ftcfirstamendment2-comment

Introduction On November 19, 2002 the FTC conducted a public workshop on Deception in Weight-loss Advertising. A principle concern discussed during the workshop is the continued acceptance by media channels of weight-loss advertisements almost certainly false or deceptive. First Amendment concerns by the FTC result in no enforcement actions aimed at medial channels. Without enforcement pressure from the FTC, medial channels are not likely to adopt more responsible advertisement selection procedures. There is no constitutional impediment to more vigorous enforcement actions by the FTC, and such action must be forthcoming. Accordingly please accept these comments in furtherance of this important issue. The FTC’s Daunting Challenge The difficulty in policing dietary-supplement advertising claims primarily is based on the diffuse nature of the industry. Effective industry-wide regulation is routinely thwarted because termination of one misleading advertisement campaign is quickly replaced with another. Logically, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should have authority to regulate this industry; however, Congress largely divested that authority in 1994 with the passage of the Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act (DSHEA). This legislation essentially removed a class of compounds called dietary supplements from the FDA’s 1pre-marketing approval process. After a supplement is marketed, if it later proves dangerous, the FDA retains ...