Editor's Note
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a proposed consent order banning two companies and their shared officer, Kramer Duhon, from advertising, marketing, promoting, or offering for sale any dietary supplements, as well as from making any form of disease prevention claim in any form of product marketing, among other requirements. The order will, if approved, remain in effect for 20 years barring certain exceptions.
FTC had alleged that the companies had violated Sections 5(a) and 12 of the FTC Act by disseminating false and unsubstantiated advertisements claiming that certain of their products could prevent, reduce the risk of, cure, mitigate, or treat cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis, hypertension or diabetic neuropathy. Health Research Laboratories and Kramer Duhon were party to a previous court order for similar activities, established in 2018. FTC had sought to enforce this earlier court order in federal court, but the order was deemed “facially ambiguous” in a 2020 decision by the United States District Court of Maine.
