Announced Actions for October 17, 1997

Consent agreements given final approval: Following a public comment period, the Commission has made final a consent agreement with the following entities. The Commission action makes the consent order binding on the respondents.

• The consent order with Global World Media Corp. and Sean Shayan, the company's owner settling charges that the company's marketing of a supplement product promoted as a natural herbal "high," Herbal Ecstacy, which included ads in media with large youth audiences, made explicit and unqualified false claims about the product's safety and did not disclose the health and safety risks of using the product. The FTC also charged that the company included in its ads an endorsement pertaining to the safety and lack of side effects of Ecstacy made by Dr. Steven Jonson of Tel Aviv, Israel who, in fact, is a fictitious person. The consent order requires that all future safety claims made by Global or Shayan for any food, drug, or dietary supplement must be truthful and substantiated, and that their advertising and labeling of Ecstacy or any other product containing ephedra will warn consumers about the potentially serious safety risks of taking the product. They will also refrain from promoting Ecstacy or any similar product for its mind-altering effects in media with a predominant youth audience. Finally, the agreement would prohibit misrepresentations of testimonials or endorsements of any product. (See July 29, 1997 news release for more details; Docket No. C-3772; Commission vote to approve the order as final was 4-0.) Staff contact is Joel Winston 202-326-3153 or Michelle Rusk 202-326-3148

Copies of the documents referenced above are available from the FTC's Public Reference Branch, Room 130, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580; 202-326-2222; TTY for the hearing impaired 202-326-2502. To find out the latest news as it is announced, call the FTC NewsPhone recording at 202-326-2710. FTC news releases and other materials also are available on the Internet at the FTC's World Wide Web site at: http://www.ftc.gov