Tuesday
Jan102012
Tue, January 10, 2012 | by Lisa Barger HerbalExtractsPlus.com Ordered To Remove Claims
A couple of months ago agents with the US Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, paid a visit to Everett Farr’s website, www.herbalextractsplus.com and found therapeutic claims that the agency says go too far in respect to what sellers of herbal remedies can promise about their products. Today the FDA made public a copy of that letter.
Three products cross the FDA’s line, according to the official warning letter. Those are Farr’s:
HerbalExtractsPlus.com’s Kidney and Bladder Support product is made with several botanicals that the site claimed can kill the bacteria that cause urinary tract infections—like cranberry, carrot and corn silk. Its hydrangea supposedly also aids an enlarged prostate.
The FDA says that none of the products has been officially recognized as safe or effective for any of those conditions. That means that, as far as the agency is concerned, Farr and HerbalExtractsPlus.com are marketing new and unapproved drugs. But even if the remedies were recognized as legit treatments for those conditions they would still in violation of FDA regs because they’re being hawked for conditions that the average person simply can’t diagnose or successfully treat at home.
HerbalExtractsPlus.com was given the normal 15 working days to remove the violating claims or face further FDA action. As of my visit to the site this morning I found none of the claims I looked for. I did, however, find claims that came—at least in my opinion—awfully close to those cited in the FDA’s warning letter. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, the agency does about those.
Source:
FDA. (2011). Herbal Extracts Plus, LLC 1/3/12. (WARNING LETTER). Accessible at fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm285654.htm.
Three products cross the FDA’s line, according to the official warning letter. Those are Farr’s:
- Cholesterol Reduction Support,
- Support for High Blood Pressure and his
- Kidney and Bladder Support.
HerbalExtractsPlus.com’s Kidney and Bladder Support product is made with several botanicals that the site claimed can kill the bacteria that cause urinary tract infections—like cranberry, carrot and corn silk. Its hydrangea supposedly also aids an enlarged prostate.
The FDA says that none of the products has been officially recognized as safe or effective for any of those conditions. That means that, as far as the agency is concerned, Farr and HerbalExtractsPlus.com are marketing new and unapproved drugs. But even if the remedies were recognized as legit treatments for those conditions they would still in violation of FDA regs because they’re being hawked for conditions that the average person simply can’t diagnose or successfully treat at home.
HerbalExtractsPlus.com was given the normal 15 working days to remove the violating claims or face further FDA action. As of my visit to the site this morning I found none of the claims I looked for. I did, however, find claims that came—at least in my opinion—awfully close to those cited in the FDA’s warning letter. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, the agency does about those.
Source:
FDA. (2011). Herbal Extracts Plus, LLC 1/3/12. (WARNING LETTER). Accessible at fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm285654.htm.