David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
Vitamin ads' prostate-cancer claims 'dishonest': consumer group
CBC News
Friday, June 19, 2009
Bayer Healthcare's TV and radio ads that claim its One-A-Day vitamins may reduce the risk of prostate cancer should be pulled, a U.S. consumer advocacy group says.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest notified Bayer on Thursday that it intends to sue the company if it continues to claim that the selenium in its One A Day Men's 50+ Advantage and One A Day Men's Health Formula help prevent cancer.
Last October, researchers ended a study funded by the National Institutes of Health of 35,000 healthy men in the U.S. and Canada after early results showed no evidence that selenium prevents prostate cancer.
The Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial or SELECT study was published online in Dec. 2008 in JAMA.
"The largest prostate cancer prevention trial has found that selenium is no more effective than a placebo," said David Schardt, the group's senior nutritionist. "Bayer is ripping people off when it suggests otherwise in these dishonest ads."
Bayer said its vitamins' claims have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
"We stand behind all claims made in support of our products," said Bayer spokeswoman Trisch McKernan.
CSPI also sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking the regulator to stop Bayer's marketing of the vitamins, arguing the ads violate FTC's agreement with the company requiring claims to be backed up with scientific evidence.
In 2007, Bayer agreed not to make unsubstantiated claims in the future and paid a $3.2 million US fine related to weight-loss claims on another brand of vitamins.
A spokeswoman for the FTC said Thursday the agency has not yet received the group's letter.
Separately, some prostate cancer researchers in the U.S. also wrote to the FTC to support the group's complaint, saying the SELECT trail is unlikely to have missed detecting even a modest benefit from selenium.
"Bayer Healthcare is doing a disservice to men by misleading them about a protective role for selenium in prostate cancer," they wrote.
CBC News
Friday, June 19, 2009
Bayer Healthcare's TV and radio ads that claim its One-A-Day vitamins may reduce the risk of prostate cancer should be pulled, a U.S. consumer advocacy group says.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest notified Bayer on Thursday that it intends to sue the company if it continues to claim that the selenium in its One A Day Men's 50+ Advantage and One A Day Men's Health Formula help prevent cancer.
Last October, researchers ended a study funded by the National Institutes of Health of 35,000 healthy men in the U.S. and Canada after early results showed no evidence that selenium prevents prostate cancer.
The Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial or SELECT study was published online in Dec. 2008 in JAMA.
"The largest prostate cancer prevention trial has found that selenium is no more effective than a placebo," said David Schardt, the group's senior nutritionist. "Bayer is ripping people off when it suggests otherwise in these dishonest ads."
Bayer said its vitamins' claims have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
"We stand behind all claims made in support of our products," said Bayer spokeswoman Trisch McKernan.
CSPI also sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking the regulator to stop Bayer's marketing of the vitamins, arguing the ads violate FTC's agreement with the company requiring claims to be backed up with scientific evidence.
In 2007, Bayer agreed not to make unsubstantiated claims in the future and paid a $3.2 million US fine related to weight-loss claims on another brand of vitamins.
A spokeswoman for the FTC said Thursday the agency has not yet received the group's letter.
Separately, some prostate cancer researchers in the U.S. also wrote to the FTC to support the group's complaint, saying the SELECT trail is unlikely to have missed detecting even a modest benefit from selenium.
"Bayer Healthcare is doing a disservice to men by misleading them about a protective role for selenium in prostate cancer," they wrote.
