Announced Actions for December 13, 1996

The Federal Trade Commission today announced the following action.

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.

• with RBR Productions, Inc., a beauty salon products supplier based in Ridgefield, New Jersey, and corporate officer Richard Rosenberg, settling charges that they overstated the human safety or environmental benefits of two disinfectants and one aerosol fingernail-glue drying spray, in some instances making advertising claims that contradicted federally-required warning labels on the products. The advertising at issue was for RBR’s "Let’s Dance" and "Let’s Touch" disinfectants and its "Let’s Go" drying spray. The final consent order prohibits RBR and Rosenberg from making the false environmental and safety claims alleged in the FTC complaint and requires them to have competent and reliable evidence (scientific, where appropriate) to back up similar claims, as well as claims that any disinfectant or aerosol product offers a health, environmental or safety benefit. The order also bars the respondents from using phrases such as "environmental formula" or "ozone friendly" to imply without substantiation that products containing volatile organic compounds will not harm the environment. In addition, the settlement prohibits misrepresentations about the extent to which a product or package can be recycled, or the extent to which recycling programs are available to consumers. (See Aug. 2, 1996 news release for more details regarding this consent agreement; Docket No. C-3696; Commission vote on Dec. 10 to issue the order as final was 5-0.) Staff contact is Janet Evans, 202-326-2125.

Copies of the documents referenced above are available on the FTC’s web site at http://www.ftc.gov and also 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 1-866-653-4261. To find out the latest FTC news as it is announced, call the FTC NewsPhone recording at 202-326-2710.