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Agrees to Stop Making Health Claims for Comfrey

"Dr. Christopher" Settles FTC Charges

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6, 2001 -- Under threat of a $1.4 million penalty, Christopher Enterprises has agreed to settle charges by the Federal Trade Commission that it made unfounded claims about the health benefits of the herbal ingredient comfrey for treating or curing a wide variety of serious diseases and conditions. (Earlier story)

The FTC charged that Christopher Enterprises, Inc., based in Springville, Utah, and its principals, Norman Bacalla and Ruth Christopher Bacalla, did not have adequate scientific evidence to substantiate the safety or efficacy claims for their comfrey products. In fact, the FTC said, comfrey contains toxic alkaloids and, when taken internally, can cause serious liver damage or death.

The company used the image of John Raymond Christopher, M.H., N.D., who has been dead for 20 years, to sell products through its Web site, drchristopher.com, and elsewhere.

The defendants have agreed, in a permanent injunction filed in federal court, to stop marketing the comfrey products for internal use or on open wounds, and to include a warning on comfrey products marketed for external use. They have also agreed to stop making the challenged safety and health benefit claims and to pay $100,000 for consumer redress.

According to the FTC, Christopher Enterprises led consumers to believe that its products could treat such ailments as asthma, arthritis, cancer, colds, coughs, cramps, herpes simplex, infection, multiple sclerosis, paralysis, polio, stroke, and tuberculosis, and that the products were safe.

According to the FTC's complaint filed in July 2001, Christopher Enterprises manufactured and marketed a variety of products containing comfrey to consumers throughout the United States by mail and telephone, on the Internet, and through distributors, retail stores, and health care practitioners. The defendants marketed and advertised their products for oral ingestion, for use as a suppository, and for use on open wounds.

WARNING: External Use Only. Consuming this product can cause serious liver damage. This product contains comfrey. Comfrey contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which may cause serious illness or death. This product should not be taken orally, used as a suppository, or applied to broken skin. For further information contact the Food and Drug Administration:

http//vm.cfsan.fda.gov

The stipulated order includes a judgment of $1.4 million, suspended upon payment by the defendants of $100,000 for consumer redress, and a provision that would reinstate the judgment if the court finds that the defendants made material misrepresentations or omissions on their financial statements.

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