|     | Bentley-Myers International owes millions to FTC | | |
Another Bogus Plastic Surgery Magazine - April 2003 Is this just another one of Denman Scientific's scams, or does it really work.  Plastic Surgery Magazine Color |  Plastic Surgery Magazine Black & White |
Bentley Myers International
203-2780 Granville Street
Vancouver, B.C. V6H 4E7
This twelve page bogus magazine has been mailed out to millions of homes across North America. Please don't take a chance on this diet. Call the company and ask to speak with Dr. Rapoport, or the doctor from Scranton, Pennsylvania, and ask for references for their claims. Then ask them why they have so many names and toll-free phone numbers for their business operations in Canada.
Here's part of a letter I received in June 2003 from the University of Scranton:
Neither the University nor Dr. Vinson approved of the use of his name, research results and affiliation in this advertisement, and we are quite unhappy about it. Our General Counsel has initiated steps to ensure that Bentley-Meyers no longer uses Dr. Vinson's name, affiliation and work in their promotional activities. Neither Dr. Vinson nor The University of Scranton has any financial or other interest in Bentley-Meyers. We appreciate your concern, and thank you again for notifying us.Sincerely,Duncan Perry, Ph.D.Dean of the Graduate SchoolDirector of Research FTC fines Bentley-Myers $2.2 million March 9, 2004 - Direct mail marketers have agreed to pay $2.2 million in consumer redress and to stop certain deceptive advertising practices to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they made false and unsubstantiated weight loss and arthritis"cure"claims for dietary supplements in sales brochures mailed to consumers across the nation. In June 2003, the Department of Justice, on behalf of the FTC, filed a federal court complaint against California residents Michael S. Levey and Gary Ballen; Bentley Myers International Co., based in Vancouver, Canada; and Publisher's Data Services, Inc. and Nutritional Life, Inc., both based in Beverly Hills, California. The complaint alleged that the defendants violated the FTC Act by making false and unsubstantiated claims that three weight- loss supplements -Zymax and MillinesES (both containing ephedra), and Serotril (containing St. John's wort) -cause rapid and substantial weight loss without diet or exercise. The complaint also challenged claims that the ephedra products have no side effects. The complaint further alleged that the defendants made unsubstantiated claims that CartazyneDS, a dietary supplement containing glucosamine,"cures"arthritis and "rebuilds" cartilage"within days."The complaint charged that the defendants' ads used fictitious expert and consumer endorsements, and deceptive"before and after"pictures. FTC takes action against many ephedra vendors July 1, 2003 - FTC Charges Direct Marketers of Ephedra Weight Loss Products With Making Deceptive Efficacy and Safety Claims FTC Also Challenges Advertising Claims for Additional Dietary Supplements, including Bentley-Myers of Vancouver, Canada. The Federal Trade Commission today announced three enforcement actions against direct marketers of weight-loss products containing ephedra. The two settlements and one complaint, filed in U.S. district court, target deceptive efficacy, safety, and “no side effects” claims for weight loss supplements containing ephedra (also known as Ma Huang). The FTC actions challenge false advertising claims that the ephedra supplements cause rapid, substantial, and permanent weight-loss without diet or exercise, and that “clinical studies” or “medical research” prove these claims. The FTC also challenges claims that the ephedra weight-loss products are “100% safe,” “perfectly safe,” or have “no side effects.”The counties accuse Manasquan, N.J.-based Cytodyne Technologies of false and misleading advertising that does not mention possible health risks associated with the product. |
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"Do Nothing" Policies | | | OUR GOVERNMENTS' "DO NOTHING" POLICIES ENCOURAGE REPEAT FLIM-FLAMS
When is the government of Canada going to take action against the newspapers and the companies who market this junk on unsuspecting consumers.
We demand a complete investigation why the government has failed to take action against any of these companies. The diet and weight loss scam industry is worth billions in North America, and much of it comes from Canada. In other words our country is a safe-haven for hundreds of scam artists who use the internet and advertise freely in newspapers without fear of investigation by our governement. Someone right now stands to make millions operating from the safety of Toronto, right under the noses of Health Canada and the Ontario government consumer protection branch.
We appeal to the ASC, the government, both Provincial and Federal to take control of the fraud artists that are preying on the public. Right now, Canada is the laughing stock of the world when it comes to the control of health quackery. We will continue to do everything possible to educate the Canadian public about scam artists and rogue health care providers on our web sites. But, it seems clear from where I sit, that our governments just doesn't care about false advertising, health scams and the dangerous products that come into our country. They also don't care about mailorder scams that originate here, but are often part of an underground cash-filled pipeline to some island in the Lesser Antilles.
The world of health fraud on the internet includes dozens of other stories, some of them are very serious and involve doctors who are try to ship quack cancer drugs out of Canada into the U.S. That's another story, one that we will cover later on.
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Office of Natural Health Products | | | What did the government do about diet and health fraud? Late last year, they decided to form a new office, a spin-off of Health Canada. They appointed a dozen or so people to a transition team, the overwhelming majority supposedly represented the cream of the crop who work in companies that supply Canada with vitamins, herbs, and other alternative health products. These are the very people who can't prove that their products work, who can't prove that there products are safe, and yet the government appoints them to a transition team to set up standards in the natural and herbal product industry.
While the company that sells this particular product featured in this article is unknown, it is a prime example of what the government has failed to do. Having an Office of Natural Health Products is like putting the fox in charge of the chicken coop.
Why hasn't Health Canada or the police visited the vendors, and their associates to see what is really going on. Where is the money going from their profits? Is it being laundered overseas?
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We Demand that Action be Taken Now! | | | Our web sites will cover the story of government failure to control the false claims made in major publications, on the internet, on the radio and televison info-mercials until something is done.
Terry Polevoy, M.D.
Dietfraud.com
938 King St. West
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
N2G 1G4
519-725-4953 fax.
| SEND US YOUR ADVERTISEMENTS: Please send any questionable diet ads in your local paper or magazines from this company. Include the date, the name of the publication, and we will scan them in and forward them to the proper department at the Bureau of Competition of Industry Canada. Please send them even if the ads were in non-Canadian publications. American and other foreign magazines are everywhere. If we don't know that the scams are out there, we won't be able to complain. |
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