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JUVENILE DIETING, UNSAFE OVER-THE-COUNTER

DIET PRODUCTS, AND RECENT ENFORCEMENT
EFFORTS BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON REGULATION, BUSINESS
OPPORTUNITIES, AND ENERGY

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED FIRST CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

WASHINGTON, DC, SEPTEMBER 24, 1990

Printed for the use of the Committee on Small Business

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For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office
U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402

NEAL SMITH, Iowa

COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS

JOHN J. LAFALCE, New York, Chairman

THOMAS A. LUKEN, Ohio

IKE SKELTON, Missouri

ROMANO L. MAZZOLI, Kentucky

NICHOLAS MAVROULES, Massachusetts
CHARLES HATCHER, Georgia
RON WYDEN, Oregon

DENNIS E. ECKART, Ohio

GUS SAVAGE, Illinois

NORMAN SISISKY, Virginia

ESTEBAN EDWARD TORRES, California

JIM COOPER, Tennessee

JIM OLIN, Virginia

RICHARD RAY, Georgia

JOHN CONYERS, JR., Michigan
JAMES H. BILBRAY, Nevada

KWEISI MFUME, Maryland

FLOYD H. FLAKE, New York

H. MARTIN LANCASTER, North Carolina

BILL SARPALIUS, Texas

PETER HOAGLAND, Nebraska

RICHARD E. NEAL, Massachusetts

GLENN POSHARD, Illinois

JOSEPH M. McDADE, Pennsylvania
SILVIO O. CONTE, Massachusetts
WM. S. BROOMFIELD, Michigan
ANDY IRELAND, Florida
JOHN HILER, Indiana

DAVID DREIER, California

D. FRENCH SLAUGHTER, JR., Virginia JAN MEYERS, Kansas

LARRY COMBEST, Texas

RICHARD H. BAKER, Louisiana
JOHN J. RHODES III, Arizona
JOEL HEFLEY, Colorado

FREDERICK S. UPTON, Michigan
CLYDE C. HOLLOWAY, Louisiana
MEL HANCOCK, Missouri

RONALD K. MACHTLEY, Rhode Island
SUSAN MOLINARI, New York

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York

JOSE E. SERRANO, New York

DONALD F. TERRY, Staff Director
J. DREW HIATT, Minority Staff Director

SUBCOMMITTEE ON REGULATION, BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES, AND ENERGY

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York JIM OLIN, Virginia

RON WYDEN, Oregon, Chairman

JOSE E. SERRANO, New York

WM. S. BROOMFIELD, Michigan
JOEL HEFLEY, Colorado

MEL HANCOCK, Missouri
SUSAN MOLINARI, New York

STEVE JENNING, Subcommittee Staff Director

PAUL RUSSINOFF, Minority Subcommittee Professional Staff Member

CONTENTS

Hearing held on September 24, 1990.........

WITNESSES

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APPENDIX

Additional material received for the record:

Barrett, Stephen, M.D., consumer advocate, statement with attachments...
Lenfant, Claude, M.D., director, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Insti-
tute, National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, statement
Polanco, Richard G., assemblyman, 55th district, California Legislature,
legislation summary.....

Stifler, Lawrence T.P., Health Management Resources, position paper
Subcommittee staff memo and attachment to Chairman Ron Wyden
Wyden, Hon. Ron, letter to Hon. James S. Benson, Acting Director, U.S.
Food and Drug Administration, and Mr. Benson's reply

Opening statements:

Broomfield, Hon. William S..

Wyden, Hon. Ron

Prepared statements:

Blackburn, George L., M.D., with attachments.....

247

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JUVENILE

DIETING, UNSAFE

OVER-THECOUNTER DIET PRODUCTS, AND RECENT ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1990

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON REGULATION, BUSINESS

OPPORTUNITIES, AND ENERGY,
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS,

Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:10 a.m., in room 2359-A, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ron Wyden [chairman of the subcommittee] presiding.

Chairman WYDEN. The Subcommittee on Regulation will come to order.

Today, the subcommittee will hear testimony from the Federal Trade Commission regarding recent investigations into major diet companies, and very low calorie diet programs sponsored by clinics, doctors, and hospitals. The Commission now has 14 investigations in progress involving five of the agency's regional offices.

At the subcommittee's request, the Commission investigators say that they have shifted their focus from bizarre diet potions and obvious diet quackery-the fringes of the diet industry-and are now zeroing in on the major diet firms with gross revenues of more than $3 billion each year.

The Chair believes that much of the diet industry is built on a foundation of false promises and false hopes. Customers are promised physician-supervised, weight-loss programs when there is no doctor in the house. Before and after photos in ads picture persons who were never on the diet. Endorsements from major medical and health organizations are implied and occasionally directly attributed, even though the groups have specifically repudiated the use of their names in the diet program.

In the past, major diet firms have claimed high success rates without any proof to back up the sales pitch. Disclosure of health safety risks to dieters is the exception, rather than the rule. Experts who are supposed to assist and counsel at the clinics are actually often untrained, and there are no minimum qualifications for these positions.

Today, the Federal Trade Commission will tell the subcommittee what it is doing to address these problems. The subcommittee is very appreciative of the Commission's cooperation in this matter,

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