Agreement Quiets Talk

Portland, Maine-based telemarketing company Talk America reached an agreement last week with Massachusetts and eight other states–including Vermont, California and New York–to stop producing and airing infomercials.
The long-form ads touted “miracle” health- care products that purport to reverse male-pattern baldness and cleanse the human colon of “trapped” toxic matter.
In addition to pulling its ads, Talk America agreed to give consumers refunds and pay $150,000 to the states to cover attorneys’ fees. Also signing the agreement was Nature’s Pure Body Institute, one of the manufacturers of the healthcare products.
Talk America agreed to terms without admitting any wrongdoing, said a representative in the office of Scott Harshbarger, the attorney general of Massachusetts.
In a statement, Harshbarger’s office said Talk America did not have “scientific evidence or other substantiation to prove its extraordinary claims.”