Updates

They'd Rather Sneeze Than Snooze

It is said of some medical treatments that the cure is worse than the disease. That might well be the case for many allergy sufferers. A recent survey by Opinion Research Corp. reported that almost one-third of those with upper respiratory allergies would rather suffer with their symptoms than experience the side effects (mainly drowsiness) of current anti-allergy medications. Based on a national sample of 3,800 households containing 10,300 people, the survey projected that there are about 41.5 million sufferers from upper respiratory allergies in the United States. (See "On Surviving The Sneezin' Season" in the April 1981 FDA Consumer.)

Interviews with 1,005 of those sampled revealed that allergies are most common among persons in the prime working years of life and can be quite bothersome. Upper respiratory allergies affect about 35 percent of all females between 35 and 40 years of age, higher than any other age group. Among men, the incidence of allergies peaks among 30- to 35-year-olds.

Survey results showed that allergies are often more than a minor nuisance. On average, allergy sufferers had substantial symptoms 19 weeks out of the year. One-fifth of them had symptoms more than 40 weeks each year. All of this adds up to 9 million Americans trying to live normal lives with almost constant runny noses, sneezing, and stuffed-up heads.

When it came to medicine to relieve their symptoms, the people interviewed were far from satisfied. Although three-fourths of these people had taken some anti-allergy medication during the past year, on the average they took the medicine less than half of the time they had bothersome symptoms. The reasons they didn't take their medicine:

• Almost two-thirds (62 percent) said it made them sleepy.

• Half said they had difficulty concentrating on their work.

• More than two-thirds (67 percent) agreed the medicine made it dangerous to drive.

This last reason was especially important, since a substantial number of these sufferers depend on driving a car or operating machinery for their living. Almost one in four of those who work drive a vehicle for a living, and 44 percent operate equipment or machinery.

The survey was conducted by the Opinion Research Corp. (a subsidiary of Arthur D. Little Inc.) of Princeton, N.J., for Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals. Results of the survey were presented at the American Academy of Allergy and Immunology meeting in March.

FDA-USDA Conferences For Food Writers

Two-day conferences for food editors and other journalists specializing in food and agricultural issues will be held in five cities this summer under the joint sponsorship of the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Food safety, nutrition and dietary guidance, farm legislation, and the impact of food safety and nutrition research on consumers are among the topics to be covered by speakers from the two agencies.

FDA Commissioner Frank E. Young, M.D.; director of FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Sanford W. Miller; and Allan L. Forbes, director of the center's Office of Nutrition and Food Sciences, are among the scheduled speakers.

The conferences will be held: June 27-28 in Dallas; July 25-26 in San Francisco; Aug. 22-23 in Chicago; Sept. 19-20 in Atlanta; and Oct. 31-Nov. 1 in New York. The conferences are expected to attract food editors and health, consumer and lifestyle writers and reporters from newspapers, magazines, radio and television.

Persons interested in attending the sessions should write to: Editors' Conference, News Division, Office of Information, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Room 406-A, Administration Building, 14th St. and Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250. Or phone (202) 447-4026.

AMA Gives Hair Analysis The Brushoff

The American Medical Association House of Delegates, at its December 1984 meeting, resolved that the association oppose chemical analysis of hair as a determinant of the need for medical therapy. The association also resolved to lend its resources to inform the American public and appropriate government agencies of this unproven practice and its potential for health fraud. (See "Hair Analysis? May As Well Be Bald" in the April 1983 FDA Consumer.)

In January 1985 a judge in the Federal District Court at Alexandria, Va., ruled that advertising claims by hair analysts that good health can be obtained through selfmedication of the body's mineral excesses and deficiencies as determined by hair analysis are deceptive "because without the assistance of a health-care professional, they claim for the spectrometer more than it can do."

The judge said that "a multi-elemental spectral hair analysis is a useful guide in the hands of a health-care professional. Used along with other relevant information in the treatment, the results of this procedure can at most help in prescribing nutritional supplements and in the caring for a specific patient where a chemical imbalance in the body is suspected."

The ruling was made in the case of the Federal Trade Commission versus A & A Laboratories, a Marylandbased hair analysis service (see "Suit Against Hair Analysis" in Updates, FDA Consumer, November 1984). A & A's customers received a printout indicating a value for each of 13 essential and five toxic elements, based on spectroscopic examination of hair samples, along with a recommended dosage of specific diet supplements to correct alleged deficiencies or excesses. On the same day, the customer also received, under separate cover, an order form from the New Age Nutritional Sup

Updates (Continued)

plement Co., a division of A & A Laboratories, offering to sell the recommended supplements.

Disclaimers on the printout that the information is not intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of any disease are not ameliorating factors, according to the judge's decision, since they appear only on the hair analysis report and not in the firm's advertising.

Unqualified representations by A & A Laboratories that its staff could accurately identify mineral excesses and deficiencies in consumers' bodies and recommend vitamin and other dietary supplements to correct these conditions were found deceptive because the consumer "is not told in the advertisements, as he or she ought to be told, that hair analysis is only a guide, not a panacea, to be used with a health-care professional in determining what mineral excesses and deficiencies exist in the whole body and what nutrients to take to correct those excesses and deficiencies.

"It is deceptive to claim, as the advertisements do, that, without knowing anything more about a person than his name and address, defendants can recommend diet supplements which will correct element imbalances in the body on the sole basis of a hair analysis," the judge ruled. The defendants were enjoined from directly receiving orders from or sending reports to consumers (as opposed to orders from health-care professionals) and from making any representation in any advertisement aimed directly at consumers that hair analysis accurately measures mineral content in the body and that recommendations for vitamin, mineral or other dietary supplements can be based on the analysis of one's hair.

California Sues Herbalife

California's attorney general, the state health director, and the Santa Cruz County district attorney have filed a consumer protection lawsuit against Herbalife International Inc.

Also named in the complaint, filed in Santa Cruz County Superior Court in March, are Herbalife chief executive officer Mark Hughes, vice president Lawrence Thompson, and several other Herbalife officers.

Herbalife sells items described as "herbal-based" health, nutrition and skin-care products, marketing them through a multi-level program.

According to the complaint, Herbalife officers violated California's consumer protection statutes as well as the state's Sherman Food and Drug Act. Among the company's unfair and illegal statements and practices cited in the suit are:

• Misrepresenting that the herbal content of the firm's diet products will curb the appetite and result in loss of girth from fatty areas.

• Misrepresenting that the firm's Cell-U-Loss product directs weight loss to particular portions of the body.

• Misrepresenting that the firm's Slim and Trim diet products will allow users to experience a typical weight loss of 10 to 29 pounds per month.

Misrepresenting the effectiveness of herbs used in the firm's products.

• Making unapproved drug claims for some products. • Failing to disclose that the active ingredient of one product, N.R.G., is caffeine.

• Using an illegal pyramid scheme for the sale of its products.

Misrepresenting that one can reasonably expect to easily earn large sums of money as a distributor of Herbalife products.

The lawsuit asked for an injunction to halt the alleged illegal practices, a civil penalty of $2,500 for each violation of the consumer protection statutes, and a civil penalty of $1,000 per day for violation of the Sherman Food and Drug Act.

The case stems from an investigation conducted by the California Department of Health Services' Food and Drug Branch. (Background information on herbs can be found in "Herbs Are Often More Toxic Than Magical" in the October 1983 FDA Consumer.)

Lead In Imported Pottery

"Pretty to look at, but dangerous to use." So warns FDA regarding imported handmade ceramic products used to hold food. Recent tests by the agency's Seattle office revealed a lead hazard from some ceramic pottery from Mexico.

Pottery with lead glazes is suitable for ornamental purposes, but it poses a hazard when used for food preparation, storage or service, FDA says. In contact with food, especially acid foods such as fruit and vegetable juices,