Hoodia Spam: Federal Judge Rules Against Hoodia Spammers

In late 2007 I reported how the FTC was coming down hard on hoodia spam. It appears these crackdowns will continue in 2008. The FTC charged that Sili Neutraceuticals LLC and Brian McDaid were making false advertising claims and sending illegal email messages in violation of the FTC Act and the CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act).

U.S. District Court Judge David H. Coar agreed with the FTC charges. Coar ordered them to stop misrepresenting any products or services, including hoodia and human growth hormone (HGH) products, and to stop sending illegal spam. The court also entered a $2.5 million judgement against the defendants.

Coar found the defendants violated the FTC Act by falsely claiming that the hoodia products cause rapid, substantial and permanent weight loss, and that the HGH products contain human growth hormone and/or cause a clinically meaningful increase in growth hormone levels and/or will turn back or reverse the aging process.

This latest case just goes to show how the feds are serious about cleaning up the hoodia industry. For the past few years hoodia has been notoriously associated with spam. Unfortunately, these hoodia spammers few have ruined the reputation of hoodia companies in general. Not all hoodia companies spam. As an example, the companies listed on my best rated hoodia page never engage in spam but I suspect most consumers think that all hoodia companies are the same.

Hopefully, with the FTC helping to clean things up consumer confidence in authentic hoodia diet pills and the companies that sell them will improve.

Source: NaturalProductsInsider.com