S. HRG. 107-190 SWINDLERS, HUCKSTERS AND SNAKE OIL SALESMAN: HYPE AND HOPE MARKETING ANTI- AGING PRODUCTS TO SENIORS HEARING BEFORE THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION WASHINGTON, DC SEPTEMBER 10, 2001 Serial No. 107-14 Printed for the use of the Special Committee on Aging U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 76-011 PDF WASHINGTON: 2001 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; DC area (202) 612-1800 Fax (202) 512-2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001 SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING JOHN B. BREAUX, Louisiana, Chairman HARRY REID, Nevada LARRY CRAIG, Idaho, Ranking Member HERB KOHL, Wisconsin CONRAD BURNS, Montana JAMES M. JEFFORDS, Vermont RICHARD SHELBY, Alabama RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin RICK SANTORUM, Pennsylvania RON WYDEN, Oregon SUSAN COLLINS, Maine BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, Arkansas MIKE ENZI, Wyoming EVAN BAYH, Indiana TIM HUTCHINSON, Arkansas THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware PETER G. FITZGERALD, Illinois DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada JEAN CARNAHAN, Missouri CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska MICHELLE EASTON, Staff Director LUPE WISSEL, Ranking Member Staff Director (II) CONTENTS Page Opening Statement of Senator John Breaux ......................................................... 1 Statement of Senator Larry E. Craig ............................................................ 4 Statement of Senator Ron Wyden .............................. .............................. 5 Prepared statement of Senator Blanche Lincoln .................................................. 36 PANEL I Mike O'Neil, former chief financial officer, GB Data Systems, O'Neals, CA ...... 6 E. Vernon F. Glenn, Law Offices of E. Vernon F. Glenn, Mt. Pleasant, SC ....... 22 PANEL II Glen Braswell, president, Gero Vita International, Marina Del Ray, CA; and Ron Tepper, Editor, 'Journal of Longevity," Health Quest Publications, Marina Del Ray, CA ............................................................ 37 PANEL III Janet Heinrich, D.Ph., R.N., Associate Director, Health, Education, and Human Services Division, General Accounting Office, Washington, DC ....... 38 Joyce C. Lashof, M.D., associate chair, Editorial Board, "Wellness Letter," University of California School of Public Health, Berkeley, CA .......... ............ 59 Robert S. Baratz, M.D., Ph.D., D.D.S., Newton, MA ..................... ....................... 74 Timothy Gorski, M.D., Arlington, TX ............................................................ 91 PANEL IV Hon. Joseph Curran, Attorney General, State of Maryland, Baltimore, MD ..... 111 John Taylor, Director, Office of Enforcement, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC ........... ............. 139 Howard Beales, Director, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, Washington, DC ........................ .................................... 168 Dennis M. Lormel, Section Chief of Financial Crimes, Criminal Investigative Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington, DC ............ ............... 184 APPENDIX Letter from Nature's Life ............... ............................................. 209 Testimony of David Seckman, Executive Director, CEO of the National Nutri- tional Foods Association ................ ............................................. 211 Letter from Born Preventive Health Care Chinc .................................................. 221 Letter from Total Health for Longevity ............................................................ 222 Written submission of Rep. Dan Burton ............................................................ 223 Response to the Statement of the Hon. Dan Burton ....................... ..................... 230 Letter from University of North Texas, Health Science Center ........... ............... 253 Letter from Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine ....................... ...................... 254 Letter from Senator Larry Craig .......................... .................................. 255 Letter from Senator John Breaux ............................. ............................... 256 Letter from University of North Texas, Health Science Center ........... ............... 258 Testimony of Michael McGuffin, American Herbal Products Association .......... 259 Statement from American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine ............. ................. 311 (111) SWINDLERS, HUCKSTERS AND SNAKE OIL SALESMEN: HYPE AND HOPE OF MARKET- ING ANTI-AGING PRODUCTS TO SENIORS MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2001 U.S. SENATE, SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in room SD- 215, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. John Breaux (Chairman of the Committee) presiding. Present: Senators Breaux, Wyden, Lincoln, and Craig. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOHN BREAUX, CHAIRMAN The CHAIRMAN. The Committee on Aging will please come to order. Good morning, everyone. I would like to thank all of our guests who are here this morning, and also my colleague, Senator Wyden. We expect other members of the Aging Committee to join us in a very short amount of time. This is a very important hearing of the Senate Aging Committee, and we will use this hearing as an opportunity to examine the marketing of dietary and specialty sup- plements that particularly target our Nation's elderly and senior citizens. I want to thank Senator Larry Craig, who will be with us momentarily as the ranking Republican member of the committee, for his cooperation and support throughout this investigation. I want to particularly thank our witnesses who will be testifying be- fore us this morning for their testimony and their assistance and cooperation. People have been searching for the fountain of youth ever since Ponce DeLeon, and they will probably continue to do so for decades and generations into the future. Our job in this hearing is not to kill that hope and desire to remain youthful and healthy as long as possible, but rather the role of the committee is to try and help protect American citizens, particularly our elderly, who are preyed upon by modern-day snake oil salesmen. I would like to say up front that this hearing will focus on companies that mislead con- sumers with regard to dietary and specialty supplements. As with any industry, the vast majority of manufacturers and marketers of supplements are reputable and law-abiding. It is the bad actors in this industry that we are concerned about today. Sup- plements are becoming increasingly popular. I take them myself and I will continue to do so in the future. Individuals who are both healthy and ill take supplements for a variety of reasons. Some (1) 2 take supplements to increase energy, to build muscles, or to lose weight. Others have begun taking supplements as alternatives to traditional medicine and escalating prescription drug cost. More and more, our Nation's seniors are turning to these supplements. Today, it is estimated that $27 billion annually or more is spent on supplements and that 60 percent of these consumers are older senior citizens. These products are marketed to our seniors in a va- riety of ways. Not long ago, my wife and I, at our home, received in the mail the Journal of Longevity. At first glance, it appeared to me, as the example on the chart shows, that this was a scientific journal, extolling the virtues of supplements, focusing on those that have alleged anti-aging effects. To me, it resembled the New Eng- land Journal of Medicine, and I was very impressed with the way it was structured and the way it was presented. I actually wanted to start ordering everything in the magazine, and the more I read, the more I came to the conclusion that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I was drawn in, until I finally concluded, after consulting with my staff, that the mailer was simply a very fancy advertisement for one company's products. The Journal of Longevity appears to me to simply be a series of ar- ticles that discuss health issues that seniors face, and then pro- vides a very simple solution, the solution being the dietary supple- ments developed and distributed by the same parent company that publishes the magazine. Some of the articles and advertisements simply prey on the fears of the elderly, while others counsel the reader to take a particular supplement in place of traditional medicine. It really made me start thinking about the marketing tactics of some of these compa- nies and the products that they promote. The dietary supplement industry in this country is largely self-regulated. Unlike new pre- scription and over-the-counter drugs, the law does not require sup- plements to undergo pre-market approval for safety and effective- ness. The current United States regulatory system provides little as- surance that commercial supplements have -predictable pharma- cological effects or that the product labels provide accurate infor- mation; and furthermore, the manufacturers of the supplements are not required to register with any government agency. This is of great concern to me, and I know to this committee. Surveys have shown that the use of complementary and alternative medicine in the United States has increased an amazing 380 percent between the years 1990 and 1997, and this trend will almost certainly con- tinue as the baby boom generation draws closer to retirement age and seeks out new and different ways to maintain and improve their health and retain