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Law360 (June 19, 2020, 7:00 PM EDT ) The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday said it had sent out yet another round of warning letters to companies hawking products, including CBD products and oral peroxide gel, with unproven claims that they can treat or prevent COVID-19.
This is the seventh time the FTC has announced that it warned marketers over making unsubstantiated claims about the novel coronavirus. According to the agency, it has sent warning letters over COVID-19 to 250 companies and people since the pandemic started, an increase of 130 since last month.
The most recent round of letters targets a CBD company — CBD Center in Fresno, California — as well as marketers of essential oils and oxygen and stem cell treatments and therapies.
Another warning letter was sent to San Francisco Dental Wellness over its claims that oral peroxide gel could treat or prevent COVID-19.
Among the marketing claims cited by the FTC was a statement that "San Francisco Dental Wellness is now offering a peroxide gel that allows you to use [sic] for 15-20 minutes to help prevent the spread of COVID-19," according to the letter.
"The letters advise the recipients to immediately stop making all claims that their products can treat or cure COVID-19, and to notify the commission within 48 hours about the specific actions they have taken to address the agency's concerns," the FTC said.
The agency also warned that if the unproven claims do not stop, it will seek a federal court injunction to shut down the claims.
The FTC noted that it worked with the Louisiana attorney general's office in its letter to a provider of intravenous therapy products, The Remedy Room, over its COVID-19 claims.
None of the companies immediately responded to requests for comment Friday.
In late April, the FTC struck a deal with Whole Leaf Organics, a California CBD and wellness company, to stop its marketing of vitamin C and herbal extract supplements as treatments or cures for COVID-19.
Whole Leaf is the first company to be targeted by an FTC lawsuit for false or misleading COVID-19 claims, according to the agency. If approved by a California federal court, the deal will also bar the company from marketing three CBD supplements as effective cancer treatments.
Federal regulators and prosecutors have in recent months ramped up their enforcement efforts around bogus COVID-19 health claims, firing off warnings and cease-and-desist letters to companies allegedly making them. More than a half-dozen CBD companies have been snared in the effort.
Last month's round of letters targeted companies marketing more "esoteric" products, such as freeze-dried horse milk.
One of the other May letters concerned iMRS 2000, an electromagnetic device touted on YouTube as a treatment for COVID-19 due to its purported ability to increase "cellular voltage."
In April, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration told Alex Jones and his online InfoWars store to stop selling products touted as cures or treatments for the novel coronavirus.
The FDA said it and the FTC had checked the InfoWars website on April 6 and viewed videos boosting SuperSilver and Superblue products, such as toothpaste, as cures and treatments for COVID-19.
In one of the videos, viewers who were concerned about COVID-19 were recommended to go to the InfoWars store and "pick up a little bit of silver that really acts its way to boost your immune system and fight off infection," according to the letter.
--Editing by Stephen Berg.
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