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CNN Live At Daybreak

Senate Hearing on Ads Targeting Elderly

Aired September 10, 2001 - 07:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, as Jonathan Karl just mentioned, Senator John Breaux is chairman of the Senate Select Committee On Aging. He's with us this morning in advance of the hearings on alleged advertising fraud against senior citizens.

Senator, good morning.

SEN. JOHN BREAUX (R), LOUISIANA: Good morning. How are you?

PHILLIPS: Good.

Is there, you've got, tell me about this journal that you received in the mail and what were the red flags that sort of triggered your curiosity into is this for real or not?

BREAUX: Well, my wife and I received the "Journal of Longevity." I thought I was getting the "New England Journal of Medicine." It looked very professional and it looked right out of a medical school. And it advertised products. After they had an article talking about various illnesses, they then advertised products to basically slow down the aging process and offered cures for everything from Alzheimer's to cholesterol problems to diabetes.

I wanted to order everything in the magazine. I thought this was just terrific. And then we started reading it and I had the staff look at it and they come to find out that it's really a lot to do about a snake oil salesman type of operation and it doesn't do this at all.

PHILLIPS: Now, you believe in alternative medicine, though, right?

BREAUX: Yes, I take it actually. I mean most people do. Over 60 percent of Americans actually take dietary supplements. They can be very helpful in the sense that I think most all of us take vitamins. And it's one thing to take something that may get rid of wrinkles, and if it does it well, so what? But if you've taken something as an alternative medicine that has not been approved by FDA and you find out that instead of taking your real cholesterol medicine or your real diabetes medicine that you're taking this and it doesn't work, you could have some real serious health problems.

PHILLIPS: So, was there one thing that, as you were reading this, that you knew immediately, OK, something's not right here? Because I'm thinking for other people that may get things like this in the mail.

BREAUX: Well, I think, you know, this is the real red flag, the caution signal to all Americans. When you have something that sounds too good to be true.

PHILLIPS: It is.

BREAUX: Guess what? It generally is too good to be true. And when you have a product that can cure everything in one single bottle, I mean you have to naturally step back and say hey, what is this? And I think a lot of seniors are particularly vulnerable to this.

So we want to say be cautious and if it sounds too good to be true, be extra cautious, because it's probably not. I mean this is a hundreds of millions of dollars, $27 billion annually are spent on dietary supplements. And most of them are fine. But none of them are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. None of them are tested. None of them are tested for accuracy or for safety.

PHILLIPS: So let's talk about the hearings. What do you hope to accomplish from these hearings?

BREAUX: Well, we're going to have the publishers and owners of the "Journal of Longevity" come before the committee. I would hope that they would talk about their products and about their magazine. We're also going to have someone that used to work for them who said basically that all of this is a real sham and that people should not be engaged in buying these type of products. And hopefully after we hear from GAO and from government officials that have looked at this, including the Food and Drug Administration, people will become more aware of the potential harm that they can receive and do to themselves by taking these products that are unproven and in many cases actually harmful.

PHILLIPS: Well, we will follow the hearings and do hope that the positive outcome you want will happen.

Senator John Breaux, thank you so much.

BREAUX: Thank you very much.

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