Cedarcide used radio to make its claims about its bedbug and head lice remedies, and the Federal Trade Commission believes they went beyond the boundaries of provable science. FTC failed to reach a settlement with the company and readying litigation against the company.
The FTC did settle with a company that used internet advertising to make similar claims, hitting it for a judgement of almost $265K which was nonetheless suspended due to inability to pay.
In the Cedarcide case, the company is charged with making unsubstantiated claims about its products and saying “…hat the federal government endorses and is affiliated with their product.”
Products are sold to consumers, hotel chains and other commercial establishments, with prices ranging from $29.95/quart to $3,394.95 for a hotel-motel bed bug eradication kit.
FTC cited the company’s use of radio to advertise a product know as Best Yet. “One radio advertisement for the product stated: ‘In light of the recent bed bug media frenzy that has all of us nervous, you need to know that bed bug prevention and eradication relief are available. So let’s not all freak out. All you need is Best Yet from CedarCide.com…Best Yet was developed at the request of the USDA for our military, as a solution for killing sand fleas. But guess what, it’s equally deadly to bed bugs, larvae and eggs.’”
The FTC charges that the defendants make:
* unsupported claims that Best Yet!is effective at stopping and preventing bed bug infestations and that it is more effective than synthetic pesticides at doing so;
* false claims that scientific studies prove Best Yet!is effective at stopping and preventing bed bug infestations, and that it is more effective than synthetic pesticides at doing so;
* a false claim that the Environmental Protection Agency has warned consumers to avoid all synthetic pesticides for treating bed bug infestations;
* unsupported claims that Best Yet!is effective in stopping and preventing head lice infestations, killing head lice eggs, dissolving the glue that binds head lice eggs (known as nits) to hair, and killing head lice and their eggs in a single treatment; and
* false claims that scientific studies prove Best Yet! is effective in stopping and preventing head lice infestations.
* false claims that Best Yet!was invented for the U.S. Army at the request of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and that the USDA has acknowledged the product as the number one choice of bio-based pesticides.
