Source: Akron BBB
In a case reminiscent of the cure-all potions from the old west, four Attorneys General announced a settlement with Morinda, Inc., a Utah-based marketer of a beverage called “Tahitian Noni.” The wonder juice was advertised as having the power to cure or prevent a variety of disorders including diabetes, depression, hemorrhoids and arthritis. The product has not been approved for these uses by the Food and Drug Administration.

Under the terms of the agreement, Morinda will not claim the product can cure, treat or prevent disease until it is approved by the FDA. Further, the company will not make any such claims without substantial scientific evidence and will refrain from using testimonials implying that the advertised results are the typical experience of a consumer in acutal conditions of use, unless there is adequate information that the results are indeed typical. Morinda must provide refunds to consumers upon request and pay $100,000 in investigative costs. Coincidentally, the company also uses the Internet to promote a multi-level business opportunity to retail the product.

And it is approved to sell as maintenance for cholesterol?
See the billboard below.

Source: Utah MLMarketing
Noni Super Juice? And it’s advertised as helping maintain Cholesterol at healthy levels? This is a billboard for TNI’s Noni Juice on the west side of the freeway in Lehi, Utah, only a few miles from the distribution center. It this not a HEALTH CLAIM? The very same health claims that TNI has been sued over in the past? The kind of health claims that distributors are not allowed to make? It will be interesting to hear what the FDA might have to say about this form of advertising in Utah.

Source: Utah MLMarketing
In a follow-up on our report on May 22nd, 2007 titled Tahitian Noni Juice - Quality (OUT OF) Control?! we can show you the situation with the quarantined Tahitian Noni Juice bottles. Click on the images to enlarge them and read the follow-up information.

Source: Daily Herald
In addition to our publication of the Consent Judgement, Grace Leong at the Daily Herald has run the following article regarding TNI settling their hormone cream suit.

A legal dispute involving Tahitian Noni and a California group over a hormone cream the Provo company claims treats menopausal symptoms, was recently settled. Tahitian Noni paid $50,500 to the California Women’s Law Center, a Los Angeles-based women’s civil rights group, and its executive director, Katherine Lee Buckland, to settle a lawsuit alleging violations of California’s health and safety codes and other consumer protection laws relating to unlawful competition and false advertising.

Tahitian Noni, in its settlement, agreed to add warning labels to its product — the Tahiti Trim Plan 40 Body Balance Cream — that states it contains progesterone, “a chemical known to the state of California to cause cancer” and should only be used with a physician’s advice. According the National Cancer Institute, a large clinical trial published in 2002 showed that hormone replacement therapy (a combination of the hormones estrogen and progesterone) increased women’s risk of developing breast cancer and heart disease. But these cancer warnings will only be added to Body Balance Cream products sold in California. That’s because California has Proposition 65, a state law that requires companies to provide warning labels if their products contain chemicals that can cause cancer and birth defects.

Michael Drake, assistant general counsel for Tahitian Noni, said the company isn’t required to provide cancer warnings on hormone creams sold in Utah or elsewhere. “The consent judgment has to do with labeling requirements in California. We just need to adjust our product labeling in California,” he said.

Mike Weingarten, global public relations manager for Tahitian Noni, declined to comment on the number of Body Balance Cream products sold annually in Utah and nationwide. Roger Carrick, lead attorney for the California group, said Utahns should call on their federal and state regulators including the Attorney General’s Office and request similar cancer warnings in Utah. Carrick said the FDA has not recognized the cream as safe or effective. But the product is still advertised as a way to ease menopause symptoms and is sold mainly in stores and on the Internet. Still, scientists are divided over the role of progesterone in cancer risk. Paul Murphy, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office in Utah, said he couldn’t specify immediately what steps would be taken by the government. “A private lawsuit against a single company isn’t likely to force the government to act,” he said.

With the passage of the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, which is co-authored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the burden of showing whether a drug or a supplement was unsafe is now placed on the federal Food and Drug Administration, rather than on the company. “We hope the FDA will take the cream off the market. We filed the lawsuit after the California Women’s Law Center, while working with breast cancer victims, found these hormone cream products were being sold,” said Carrick, who believes that thousands of women used the product in California.

The settlement, approved by California Superior Court Judge Robert Hess last month, is one of 50 reached to date since the California non-profit filed suit in 2005 against 60-plus companies nationwide that made similar products with hormones. Tahitian Noni settled without admission of guilt.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES
Case Number BC344046

Click Here to read the Consent Judgment that TNI has agreed to.

In short, for those who do not wish to read the entire legal agreement. A while ago we reported that the TNI Tahiti Trim Plan 40 cream was a target of lawsuit because of the ingredients being known to cause cancer. It has taken some time but TNI has agreed to pay a settlement sum to the California Women’s Law Center and will put labels on the current and future products that make use of Progesterone, Medroxyprogesterone acetate, Testosterone and its esters, Methyltestosterone, Testosterone cypionate, and/or Testosterone enanthate as an ingredient and will present a warning when people buy these products by direct sales or internet sales;

“WARNING: This product contains [Progesterone, Medroxyprogesterone acetate, Testosterone and its esters, Methyltestosterone, Testosterone cypionate, and/or Testosterone enanthate], a chemical(s) known to the State of California to cause cancer. Consult with your physician before using this product.”