FTC Writes to Companies About CBD Health Claims

September 12, 2019 08:00:54

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sent letters on Tuesday to three companies that the federal agency said were making unsubstantiated health claims about CBD products.

In a press release about their action, the FTC reiterated that it was illegal for any company to issue adverts that its product could prevent, treat or even cure a disease if that company didn’t provide credible scientific evidence of those claims.

The statement from the FTC didn’t mention which companies had been warned, but the agency described the claims that attracted the wrath of the regulators.

The agency says that one company stated on its website that its CBD products were “clinically proven” to cure cancer, Alzheimer’s, colitis, cigarette addiction and many other health conditions.

The FTC statement also revealed that a second company touted its CBD product as a “miracle pain remedy” in addition to curing a host of health conditions, including depression, PTSD, bi-polar disorder, anxiety and so many others.

A third entity claimed that CBD can “treat from the root” all degenerative diseases and autoimmune disorders.

The agency has given the companies 15 days within which to respond to the regulator regarding what steps those companies intend to take to correct their potential violations of the existing laws. Those violations could lead the regulators to get injunctions against the operations of those companies or order them to refund the money that they had obtained from consumers as a result of the actions that the FTC considers to be against the law.

This latest round of letters follows closely on the heels of other actions that the federal government, through its agencies, has taken in response to the different claims that are made on CBD product packaging.

For example, the FDA wrote to Curaleaf Inc. in July about the health claims that the agency found unacceptable on the website of the company. Curaleaf immediately redid its website in order to remove the information that had drawn the attention of the FDA.

It is almost inevitable that these differences in opinion regarding CBD products will continue since the CBD industry is currently operating in a space that isn’t regulated. Despite the calls for the speedy release of enabling regulations, the FDA seems to be taking its time and yet the industry cannot stand still while they figure out what form the regulations should take.

The takeaway that industry experts think players like Canopy Rivers Inc. (TSX: RIV) (OTC: CNPOF) and ChineseInvestors.com Inc. (OTCQB: CIIX) will derive from the FTC action is that product packaging has to have conservative claims, if any, since federal regulators will not hesitate to clamp down on any company it regards as making untested claims.

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