FTC
Vindicates Hulda Clark....
Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen
Sunday,
November 28th, 2004
Research
Scientist Hulda Clark, quietly this last weekend, attended the American
College for Advancement of Medicine (ACAM) meeting in San Diego,
California. I was there also. It was a superb meeting.
If there
was a quiet smile on Hulda Clark's face, and there was, it was for two
reasons: (1) because her attorney, Carlos Negrete, had just informed
her that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioners had signed a
settlement agreement over an internet website issue involving Clark's
name.
The
settlement agreement is a landmark, and sets guidelines for ALL internet
sales of health products, and the method in which claims can be made.
For now.
The
second reason (2) Clark was smiling was because of the public's reaction
to her new book
"The Prevention of All Cancers...". This book is a detailed
analysis of cancer, its causes, the immune system, and the means ANYONE
can use, on themselves, or others, to prevent cancer from taking life.
What is really important about this book is that Clark identifies what
is wrong with our water supply, ands why our water supply is damaging
our immune systems.
The
"quackbuster" conspiracy, over the last several years, has
been trying to use the FTC to damage competitors to Big Pharma.
Sometimes they've been successful. Hulda Clark, her theories, her
books, and her inventions, have been primary targets. But with Clark,
the
"quackbusters" have dismally failed. It could be said, with
evidence, that no matter what the
"quackbusters" do, or try, Clark just becomes more popular, and
finds more new things to benefit humanity.
The
bottom line, here, is that the most recent
"quackbuster" against Hulda Clark has once again failed. In a
minute I'll tell you why it failed. But first let me tell you what
actually happened.
On
January 27th, 2003 the FTC filed an action against
"Dr.
Clark Research Association (DCRA), a California corporation that uses a
San Diego, California, address; Dr. Clark Behandlungzentrum GMbH, a
company based in Munchenbuchsee, Switzerland, and doing business as Dr.
Clark Zentrum (DCZ), and their owner, David P. Amrein."
Further,
"The FTC alleges that the
defendants made numerous unsubstantiated claims about the Zapper, the
Syncrometer, the 21 Day Program for Advanced Cancers, and the Herbal
Parasite Cleanse, including through the use of testimonials."
At the bottom line, the
FTC originally wanted:
"WHEREFORE,
plaintiff Federal Trade Commission, pursuant to Section 13(b) of the
FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § 53(b), and the Court's own equitable powers,
requests that this Court:
1. Award plaintiff
such temporary preliminary injunctive and ancillary relief as may be
necessary to avert the likelihood of consumer injury during the pendency
of this action, and to preserve the possibility of effective final
relief;
2. Permanently
enjoin defendants from violating the Federal Trade Commission Act as
herein alleged;
3. Award such
relief as the Court finds necessary to redress injury to consumers
resulting from defendants' violations of the FTC Act, including the
refund of monies paid and the disgorgement of ill-gotten monies; and
4. Award plaintiff
the costs of bringing this action, as well as such other and additional
relief as the Court may determine to be just and proper."
The
original January 27th, 2003 FTC Press Release, and the accompanying
documents can be find by going to
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2003/01/drclark.htm.
Why did the FTC think they wanted to shut down Hulda Clark?
For two
reasons, I think.
(1) The
"quackbusters," through their "letter campaign"
intentionally misled the FTC to believe that "Clark is making
millions off the sale of her products." I know about some of the
letters, and who wrote them. I also know that Hulda Clark's only
"product" is her books. She sells no supplements, or makes no
income from the sales of supplements.
(2) The
"quackbusters" see Hulda Clark, and her books, as probably the
biggest threat, worldwide, to their obscene profits - for Clark teaches
people, through her books and lectures, the reality of their own bodies
and immune systems. The New York ad agency had a meeting, targeted
Clark, and went to work.
As we
all know, the New York ad agency has a set piece it puts in place when
it wants to destroy competition for its Big Pharma paymasters. In an
earlier newsletter, called
"The
Quackbuster's Newest Scam - "Operation Cure-All"...,
I detailed how
it works. Below is an excerpt:
"The focus has been
shifted since the quackbuster paymasters discovered that (1)
Barrett, and company, just can't deliver the goods, anymore. And
(2)
Robert Baratz, the current President of the National Council Against
Health Fraud (NCAHF). who was brought up from the minor leagues with
high hopes, is turning out to be an amusing (for us) embarrassment (for
them).
Now, the
quackbusters are using the FTC/FDA "Operation Cure-All" as their
platform. Herein, I'll detail how I think they're doing it. In another
newsletter I'll tell you how simple it will be to thwart them - one more
time."
Here's how they do it...
They decide who
they're going to hit. The advertising agency (which controls major drug
advertising) writes up the stories that are going to be distributed to
their "letter writing brigade." The letter writers, following the
guidelines, then write to the FTC, the FDA, and Operation Cure-All, to
set a basis for the complaint. Then the ad agency writes stories,
getting quotes from the likes of Barrett, Baratz, etc., on the victim.
The stories are sent out to the media in which the advertising agency's
drug clients advertise. The stories are printed in the media as though
they were true.
Once the stories
hit the press, a second wave of letters goes out to the FTC, the FDA,
and Operation Cure-All, to put pressure on upper management to act.
Then more media is generated, this time with quotes from the quackbuster
insider FTC employees to make it sound official that the FTC is
interested. Once this happens, letters and phone calls go out from
supposedly "irate consumers (quackbusters)," once again to the FTC, the
FDA, and Operation Cure-All upper management, demanding to know why they
aren't doing something.
Then, letters
and phone calls go out from supposedly "irate consumers (quackbusters)"
to certain members of Congress demanding to know why the FTC, the FDA,
and Operation Cure-All, aren't doing something.
Within days, upper
management of the FTC, the FDA, and Operation Cure-All, are deluged with
questions from more media, and Congress. They see the issue as
important, and act against the victim - even if their is little or no
evidence.
After this, some
poor bastard is fighting for his life, while the plotters pop open a
case of $1,000 a bottle champagne, congratulating themselves for another
hit against their competitor.... And, more checks are written.
Against
Clark, the
"quackbuster" claims were so ridiculous, and so juvenile,
that a simple meeting, or two, with FTC solved many of the issues. It
helped that Chiropractor Tedd Koren, through his Washington attorney Jim
Turner, had so forcefully eliminated Stephen Barrett's personal
contact's influence at FTC not long before the Clark case came up.
But,
even better was the so-called "witnesses" that FTC had assembled,
clearly on the recommendation of the
"quackbuster" conspiracy. The were LAUGHABLE. One of them
even fled the scene before he could be deposed.
But my
all time favorite was the antics, in this case, of one of the quackpot's
top attorneys - Christopher Grell. Grell had bragged, during Court
ordered proceedings, that he was writing letters to the FTC. Later, he
complained that the FTC wasn't doing anything about his complaints.
Grell,
you may remember, is the one who brought the original action against
Hulda Clark, allegedly on behalf of his clients, the Figueroas. Stephen
Barrett, and his parrots, made a big deal about this case. After a
period of time the Figueroas fired Grell - right after they were
required to be deposed about their claims. Then Grell sued Hulda Clark
personally, claiming that she had hired me (Tim Bolen) to defame him
(insert guffaw here).
In the end...
The FTC,
early in the case, offered to settle. My thinking is that soon after
the original case was filed that FTC began to get a whiff of the
"quackbuster" stink in the case, and decided to take a hard look
at the information, and the information sources, they had been led to
believe had substance.
Amrein's
attorney, Carlos Negrete, who loves courtroom battles, listened to what
the FTC offered in settlement, and negotiated a mutual agreement FAR
from the FTC's original desires in the case.
Basically, the FTC declined to press the case, and declined finding of
any fault by Amrein, et al, in exchange for a separation of website
information, some different disclaimers, a money-back guarantee, and a
monitoring system in place for a period of time.
The
important part - the website, and its sales operation is vibrantly
in business. I don't think the
"quackbusters," are all that welcome in the halls, and
conference rooms, at FTC any more.
Why did this particular quackbuster attack fail?
For two
reasons (1) Because they're just not that good at this kind of thing
anymore. (2) They can't work under bright lights, and bright lights
they got.
Stay tuned...
Tim Bolen - Consumer
Advocate
This "Millions of Health Freedom Fighters
- Newsletter" is about the battle between "Health and Medicine" on
Planet Earth. Tim Bolen is an op/ed writer with extensive knowledge of
the activities of a subversive organization calling itself the "quackbusters,"
and that organization's attempts to suppress, and discredit, any, and
all health modalities that compete with the allopathic (MD) paradigm for
consumer health dollars. The focus of the newsletter is on the ongoing
activities, battles, politics, and the victories won by members of the
"Health Freedom Movement" against the "quackbusters" It details "who the
quackbusters are, what they are, where they are operating, when they
appear, and how they operate - and how easy it is to beat them..."
For background information on the "Battle
between Health and Medicine" go to:
http://www.savedrclark.net/by_whom2.htm. A copy of THIS newsletter,
and older ones, are viewable at the website
http://www.quackpotwatch.org/default.htm.
For EVEN MORE interesting and related
articles go to
http://www.bolenreport.com
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