Tustin Business Agrees to Pay Fines

An Orange County herbal supplement company has agreed to pay $3.58 million in fines to settle a case involving allegations that it misled consumers by promoting one of its products as a cure for cancer, AIDS and other diseases, authorities announced Tuesday.

Body Wise International, founded in 1989 in Tustin, admitted no wrongdoing under the agreement reached with the Federal Trade Commission, the Orange County district attorney’s office and the state attorney general following a four-year investigation.

The product at the center of the case, AG-Immune capsules, is still available for sale, but as part of the settlement, the firm will cease advertising the pills as a cure for any illnesses.

Under the judgment, signed last week by Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Brenner, Body Wise must pay civil penalties of $2 million to the FTC and $900,000 to Orange County. The county district attorney’s office will receive $470,000 and the Department of Health Services will get $10,000 as reimbursement for the investigation. The $200,000 balance is earmarked for the statewide consumer protection trust fund.

Body Wise officials and the company’s attorney on the case could not be reached for comment.

Body Wise began distributing and marketing AG-Immune in April 2000 through the Internet, promotional literature, seminars and consultants. According to the company’s website, the capsules contain astragalus and arabinogalactan, “botanicals known to support immune system health” and whey extract. Approximately a month’s supply sells for about $50.

The investigation was sparked in 2001 after a consumer fraud investigator attended a home-and-garden show in Anaheim and picked up a Body Wise flier that contended one of its products could help prevent and treat diseases including cancer and AIDS, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Michelle Cipolletti, the lead prosecutor.

The case did not involve any plaintiffs but rather focused specifically on the company’s alleged violation of a provision of California’s health and safety code that prohibits anyone from claiming that any substance can have any effect on an assortment of illnesses identified.