Re: Fwd: ILLEGAL to give internet or email advice on health ????????

[Guest guest]

The FTC will probably not come down on legitimate informational

websites, this part is undoubtedly an urban legend. They are likely to

go after those sites that are telling people what to do in regards to

health issues. The advice to put in disclaimers is smart legal advice.

It is also equally intelligent to not " tell " people what to do, but to

give your opinion instead which is protected under the 1st amendment in

the U.S.

My understanding of what IS going on is that the FTC is coming down hard

on sites like the ones that touted Coral Calcium as being the cure for

cancer, anti-aging miracle and other outlandish claims. It makes it so

hard for those of us putting out legitimate research and those companies

doing honest work in the nutritional field to have to be clumped in with

these charlatan's.

I've inquired with some people " in the know " to see if this there have

been any changes in the law.

In health,

Mark Schauss

www.carbonbased.com

[Guest guest]

--- In , " Mark Schauss " <schauss@c...>

wrote:

<<<The FTC will probably not come down on legitimate informational

websites, this part is undoubtedly an urban legend. They are likely

to go after those sites that are telling people what to do in regards

to health issues. The advice to put in disclaimers is smart legal

advice.

> It is also equally intelligent to not " tell " people what to do, but

to give your opinion instead which is protected under the 1st

amendment in the U.S.>>>

Thank you, Mark! That's what i thought. I know FTC is coming down on

doctors prescribing meds online without examining patients in person,

but i don't think that they (as much as they wish to) could justify

suing people for merely sharing online what ailments they suffer from

and what supplements helped them most, especially if they do not

solicit business, not trying to sell anything, do not misrepresent

themselves, and do not derive any $$ profit from the advice they

give. In any case, it's always a good idea to include an upfront

disclaimer " this is not a medical/professional advice " that should

take care of such liability.

Either the website owner misunderstood the " warning " (or got tricked

by a " false alarm " ), or (much more likely) our Internet-savvy

opponents launched this hoax deliberately, in a lame attempt to slow

down what's inevitably coming...I re-read the story, and it does look

like a carefully constructed urban legend made to look " legitimate "

by providing a working website link and other details to add

credibility to it...

Thanks again!

<<<My understanding of what IS going on is that the FTC is coming

down hard on sites like the ones that touted Coral Calcium as being

the cure for cancer, anti-aging miracle and other outlandish claims.

It makes it so hard for those of us putting out legitimate research

and those companies doing honest work in the nutritional field to

have to be clumped in with these charlatan's.

I've inquired with some people " in the know " to see if this there

have been any changes in the law.

> In health,

> Mark Schauss

> www.carbonbased.com >>>>

[Guest guest]

> You know, upon further reading this warning does contain some

> elements of a classic " urban legend " ...so i still hope it's some sort

> of a hoax launched into circulation to deter people from uniting and

> standing up to the pHARMa together...anyone heard anything about

> such " new regulations " ??

>

I agree that it has some sounds of urban legend--- although

I have also thought (EACH time I see it) that I really should

write to the person to try to reassure her. The letter is

tragic, and I think abandoning her site is unnecessary ---

but I doubt I've got my ducks in a row to convince anyone

of this.

I don't know of any new regulations in this area--- here are

a couple of pages about the FDA's enforcement activities

for illegal health claims. These will lead you to other

information if you want to pursue it. Or search and find more.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/cureall/index.html

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/health/frdheal.htm

Caveat: although I don't know of any new rules, and I think

there is still reasonable room for public commentary, I also

find some of the things I hear leave me wondering where

we are headed.......

Moria

[Guest guest]

--- In , " Mark Schauss " <schauss@c...>

wrote:

> The FTC will probably not come down on legitimate informational

> websites, this part is undoubtedly an urban legend. They are likely to

> go after those sites that are telling people what to do in regards to

> health issues. The advice to put in disclaimers is smart legal advice.

> It is also equally intelligent to not " tell " people what to do, but to

> give your opinion instead which is protected under the 1st amendment in

> the U.S.

>

> My understanding of what IS going on is that the FTC is coming down hard

> on sites like the ones that touted Coral Calcium as being the cure for

> cancer, anti-aging miracle and other outlandish claims.

Yeah--- just now (a minute ago) when I did a search on something

like " FDA claim false web crackdown " I got a number of articles

about specific issues, including Coral Calcium and a bunch of

other stuff. I didn't read all this stuff, but if anyone wants

more information on any of this, it is easy to find.

Moria

[Guest guest]

Sounded like spam to me.

Debi

--- In , " scap_64 " <scap_64@y...>

wrote:

> You know, upon further reading this warning does contain some

> elements of a classic " urban legend " ...so i still hope it's some

sort

> of a hoax launched into circulation to deter people from uniting

and

> standing up to the pHARMa together...anyone heard anything about

> such " new regulations " ??