German Firm Accused of Making Misleading Claims:...

German Firm Accused of Making Misleading Claims: A unit of Germany’s Joh. A. Benckiser was accused by the Federal Trade Commission of promoting a line of environmentally friendly cleaning products with false promises to donate a share of the proceeds to nonprofit environmental groups. The FTC said Benckiser Consumer Products Inc. has not donated any money to environmental groups since it began selling its EarthRite line of products in 1992. The company agreed to settle the charges by pledging it will not make misleading claims in the future. The settlement did not require the company to acknowledge violations of the law. A Benckiser spokeswoman said the promise to donate 1% of the EarthRite proceeds had been made on promotional tags that were attached to the products before Benckiser acquired the EarthRite line.