceptive marketing: FTC charges marketers of Coral Calcium Supreme dietary supplement and a pain-relief product with making false and unsubstantiated claims. FTC news release, June 10, 2003]
• The FTC sent letters to owners of Websites regarding shaky Coral Calcium claims. "You are responsible for all claims, whether express or implied, that are made on your web site. Please note that consumer testimonials constitute claims that your product will provide the advertised benefit, and therefore such testimonials also must be supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence." [FTC Notice to Internet Advertisers of Coral Calcium Products, June 10, 2003]
• The Independent Television Commission (ITC) in the UK has imposed a financial penalty of £60,000 on the television shopping channel, Shop America, for a number of breaches of the ITC's Advertising Code. One of the latest breaches was in relation to misleading claims in advertisements for Bob Barefoot's Coral Calcium Supreme - the advertisement for this calcium supplement claimed that it could help reverse cancer and other serious diseases and could benefit everyone, including babies. This is in breach of rules 8.2.3 and 8.3.5 of the ITC Code (making medicinal claims for a product without a marketing authorisation and suggesting that the supplement was necessary to augment an average person's diet, enhancing normal health, rather than indicating which particular groups could benefit). The Commission regarded this as a particularly serious compliance failure. [ITC imposes £60,000 financial penalty on Shop America. ITC news release June 2, 2003]
• ConsumerLab.com (CL) recently released it Review of Calcium Supplements, including the much-hyped "Coral Calcium" and other adult and children's products. It reported today that 20% of the calcium supplements it recently evaluated failed testing. One of those that failed is the much hyped Coral Calcium "Supreme" which, coincidentally, was also the subject of government action today for false advertising. Reasons for products failing the Calcium Review included excessive lead, too little calcium, and inability to fully break down (needed for absorption). The review includes results for 25 calcium products, including fifteen reviewed and ten others that recently passed the same evaluation through CL’s Voluntary Certification Program. [ConsumerLab.com Review ]
• ConsumerLab.com (CL) has reported that Bob Barefoot's Coral Calcium Supreme contains 2.5 micrograms of lead per gram of calcium. This might not pose a physical threat (except, perhaps, to a developing child when taken by a woman who is pregnant or breastfeeding). California requires that products exceeding the "no significant risk level" of 1.5 micrograms of lead provide a warning label -- which Barefoot's product does not. [Consumer Health Digest;Issue #03-23, June 10, 2003]

More information :

Are You A Victim Of One Of The Biggest Scams On Television?
By Ronald J. Grisanti D.C., D.A.B.C.O

The Truth About Coral Calcium...
from the Editors of Internet ScamBusters

Quackwatch

DietPower™

Calcium Doesn’t Cure Cancer: The Real Story About pH and Cancer
By Bill Sardi

TIME Magazine article on Coral Calcium
By LEON JAROFF; TIME Magazine, Mar. 14, 2003

Special Report on Coral Calcium
By Healthwatcher.net, a consumer health watchdog

UC Berkeley Wellness Letter
on the claims made for coral calcium supplements