A popular retailer of herbal medicines is demanding an apology from the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) while issuing a caution to the regulator over its handling of issues surrounding the store’s product advertisements.
The Oistins, Christ Church-based store Amaze Inc. sought the apology in a strongly-worded response to the FTC, following a Barbados TODAY story in which the Commission warned herbal medicine retailers they could face fines as high as $100,000 or time in prison for breaching consumer protection laws.
But in an immediate response on Friday, the FTC said it was sticking to its guns in monitoring all business activity and sensitising Barbadian consumers of their rights.
Last Thursday, Director of Consumer Protection at the FTC Dava Leslie-Ward said a decision was made to keep a close eye on businesses selling herbal medicines after the regulator’s attention was drawn to certain claims made about the efficacy of their products.
She said when COVID-19 first hit Barbados in March 2020, the FTC become aware of certain products being advertised as a cure for the virus, although she did not identify the company that was publicising the items.
“What we would have done in those circumstances was to speak to the persons who were responsible for those advertisements and indicated to them that unless you can prove the claims you are making in relation to that product, you cannot advertise in that way, otherwise that would amount to false advertising as stipulated in the Consumer Protection Act (CPA),” she said then.
The FTC official had also disclosed that it was able to get one of the two businesses involved to immediately pull their ads, while the other, which removed its message later, was asked to publicly apologise.
It was one of those engagements in which Amaze admitted it had been involved that has drawn its ire against the FTC.
“[Amaze]…applauded the efforts made by the FTC in seeking to assist natural medicine businesses as to how they should proceed with regards to advertising to the public, but also cautioned the FTC that they need to be very careful about the method used and the manner in which they approached businesses,” Public Relations and Marketing Representative for Amaze, Ryan Boyce told Barbados TODAY.
“Amaze highlighted the fact that in March 2020 when COVID-19 first arrived in Barbados, a lady who did not announce her name, called stating that she was from the FTC [and was] concerned about one of our ads which was brought to their attention…and that we could not prove that the product advertised did indeed work for COVID-19…so we needed to immediately remove the ad as this could cause a stampede at Amaze.
“At that time, the only ad recently released from Amaze was an E-blast about our 2019 Global Excellence award-winning natural virus medication VIF10 from our reputable India supplier. We tried to explain that we were not lying [and] that the medication worked well for viruses, but the FTC’s rep abruptly dismissed what we were saying and would not listen,” the spokesman claimed.
Boyce said the accusation by the FTC representative was grounds for an apology.
“Our very reputable India suppliers…had already shipped thousands of bottles of this product to major international countries hard hit by COVID-19, like China, Italy, the UK, USA, Africa, and beyond, and had seen very outstanding results.
“The attitude of the lady calling Amaze from the FTC that morning in March 2020 was like that of a person who was deliberately sent to make sure that Amaze removed the ad about the VIF10 even if it helped with COVID-19.”
The retail store said it has helped “many” people here and overseas with “effective” natural medicine for almost 12 years and would never recklessly place an ad in the public domain making claims that were not true.
Boyce contended that the FTC should not speak in vague terms about proof, but should state exactly what proof it required for advertising natural medicines.
He added that because natural medicine is not permitted the same testing and authorisation as pharmaceutical drugs, it is placed at a great disadvantage to present scientific proof.
“This does not mean that natural medicine does not work as advertised for health issues,” the Amaze spokesman said.
While encouraging the FTC to seek out those guilty of misleading the public with false advertising, Amaze implored the regulatory agency not to allow the “fake advertisers to so influence them that paranoia takes hold and causes them to target reputable businesses”.
Boyce said Amaze has no problem with the FTC keeping a close eye on natural medicine retailers, “but be fair, as their name suggests, by also keeping a close eye on those prescribing pharmaceutical drugs to the public without warning or discussing with their patients the many side effects which they could suffer, some of which are deadly”.
In a brief response, Leslie-Ward said the commission takes its education mandate very seriously, and often makes presentations to businesses and consumers in order to bring awareness to consumer issues.
“Being cognisant of its responsibility to protect consumers’ rights while also recognising that using natural products is embedded in the fabric of Barbadian society, the commission invited all businesses in the natural health sector to a presentation on the Consumer Protection Act in the previous financial year,” Leslie-Ward told Barbados TODAY.
“This sensitisation session provided information on the manner in which the CPA applies to all businesses, with specific emphasis on this industry,” she added. “In accordance with its mandate to review business activity, the commission will continue its monitoring efforts to protect consumers and to bring awareness to various issues.”
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
