Watching TV late as night, as I often do, I’ve lately started to see ads for a product called Kinoki foot pads. Basically, some blond woman goes on and on about “ancient Japanese secrets” that “draw out the toxins” from your body. Basically, you place paper pads on the bottom of your feet at night and they will suck out all these bad things. Fake graphs and “lab results” are also shown, “proving” ( :rolleyes: ) that they take out these toxins, heavy metals, etc… They even make some kind of comparison to a tree, like how a tree takes in good things, then the roots suck all the bad things out and into the ground. There’s already so much bad science (ok, let’s face it: fake science) that I don’t even care that they have no understanding of botany.
What gets me, though, is that not ONCE is there the typical “these statements not evaluated by the FDA. Kinoki is not designed to treat, prevent, or cure any disease, blah blah blah” disclaimer often seen in these products. Quite the opposite, in fact, they actually say outright that they are perfect for curing and treating diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, and will make you lose weight! They even slapped some “FDA registered” text on the screen! Really? Well, maybe it is, but being registered with the FDA doesn’t mean shit! I can register my dick with the FDA, that doesn’t mean it cures hot chicks of cancer! (despite what I tell them)
So how is this product and it’s advertising legal? Why haven’t the FDA and/or the FTC cracked down on them yet? This also goes double for those infomercials for the “all-natural cures they don’t want you to know about” and that guy who goes on and on about cleaning out your colon and that we all have billions of toxins in there that must be eliminated.
When you do the Google search (above link), there are two sponsored links. One is for the official Kinoki web site. The other is from another web site labeling Kinoki as a scam, but their colon cleansing the secong site offers is what really works!
The “This product has not been approved by the FDA…” messages are usually found on dietary supplements because of a 1994 law. More info here.
From what I saw in the commercial they only saw “FDA registered” but I have no clue what is up with that. When I saw that on TV a few days ago, I wondered about it, too. I can’t find anything on the FDA website about it, but I am thinking of mailing them about it. I think I’ll type up a letter.
It might have something to do with the fact that it is neither a food or a drug therefore outside the pervue of the FDA. I think things like this fall under the jurisdiction of the FTC which is a much less aggressive agency with a smaller budget. Besides agencies are more concerned with protecting people from dangerous things than they are with protecting fools and their money. Non-food or drug=Caveat Emptor…(in SOME cases)
In answer to the “How are these legal?” question, the relatively unrestricted sale of such products along with various dietary supplements which make similar claims, is heavily due to the efforts of a few influential lawmakers, including Senators Tom Harkin and Orrin Hatch:
“Hatch…has been unapologetic in his support for the supplement industry, having battled the FDA and other federal agencies over the regulation of vitamins, herbals, and other natural medicines for more than a decade. He believes the government has no more right to restrict Americans’ access to vitamin A or the herbal ma huang than to McDonald’s french fries. Hatch considers his 1994 law, DSHEA, a triumph on behalf of consumer health freedom. But a close look suggests that if anything, DSHEA (or the Hatch Act, as body builders call it) has left Americans “free” to serve as guinea pigs for a multibillion-dollar industry, much of which is built on a foundation of fraudulent claims, pyramid schemes, and lousy manufacturing practices.”
The FDA has always been hampered by limited staff and funds in going after scamsters. DSHEA has made it considerably tougher to crack down on quack health claims.
The FDA deals with a lot more than food or drugs. Anything claiming to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure a disease/illness/affliction is under their jurisdiction. Everything from band aids to latex gloves to tylenol to hip implants to defibrillators. These commercials actually do say that they can be used to treat things like diabetes and high blood pressure. And unlike a lot of ads I see for “herbal supplements,” there is no disclaimer at the bottom of the ad, nor do they use suggestive language, they just say outright lies. I guess it’s just a matter of it being a new ad, and the agencies not having the money/manpower/interest in bringing legal action, feeling they have better fish to fry.
