FDA Show Segment
My name is Evelyn DeNike and my title is Public Affairs Specialist with the Food and Drug Administration.
Q: Evelyn, can you tell us a little bit about the frauds that are perpetrated on seniors?
A: There are so many of them, you've got to remember, senior citizens have more frail health than younger people do. We estimate that 60% of the medical fraud is perpetrated on senior citizens. Better than half. Many times it's cures for terrible diseases like Cancer, or chronic diseases like arthritis, high blood pressure, diabetes, things of this type. Some of these things are harmless and are just economic rip-offs, but some of them can be very very dangerous. If, for example, you chose to take herbs to control your high blood pressure and abandoned your high blood pressure medication that the doctor prescribed, you are at risk for stroke. High blood pressure medication cannot be dropped suddenly without adverse effects. There are a lot of things out there, people are willing to make a buck off of seniors. If not through medical fraud, than, than all other kinds of scams. As a group they are a huge target and they are very very vulnerable.
Q: What kind of gadgets do you have here in front of....
A: We have a lot of them. Probably one area that has the biggest amount of fraud is in the are of weight reduction because most physicians will tell their patients in order to be healthier, you need to lose some weight. So, we've got, I've got all kinds of things here. One of, usually these things have a kernel of truth somewhere. For example, this product, this is no longer available, it's called FigureTron Tea. It's got batteries to operate it and then these tabs are strapped on your body wherever you want to lose weight. Now this comes to us from the world of physical therapy where they have electronic muscle stimulation. We know, for example, that when someone has serious surgery, the muscles will agitate and that they'll lose a lot of ground and the recovery will be more difficult. So what they developed are these little muscle tabs that they take and it just makes your muscles kind of twitch and contract. It's not as good as getting up and walking around, but you don't lose as much ground. Well it wasn't very long before some clever soul thought that, let's strap these and in the directions it says this is the equivalent of ten thousand sit-ups. So you envision, you used a, a bazilian bowl games, you strap this to your belly, you just lie there like a couch potato and you get up with no stomach. It, isn't it incredible. And this retailed for about fifty dollars. It's not, to most people it's not a major economic loss but it still represents a loss. Another one, this is one of my favorites, is a product called Slender Roll. This was an import and what it is is a rolling pin and you plug it in and it hums and it vibrates and you just roll the blubber off your body. Fifty dollars. I tell folks when I'm giving my talk that at least you can console yourself and bake a pie when you realize that this doesn't work because it doesn't. There is no magic formula. There never has been but there are a lot of people that want to believe in magic. A lot of seniors suffer from arthritis and this is basically not a bad idea here. What you have are double sided heating pad mitts, OK. And the theory here is, and this has been proven out that if you have arthritis, and you can make those joints warm either with this heating pad or a hot bath or something like this, sometimes they ache a lot less and this you slide them on and it's kind of like wearing handcuffs because you can't do anything. You've got no thumbs, you can't even pick up the phone. We had a problem with them in that they overheated and people actually got burned. Now these retailed for around fifty dollars and you can go into any discount drug store or K-Mart or Wal-Mart, any of these and probably get a real fine heating pad for about fifteen dollars. That's not an expensive item and they're a lot safer and you've got, they're more versatile than something like this. People that have chronic pain really are looking for something to relieve pain that's drug free and this is a product that was advertised as electronic acupuncture. We've removed this from the marketplace. It's battery operated and you put it on various places of your body depending on where you hurt, to correct the situation. And the manufacturer thoughtfully provides a map of the, I'm sorry I rattled this. The manufacturer, thoughtfully, provides a map of the human body that tells you where you use this and for what indication. And I have some problems with this because this product is good for, whip lash, for insomnia, for dullness in the legs, I'm not certain what that is, for gynecological distress, for constipation, for toothache, for hypertension, again, this could be very dangerous if someone abandoned their blood pressure medication. But something for eye strain, tooth ache, constipation, I don't know if I'd want to use one product for all of those indications. This is kind of like, I call it Polyester Medicine. You know, one cure fits all.
Q: Why was it actually taken off the market?
A: Because it does not deliver what it promises. It was a fraud, and it's also an unapproved medical device, OK. People always ask us, "Well how come I can get this or that in Canada or in Mexico or in Europe?" Here's an example of a product that's called Gripe Water. It's from the United Kingdom. It's used in the United Kingdom today and it's advertised as the safe and gentle way of reducing babies wind. I would assume it would be like, for, for colic, intestinal upsets and things like this and by golly, this will relax Junior because the product is 90% alcohol. It's 180 proof. We do not allow alcohol to be sold to adults in America at 180 proof and for an infant, this could be extremely dangerous. Doctors say never, never, never, give an infant alcoholic beverages to drink. You know, every once in a while on the news, you know, a young child, 6, 8, 10 years old forced to drink alcohol and dies. So, it can be very serious. There's an old home remedy when children are teething to rub the gums with a little bit but that's different than giving baby a dolt. OK, again, from electronic muscle stimulation there's a product called Dynatone. Now those of us that are old enough will recognize this as a very simple cigarette box and it's got a little bit of electronics in it, OK, and it has a control and it hums and it vibrates and this is a do-it-yourself face lift. You can get rid of Turkey neck, you can get rid of Crow's Feet, for only fifty bucks we can save thousands in cosmetic surgery. What a boom to humanity. Does it work, no. OK. Most of these products, when I'm speaking to seniors I advise them, if a medical treatment is guaranteed, to check their wallet and get out of there because when's the last time your doctor guaranteed something. Doctors can't because medicine is not the same for me as it is for you. A drug that may do wonders for a condition that I have might be totally inappropriate for you. My husband, for example, is violently allergic to Penicillin. Does this mean we need to take Penicillin off the market, no. There are a lot of people that benefit from it. But at the same time, you need to be aware of what you're sensitive to. People that are asthmatic or have allergies have to be very very careful about using herbal products. Herbal teas and things of this type because it can trigger a reaction and a lot of people that are allergic are unaware of that, that they need to be careful. Over the counter drugs that you can buy in your drug store, you need to read the directions that come with that. Some of them are not to be used with certain prescription drugs. And if you are taking any of these on a regular basis, you need to let your doctor know what you're taking. We find among seniors the two most abused drugs are laxative and I am just totally blank.
A: It's important for seniors to let their physicians know what they're taking in the way of over the counter drugs because this could interfere with a prescription drug. There are drug interactions that are not good and we find that among senior citizens, probably it's the laxatives and antacids that are the two most over used drugs because you don't want to go to the doctor for an upset stomach so you take an antacid and, and if you have problems with constipation as many seniors do, they don't get enough exercise and the food doesn't taste the same, these are the, these are the problem areas. Now, some medications, some prescription drugs should not be taken with antacids at all because it changes the acidity of the stomach and they don't dissolve properly, they're not used properly in the system and you don't get the benefit of them and with laxatives what it does, it moves everything through the system more quickly and sometimes it's not in there long enough to help you. That's why a doctor when he prescribe as an antibiotic says to you, "If you don't see an improvement in two or three days, call me." Because there might be something this particular antibiotic may not work for you. So these are the things that we need to deal with. Never, never store medicine in a medicine cabinet. It should be stored somewhere other than in the bathroom. That's the most humid room of the house. So you want, you don't want the medications to degrade or decompose in there. If, if you have grandchildren that come to the house, we suggest a high place that they can't reach. Probably one of the most dangerous places for children is Grandma's purse because Grandma usually carries her medications with her. Especially if it's something that needs to be taken during the day. So you need to be thinking that purse needs to be put up where young children can't, can't get at it. What usually works real real well is when you hang up your coat, put the handles of the purse over a hanger and hang it up in the closet and that way young children generally can't reach it. You want to see some more?
Q: Sure, what else do you have?
A: This is a product called Vision Dieter and if you look at it closely what it is is plastic safety glasses. It's kind of a pinkie beige on one side and blue on the other and the instructions are you wear this for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon and the blub is just going to melt off your body. $29.95, don't I look thinner already? I mean, isn't this wonderful, in the few seconds I've been wearing it I can just feel myself slimming down and if you have the disadvantage like you and I of wearing glasses, this fits right over. So I can continue working and can just lose weight and this is a product that has the traditional things that it's guaranteed OK. And what happens is usually these folks are in and out of business quickly. So by the time you realize you've been had and go to collect any money, they're gone doing something else. Or a lot of people are embarrassed. Sometimes it's a good product but the claim is, is not appropriate. For example, these particular glasses are called Pro View Optical Lenses and it's designed for night driving and for some people, this yellow may be a benefit. It might cut down the glare. But they claim that it filters out all the ultraviolet light. Excuse me, but how much ultraviolet light do we have at night. It comes from the sun. I mean this is totally inappropriate. We've got another products here that we've removed from the market. These are called Pinhole Glasses and it, it's like a heavy heavy screen, like looking through a heavy screen and it probably illuminates 95% of what you can see and this is supposed to strengthen your eyes. The rationale here is going back to the old pinhole camera. You know, kids in science classes make a pinhole camera. You take a shoebox, put a little pinhole in it, put film in there and you can actually get a decent picture. A recognizable picture anyway. So the rationale is if it works in a shoebox, it should work on you. OK. Drug free pain relief for those folks that have chronic pain this is a product called AcuDot and what it is is a little spot band-aid and on the back is a magnet and you put it where it hurts and it's going to draw the pain out because magnets draw don't they. OK this wasn't very expensive maybe 10-12 bucks, you know, but it says, I keep losing my spots here, but these, these are the kinds, these are the kinds of things we look out for. Now some of these are not harmful but some of them have the potential for harm and probably the saddest thing is when someone with a serious disease abandons whatever hope they have with legitimate medicine and goes off and tries one of these things. Laiatril was a good example. Laetrile was a Cancer cure made from ground up Apricot pits. Now, it's not dangerous that we know of but the tragedy with Laetrile is the patient would go to the doctor and say, "Doc, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired, I'm not going to do Chemo, I'm not going to do radiation anymore. I'm going to take Laetrile instead. And the time that's lost to that physician, or the time that's lost to that patient is never recovered and, you know, you see things like this. Medically proven miracles are censored by the medical establishment and if people stop to think about that, you know, they like to say, "Well Cancer's a big business and if they found a cure a lot of doctors would be out of business." What they forget is those doctors and their families also die of Cancer and I lost a Dad to Cancer and if there was anything out there that could have prolonged his life or his comfort, I would have sought it out. But this is very very typical of fraudulent claims that the medical establishment is jealous or the medical establishment doesn't want this because there's too much money. You know, they'll be other diseases coming along. It's not that hospitals are out there searching for business. You know. There's always been snake oil. There has always been snake oil.
Q: Do you think with especially the fact that with medications and seniors on a limited income that since they're thinking I'd rather eat than pay for this med that they're more apt to pick up on an ad they see?
A: I think seniors are more apt to pick up on the ad because, number one, they might rationalize, well this will save the cost of a doctor's visit. The doctor might prescribe something that's really really expensive and some of the antibiotics are very expensive. A couple bucks a pill and, you know, I can invest 15, 20, 30 dollars and I can save myself a trip to the doctors office but what you might do is give yourself a trip to the emergency room, you know, and seniors need to follow the doctor's directions. That's critical. We find almost half do not. Now sometimes, like you say, it's economic, and they'll rationalize, this is expensive. Instead of taking four a day, I'll take too, it'll make it last longer. Or with an antibiotic they'll say, "Well I'm felling better now, I'll save this for next time." And what happens, they become re-infected. With almost every antibiotic, you're instructed to take it for ten days. Usually you feel better in three to four but to totally knock it out of your system you need the full ten days. Seniors are wonderful, they share. "You ache, oh, let me give you this that the doctor gave me for my arthritis." Well you might be on ulcer medication and it might reap havoc with your stomach, OK. So they share and they trade off and it's a wonderful, wonderful giving spirit that they have, but it could be harming them, or it could be harming your friends. So it's very very important that they don't do that.
Q: Do you have some quick rules or anything that we could give seniors about how to...
A: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. This is from the Michigan Age Fraud Task Force so I can just cover this part up. But if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If anyone has a recommendation for your health, for medicine for your health and they guarantee it, check your wallet and get out of there. And these, these would be the two recommendations that I would share. They can call us, we have got information on, on drugs and medications that interact poorly with each other. Some medications, you've got to be careful because you can get sunburn.... Even people that never burned before find that when they're on certain drugs, they do. So there are a lot of things and seniors should always ask questions of their physician and of their Pharmacist. And sometimes I notice, as I'm aging, I have to write these down because you get into the doctor's office and you're talking and you forget and you leave and you say, "Oh, I meant to ask him this." Write it down. A doctor, every physician that I have spoken to would much rather have a patient come in with their questions written down because they can get through it very quickly there and they can make certain that everything is answered.
Q: Can you tell us how, how do all of these come to your attention, you know.
A: Well usually when we take court actions against these folks or we issue a new port alert. Some of these come from another country like the Gripe Water we issued a new port alert and customs stopped it at the border.
Q: But you knew it was coming. I mean somebody had already
A: Well somebody discovered it. Some of it got in before we discovered it.
Q: OK.
A: You know, it's a big country and we, we just don't have enough staff to do that. Neither does Customs.
Q: So these are the types of things that you find in magazine ads. People might even solicit on the phone for?
A: Sure. You know, if a product is that wonderful, why is it advertised in the back of a magazine. You know, if we really had a cure, if this was a genuine breakthrough, it would be on the cover of a magazine. It would be in the headlines. It would be on network news, OK. It would be a big deal. Look at all the press that the first heart implant, the first artificial heart, OK. Or the breakthrough the young man in California that got Baboon Marrow as a possible cure for AIDS and we don't know if it's going to work. But look at all the information, all the press. When something is breakthrough, you hear it, OK. And if it's something that's mail order or in the back of a magazine or you get it in a catalog that sells these things, you need to be very very skeptical.
Q: One last question. A lot of products, vitamins, supplements, that sort of thing, people are afraid, well, if the FDA touches it, they're going to make it, you know, take it off, what's the process that you actually go through in looking at....
A: We never had any intention, that was, that was really a smear campaign. We never had any intention on taking vitamins off the market. There's a lot of evidence that supports people taking vitamins and we're finding new things every day. There is, however, risk to vitamins. For example, high doses of Vitamin A to pregnant women, are toxic to the baby that they're carrying. It could lead to all kinds of complication, birth defects, even death of the fetus. So just because a little of something is good does not mean a lot is better. We say moderation. We believe that the best source of getting vitamins is by eating a good variety of foods. We recognize that seniors frequently don't, especially if they live alone. It's just too much of a bother to cook. So that, you know, a vitamin, a multiple vitamin makes sense. Or if there's a particular condition, for example, many physicians have senior women on Calcium Supplements as a preventive for Osteoporosis or to minimize the effects of it. Things like this. And if there is a specific medical reason a lot of people on hypertensive drugs are on Potassium Supplements because they have a tendency to leach this out of the system. But there's no reason to go out and take megadoses. We've had people admitted into the hospital taking too much, too much Vitamin C can lead to terrible, terrible gastric distress. It ca lead to debilitating diarrhea, things, things like this, so you want to be careful about it. There's no one single answer. There is no magic bullet. It's 100 decisions that you make a day that affect your health. It's choosing not to smoke. It's choosing maybe to walk up a flight of stairs instead of taking an elevator. It's choosing to eat healthy. To avoid too much fried foods for example. The biggest health problem in this country that's diet related, is the consumption of too much fat. And as a people, we are carrying too much body weight. And we all know there is no magic diet formula. There are two things you can do and one is to eat less and exercise more. And not necessarily eat less, eat smarter. Most Americans do not eat five a day in fruits and vegetables. If you ate five fruits and vegetables a day and drank your eight glasses of water, those are two real positive things that you could do to improve your health.
Q: Do you think that we're becoming more educated as a, you know, nation? Or do you think that it's the same. It doesn't matter how much media blitz there is, there's always going to be the same thing?
A: You would think that there's more education, there's more information available now than ever before. Especially with the computer and the internet. And with cable, there are all kinds of programs, educational programs, so the information is out there. But the decision is being made at the table. The decision is being made when we go out to eat and you say, "Oh gee, this dessert, Death By Chocolate sounds wonderful and I've been such a good girl today. "you know, and we rationalize, we lie to ourselves. OK. And so what we need to do is be more careful in the choices that we make. And I suggest to seniors and to other consumers that you make one change a week. That way at the end of the year, you are eating healthy. OK. You're choice this week may be that you, well if it's too cold to get out and walk maybe you'll have one more piece of fruit everyday. If you normally only have one, have two. If you don't have any you'll have one, OK, so and then you keep that habit and the following week you add another good habit. Maybe you'll have a vegetable or maybe you'll have a salad or maybe you'll go out and walk or you figure it out, maybe you're only drinking the equivalent of three glasses of water a day. So the first week you can have that fourth glass and water is ideal but it can be juice, it can be coffee. The important thing is that it's liquid.
Q: There are a lot of people who are becoming caregivers now. Not only raising their own children but taking care of their parents so....
A: The Sandwich Generation.
Q: And they, I think sometimes they tend to look for a quick fix too or are willing to accept, what advice do you have for them?
A: They are overworked. They're trying to keep both ends of the candle lit and they're becoming exhausted themselves. The advice to them is, first of all, take good care of your own health and make sure you eat right and get adequate rest. That's sometimes an impossible task. Where possible, try and get some help. Many of the foundations and advocacy groups, the Alzheimer's Group and Cancer Groups have volunteers that can come so you can get away a little bit and try and maintain some sense of sanity. I mean just getting away to do grocery shopping sometimes is a real nightmare. So these kinds of things but you've got, you've got to look out for your own health.
Q: And we can call the FDA and get all kinds of food information.
A: We have got very good information and you can call us and we'll be happy to send it out. Good information on safe use of medicines. Good information on food, vitamins, things of this type.
Q: Is there a listing or a catalog that would list what's available?
A: We do, we do have a publications list and they can phone and we'll be happy to send that out to you. And they can phone on the number on the card and we'll be happy to send, all they have to do is ask for publications list, they can leave it on Voice Mail and give their address.
Q: Well thank you very much.
