Trump administration cracks down on claims that CBD can treat cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s
Updated Dec 17, 2020;
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There are all sorts of claims out there about CBD: It can cure cancer. It can protect against Alzheimer’s disease. It can treat autoimmune diseases and autism.
These and other claims about cannabidiol were advertised by companies that sell those products. And they all had one thing in common, according to the Federal Trade Commission: They were false.
The FTC announced on Thursday that it was penalizing six CBD companies for making such claims, including requiring some of them to pay more than $246,000 to the government from shares of their revenues.
FTC enforcement action targets six CBD firms over unsubstantiated claims The Federal Trade Commission unveiled an enforcement action today against six sellers of CBD products that it alleges have been making unsubstantiated disease treatment claims. FTC has levied more than $246,000 in fines in the cases.
The action was announced on the agency’s website this morning. According to the statement, the CBD firms (two firms also market CBG products) were allegedly making a wide range of scientifically unsupported claims about their ability to treat serious health conditions, including cancer, heart disease, hypertension, Alzheimer’s disease, and others.
The six companies will be required to stop making the claims immediately. Fines were levied in all but one of the cases. The fines ranged from $20,000 to $85,000. In addition to the fines the defendants are prohibited in the future from making health benefit claims without competent and reliable sc
Andrew Smith, Director, Bureau of Consumer Protection on Thursday, December 17, 2020.
The Federal Trade Commission today announced the first law enforcement crackdown on deceptive claims in the growing market for cannabidiol (CBD) products. The FTC is taking action against six sellers of CBD-containing products for allegedly making a wide range of scientifically unsupported claims about their ability to treat serious health conditions, including cancer, heart disease, hypertension, Alzheimer’s disease, and others.
The FTC is requiring each of the companies, and individuals behind them, to stop making such unsupported health claims immediately, and several will pay monetary judgments to the agency. The orders settling the FTC’s complaints also bar the respondents from similar deceptive advertising in the future, and require that they have scientific evidence to support any health claims they make for CBD and other products.
“It’s the Wild West out there!” How often have you heard that statement made about health claims for products containing CBD? But here’s the thing: It’s not the Wild West. In fact, health-related representations for CBD products are subject to the same established requirements of scientific substantiation the FTC has applied for decades to any advertised health claim. That’s the message of Operation CBDeceit, a law enforcement sweep challenging allegedly unproven representations that CBD products would treat diseases and serious medical conditions like cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and more.
In Operation CBDeceit, the FTC announced proposed settlements with six companies that marketed gummies, lozenges, oils, balms, and other products containing cannabidiol (CBD) to prevent or treat serious diseases and health conditions.
This is the second time that the FTC has disciplined the CBD industry, says Smith, whose agency reprimanded a California company in April for making false claims about CBD s prevention or treatment of COVID-19. This is the first time that the FTC has put the bite on multiple businesses at once, though; five of those companies paid between $20,000 and $85,000 in penalities. We are not saying CBD products cannot provide some benefit to some CBD consumers, [but] the same rules of the road apply to CBD products as all dietary health products and supplements, Smith said during a press conference announcing the operation. Some companies claimed that their CBD products were more effective than prescription medication for that condition. . That proof simply doesn t exist, and there can be serious life consequences that grasp at the hope.