Marketer to Pay Over Ads’ Health Claims

A Maine marketing firm has agreed not to run television commercials claiming that a line of products could stop cancer and reverse baldness. Portland-based Talk America, which pulled the ads in 1996 after officials in nine states began investigations, agreed to pay $150,000 as part of the settlement but did not admit any wrongdoing. According to court documents, the ads claimed that one product would “allow a person to live an entire life without aches and pains.” Talk America, a nationwide marketing group, said it relied upon claims made by executives at Natures Purebody Institute Inc., which manufactures the products.