Announced Actions for January 27, 1998

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

• The consent order with Venegas Inc. and the company owner, Angel Venegas, prohibits the company from making unsubstantiated health claims about Alen, a powdered nutritional supplement comprised of wheat germ, wheat bran, soybean extract, and seaweed extract. The company also is prohibited from making any representations as to the benefits, performance, or efficacy of any food, drug or dietary supplement without possessing and relying upon competent and reliable scientific evidence to support the claims. The proposed order does permit the company to make representations specifically permitted in the labeling for any product by regulations promulgated by the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Nutrition Labeling and Educations Act of 1990, and would permit the respondents to make any representation for any drug that is permitted by the FDA in the drug's labeling. (See news release dated October 29, 1997. The Commission vote to approve the consent order as final was 3-0, with Commissioner Mozelle W. Thompson and Commissioner Orson Swindle not participating. Staff contact:Michael J. Bloom, Donald G. D'Amato or Denise Tighe, New York Regional Office, 212-264-1207.)

Copies of the documents referenced above are available from the FTC's web site at http://www.ftc.gov and also from the FTC's Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580; 202-326-3128; TTY for the hearing impaired 1-866-653-4261. To find out the latest news as it is announced, call the FTC NewsPhone recording at 202-326-2710.