Latest news with #healthclaims
RNZ News
3 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Medsafe considers crackdown on import of unregulated peptide medications
Medsafe says people are buying unregulated peptides from websites that make health claims for which there is little or no evidence. Photo: Science Photo Li / WBU / Science Photo Library via AFP New Zealanders are buying potentially high-risk, unregulated peptide medications from overseas websites to treat sexual dysfunction, memory loss and more. Medsafe is considering a crackdown, warning many are sold based on unproven claims. It hopes to have several of them - and similar ones that may crop up - classified as prescription medicines, making it illegal to import them without a prescription. In a written submission to the Medicines Classification Committee, Medsafe said peptides were being bought from websites that made claims they could help with "cognitive enhancement, hair growth, libido enhancers, sexual dysfunction, immune enhancers and cancer treatment", and more. However, there was often little, if any, evidence to back up the claims. Most had not been tested for safety and efficacy on humans. Medsafe could not seize peptides at the border, if they were not classed as prescription medicine. Instead, it released the products to the purchasers with a "high-risk medicine letter". "This is posing a risk to health, as the product's quality, efficacy and interactions with other medicines is unknown," the submission said. Because new peptide substances were created all the time, Medsafe asked the committee to class whole groups of them as prescription medicines, so future versions that fell within the group would still be covered. Many websites that sold peptides claimed to sell them "for research purposes", but customers intended to use them therapeutically, the submission said. Fifty-six parcels were intercepted at the border in the year to May, containing peptides or prescription medications known as selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMS). Customs said it couldn't say how many got through without interception. Medsafe said the classification review would take into consideration the safety and appropriateness of being able to import these products, as well the risks of limiting access. The committee considered the submission at a meeting on Wednesday and its decision has not been made public yet. The final decision on medicine classification changes will be made by the Minister of Health at the committee's recommendation. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
UK watchdog bans Trip drinks ad over health, nutrition claims
An advert from UK CBD drinks brand Trip has been banned by the local advertising watchdog over several health and nutrition claims. Last December, Trip promoted a product that did not contain CBD in an online ad. The cucumber and mint beverage came from the company's Mindful Blend range, includes a blend of magnesium, Lion's Mane and other ingredients. Among the claims in the advert was that the drink could "help you feel calm'. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld three complaints linked to the advert. The complaints centred on claims the drink reduced stress, promoted feelings of calm and whether a '0g added sugar' nutrition claim breached UK ad rules. The ASA said the advert "implied the magnesium in the product could reduce serum cortisol levels" and included phrases that indicated the product would help consumers relax. It also ruled the claims around the anxiety and stress reducing aspects of Lion's Mane "were claims that a food could prevent, treat or cure disease", which is prohibited by the watchdog's CAP code. "We considered those claims were specific health claims for the purposes of the code, because they implied that the ingredients had beneficial health effects," the ASA said. "However, we had not seen any evidence which demonstrated that those claims were authorised on the GB Register and they therefore breached the Code." Under the code, health claims can only be used in marketing of food and food supplements if they have been authoritised on the GB register. Commenting on the ruling, Rachael Matthews, product director at Trip, said: "All statements regarding the relevant product's calming properties were based on real world studies conducted with human participants. "We will update our advertising and continue to work closely with regulators to ensure that Trip can continue to educate consumers about the functionality of ingredients in its drinks whilst complying with all applicable regulatory requirements.' The third complaint upheld by the ASA was around a claim in the advert that the drink contained "0g added sugar". According to the ASA, such a claim indicates a product is "with no added sugars", though the use of the claim, it said, was allowed "only where a product did not contain any added omo- or disaccharides, or any other food used for its sweetening properties". Given the product contained erythritol and stevia sweeteners, and naturally occuring sugars from fruit concentrate, the ASA ruled the "0g added sugar" claim "did not comply with the conditions of use associated with the equivalent 'with no added sugars' nutrition claim and therefore breached the code". Matthews added: "All sugar used in Trip drinks is naturally occurring from fruit juice. As recognised in the Advertising Standards Authority's ruling, such fruit juice is used for its contribution to a number of different functional aspects of the drinks. "In accordance with the ruling, Trip is taking steps to change its advertising of the relevant product to make this clearer to consumers." "UK watchdog bans Trip drinks ad over health, nutrition claims" was originally created and published by Just Drinks, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten Melden Sie sich an, um Ihr Portfolio aufzurufen. Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten
The Verge
24-06-2025
- Health
- The Verge
A nasal spray company wants to make it harder for the FTC to police health claims
In the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, a health products company called Xlear began advertising its saline nasal spray to people desperately searching for ways to protect themselves from a new virus. In its marketing, Xlear pointed to studies that it said supported the idea that ingredients in the spray could block viruses from sticking to the nasal cavity. Based on its interpretation of the science, Xlear promoted the product as one part of a 'layered defense' against contracting covid. In 2021, the Federal Trade Commission, in a bipartisan vote, decided to sue Xlear for making allegedly 'unsupported health claims,' saying the company had 'grossly misrepresented the purported findings and relevance of several scientific studies' in its advertising. Earlier this year, the Trump Justice Department, on the FTC's behalf, asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed with prejudice, though it didn't explain its reasoning. But Xlear still wanted its day in court. Now, it's suing the FTC because it wants a court to make it harder for the agency to attempt to go after health claims. Xlear is filing the lawsuit at a time where the government's standard operating procedures around both science and administrative law have been upended. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently expelled all the members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine policy advisory committee, a simultaneously radical and predictable outcome given his career in spreading anti-vaccine falsehoods. Meanwhile, the current FTC is engaged in helping President Donald Trump undermine the agency's long-standing independence from the White House. After Trump purported to fire its two Democratic commissioners, the FTC has even openly taken up long-standing conservative grievances over alleged censorship in the digital sphere. Like Kennedy, Xlear is advocating for a path that could open up the health products space to alternative — and possibly less-tested — upstarts. 'There's a tension here between the reform movement of MAHA [Make America Healthy Again] and the old-guard approach of the FTC,' Xlear's lead counsel, Rob Housman, tells The Verge. 'If you want to break our focus on drugs and pharmaceuticals, one of the things you have to do is make space for innovation and things like hygiene and other approaches.' 'There's a tension here between the reform movement of MAHA and the old-guard approach of the FTC' Xlear insists it's not trying to lower the bar for health marketing claims, but simply hold the FTC to a reasonable legal standard. Housman believes the Supreme Court's decision to strike down Chevron deference last year — removing long-standing precedent telling courts they should often defer to federal agencies' expertise — makes the case even easier. 'We don't want people to think we're trying to reduce the burden of science,' he says. 'We, in fact, want to up the burden of science. We just want to make sure that companies are complying with the law — not the law as the FTC says it is.' As Xlear sees it, the FTC has stepped beyond its authority to enforce the law against false and misleading claims, coming up with arbitrary standards of what kinds of evidence should be considered adequate to justify a health claim. Housman points to the agency's 2022 guidance that says randomized controlled trials (RCTs), especially when replicated at least once, are most reliable to substantiate health claims. There's no magic number for the number or kinds of studies, according to the guidance, but it says 'randomized, controlled human clinical trials (RCTs) are the most reliable form of evidence and are generally the type of substantiation that experts would require for health benefit claims.' The FTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. Xlear says this is far too high of a hurdle, especially for smaller companies that may not have the money to conduct such resource-intensive trials. Housman compares it to an adage about how there's no RCT trials to prove parachutes work — the punchline being that no one would conduct a study where a control group jumped out of a plane without a parachute. (It's unclear how removing this high hurdle would 'up the burden of science.') One reason it's bringing the lawsuit is so that it can freely make health claims about another product it sells, which it believes can be an alternative to fluoride Xlear says that one reason it's bringing the lawsuit is so that it can freely make health claims about another product it sells, which it believes can be an alternative to fluoride, which Kennedy wants to strip from the water supply. Fluoride is a mineral that prevents tooth decay. A recent study from the National Toxicology Program found that very high levels of fluoride (atypically high in the US) are linked to slightly lower IQ scores for kids, but fluoride has been the subject of conspiracy theories for almost a century, even making an appearance as a comedic bogeyman in the movie Dr. Strangelove, in which General Jack D. Ripper refers to it as 'the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot' to 'sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.' Housman says that even if Xlear wins its lawsuit on every count, 'this doesn't allow people to make up bogus marketing claims.' The FTC will still have the authority to take down truly false and misleading claims, just not by the allegedly arbitrary standard it has been. He adds that the threat of private lawsuits is effective to keep egregious marketing claims at bay. 'We don't believe anybody should be making bogus claims,' Housman says, 'but we also believe that the agency has the responsibility to do the work.'
Wall Street Journal
13-05-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Texas Attorney General Takes Aim at Trix and Lucky Charms
States are putting the screws to big food companies. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday said he is investigating food giant General Mills GIS -1.91%decrease; red down pointing triangle for allegedly misrepresenting products such as Trix and Lucky Charms as 'healthy.'
