'A federal court ordered the brand Balance of Nature to stop producing and selling its dietary supplement products this week, after the Food and Drug Administration accused the two Utah-based companies behind it of repeatedly breaking the law in how they made and marketed their supplements.

The FDA says the company marketing Balance of Nature, Evig LLC, and its CEO Lex Howard had flouted years of federal warnings about overstepping limits in what they could claim about diseases their supplements could cure or prevent.'

Above from: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/balance-nature-ordered-stop-sales-162713654.html?a20_comeback_from_auth=1

Below from: https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/federal-judge-enters-consent-decrees-against-utah-based-dietary-supplement-distributor-and-manufacturer-of-balance-of-nature-products-1032828593?op=1

'Balance of Nature products are marketed as dietary supplements, with labeling that rendered them unapproved new drugs and misbranded drugs. The FDA has not approved Balance of Nature products for any use, despite the company's claims that its products could be used to diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent diseases such as cancer, heart disease, cirrhosis, diabetes, asthma, and COVID-19. In addition, Evig LLC violated current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) requirements, which rendered its products adulterated dietary supplements.'

It is a Utah based supplement company. They advertise widely on TV. Just another Utah scam. I don't know if there is a Mormon connection. Utah is quite lax with its laws regarding these products.

All-natural free-range extra-virgin Damitol, the Placebo ThatbWorks. Recommended by three out of ten Christian Science Practioners!

IMO, there is an overall problem in the USA with scammy claims that get zero scrutiny. Just watching TV commercials, I am disgusted that they don't have to make disclaimers and that people actually believe what they hear. Most of it doesn't even arise to the level of junk science.

~That special protein ingredient from a rare clam in a faraway land
~That healthy formula for "hydration of cells"
~That "doctor approved" light or vibration that heals all ills
~That special oil that improves energy levels
~Scare tactics for investments, insurance, etc.

I shouldn't get started on tangents.

Utah has lobbied hard through the decades to avoid as much regulation as they can for their BS products. That includes their religion for the credulous too.

I'm just glad the board is fortunate enough to have one of the world's leading scamatologists in our midst. The combination of such expertise and people who are trying to escape the phenomenon is truly scammendipitous.

dagny Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ~That healthy formula for "hydration of cells"

Also known as water.

Two words: Orrin Hatch.

https://www.kuer.org/politics/2018-12-18/how-a-1994-law-supercharged-utahs-supplement-industry

Utah appears to have no spine when it comes to scams.

It's just a bit of scoliosis that will disappear after puberty has completed Utah's marvelous work and a wonder...

I wish that the FDA would go after the numerous MLM dietary supplement and essential oils businesses as well. While the companies officially make no promises about cures for diseases, and tell their representatives to do likewise, many reps flout the rules. Utah is rife with MLM companies.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2023 02:10PM by summer.

They can't go after them. See my post above. Orrin Hatch made damn sure of that. And it made his family very rich.

There must be more to the story. We see two suits based on the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938. The defendants have not even challenged the suits, acknowledging that the FDA has authority in these matters.

So while I don't have enough knowledge to question your assertion that Hatch did a lot to help the industry, there are obviously some FDA powers that continue in force. Specific charges include the use of "adulterated" ingredients, false claims, and fraud, so perhaps those were not touched by Hatch's 1994 act.

One item that might apply here is that NPR and others have reported that the current head of the FDA (whose name I forget now) is much more willing to take on noncomplying industries (including this one) than her predecessors.

Yes, it would not surprise me that the present administration would retain bureaucrats who were more serious about consumer protection than TFG's satraps.

But the point remains that the defendants did not dispute the FDA's authority. Again, I do not know the law but in this instance the prosecutor, the defendants, and the judge all agree that the FDA has the legal power to take these actions.

When my husband's old boyfriend (now my friend) told me that Balance of Nature came out of Southern Utah and he asked me what I thought and I said probably the polygamists down there, but whether it was the polygamists or the mormons, I was sure it wasn't what they say it is. I just love the ridiculous stories they tell.

I especially enjoyed Kathie Lee Giffords' commercial about it. It's ridiculous.

Although my friend I mentioned above--he says he feels better since he started taking it. Well, if you have a lot of money, you can probably buy it??? But I've wondered about it.

I don't like the stuff that has info on google about it. If I'm looking for something for my dogs like an eye vitamin, I'm always skeptical. I actually think google is less and less reliable for all the stuff I have to look up for doing the medical transcription. I hate how you click on something that says just the question you have and they send you to another page with a bunch of other sites for the same question you asked or they send you to an ad with (my favorite) A RECORDING to listen to.

Can they reopen under the name "Call of Nature"?

Lot's Wife has very low standards when it comes to humor, but she just suffered a brain concussion from a facepalm.

I got a good guffaw from that one, Mr. Machine.

(My standards must be considerably lower than Mrs. Lot's. At least I don't go around town with slap marks on my forehead. ;-))

Even funnier is the idea that most of whatever is in the products actually does get pissed away. They SHOULD use Call of Nature like bradley suggested.

Company was founded by Douglas Howard.

Here is his biography

https://www.drhowardbiography.com/

"1980: From April 1980 to April 1982 Dr. Howard served a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Hamburg Germany mission."

Possibly a scientology connection as well

https://tonyortega.org/2021/02/03/is-balance-of-nature-actually-scientology-well-they-have-a-hubbard-college-in-their-hq/

His resume states that he is a Doctor of Chiropractic, and that he was "invited to study medicine" in Russia, but not that he graduated or was ever able to use the designation M.D. And although he has an interest in nutrition, nowhere do I see that he has any degrees in nutrition. Not very impressive. but IMO par for the course.

Good grief. Yeah, "doctor approved."

Like you said, par for the course for that kind of product.

They spent a LOT of money on TV ads and I won't miss those.

The size of each capsule looked huge and the number you had to take per day seemed to be quite high, not just 1-2 per day. Seems like it was a $3-10/day commitment. Who would do that?

It's likely that someone will mention the mormon president of a Utah landscaping company who is being charged with human trafficking...

He was "importing" Mexicans to do both landscaping AND snow removal!!!

Of course, everyone knows how Mexicans are born knowing how to use snow removal tools and machinery!!

I had to of seen so many of the commercials, that they were nothing but ridiculous. 'We weren't paid to tell you about this We tried it, and everything changed!' Evig has put out an apology commercial. Saw it last night during Fox 13's news at 9.

Not an expert in the supplement industry, but apparently all you have to do is put some chemicals together, call it a "proprietary blend" and then you don't have to disclose what's in it.

I'm sure some people who make supplements really want to help people. But some of those who peddle worthless supplements know they are making useless products with a massive markup.

My ex worked for a call center for a pyramid scheme based out of Orem. She not only told me about the horrible treatment she faced from co-workers because she wasn't a Mormon. But she also said that customers called in to say that the supplements didn't work.

When she escalated these concerns to management, their attitude was, "We know. But enough people think they work, so we keep selling them, and we're making TONS of money, so get back on the phone."

Instead of making valuable products that work, it seems like Mormons in Utah try to find a useless product that they can sell for a massive markup, and they don't care whether the product works or not. They just care about making money.

They also seem more interested in finding loopholes to exploit than making products that are useful.

> When she escalated these concerns to management,
> their attitude was, "We know. But enough people
> think they work, so we keep selling them, and
> we're making TONS of money, so get back on the
> phone."

If "we know" could be proven in discovery, the company would go away faster than one could say "poof."

According to recent pronouncements I found, this company states they are back in business and shipping product after working it out with the FDA. The commercials never did stop and I was wondering why.

I saw an article on it.

What a seedy company! Manufacturing violations, unsupported health claims, advertising violations, false claims about contents in supplements, etc.

But thank heavens they fixed the problems! They are now "able to resume 'normal operations and shipping timelines' ahead of the holiday season, despite 'soaring demand' for their products."

Why are people buying this crap! Sheesh people are stupid.


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/balance-of-nature-says-it-is-back-in-business-after-fda-shutdown/

"Promises that aren't kept make as much money as promises that are, and there's a sucker born every minute.  Studies have provided ample data allowing the conclusion to be made credulous individuals do not learn from their mistakes, and they repeatedly make the same mistakes over and over again.  Currently, there is no available cure for self-delusion.

"If a product's promises aren't met, it's much easier to accept another explanation other than that the product was never able to provide the promised results.  There are sufficient sheep to keep the predatory wolves fat and happy devouring credulous sheep.

"Where are the sheepdogs?  Busy...very, very busy.  But it is in the very nature of a sheep to get into mischief if a sheepdog isn't nipping at its heels."

      --1948 USDA Report to a Congressional
      Oversight Committee investigating the
      relationship between Chinese medical
      practices, tobacco, and leprechauns.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2023 01:25PM by elderolddog.

That works for Mormonism, too, doesn't it?

summer Wrote:
---------------------------
> That works for Mormonism,
> too, doesn't it?


Probably worthy of its own thread:  

What the heck is mormonism today?

And how much of what it used to be, still matters?

"Ah yes, the comma question. Be still my beating heart."

--Lynn Truss,* Eats, Shoots and Leaves, 2003.




*Not to be confused with her sister and former prime minister,"Pork Products" Liz.

...which made me think of this thread::

"The Appeal to Nature (also, Biologizing; The Green Fallacy): The contemporary romantic fallacy of ethos (that of "Mother Nature") that if something is "natural" it has to be good, healthy and beneficial. E.g., "Our premium herb tea is lovingly brewed from the finest freshly-picked and delicately dried natural T. Radicans leaves. Those who dismiss it as mere 'Poison Ivy' don't understand that it's 100% organic, with no additives, GMO's or artificial ingredients It's time to Go Green and lay back in Mother's arms." One who employs or falls for this fallacy forgets the old truism that left to itself, nature is indeed "red in tooth and claw."

Indulge me for hijacking this thread, but here's why I was on that site (link, below):

Is there a scientific term, or procedure, or apt "logical fallacy" term for when you have a thesis that is, based on simple observation and wide consensus, plainly false,--but you decide to test it anyway, just to prove, once and for all, that it's false?

Crude example. "A" claims, in all sincerity, that the world is flat. "B" arranges for "A" passage on Space-X to prove that the world is a globe. Any help?

https://utminers.utep.edu/omwilliamson/engl1311/fallacies.htm