Bayer Accused of Lying About One-A-Day Vitamin Cancer Benefits

Drug maker Bayer Healthcare misrepresents the prostate-fighting abilities of its One A Day vitamins and could face a lawsuit if it refuses to scale back the claims in advertising, a leading consumer advocacy group said.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit organization, said television and radio ads for the vitamins misleadingly claim that the supplements reduce the risk of prostate cancer in men. In fact, the National Institutes of Health has found no proof that the ingredient in the vitamins, selenium, actually prevents the cancer.

“The largest prostate cancer prevention trial has found that selenium is no more effective than a placebo,” the group’s senior nutritionist, David Schardt, said in news reports. “Bayer is ripping people off when it suggests otherwise in these dishonest ads.”

Formal Complaint Filed, Lawsuit Next?

The center has filed a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, which regulates advertising claims and is threatening to file a lawsuit seeking to force Bayer to drop or modify the One A Day advertising claims.

A Bayer spokeswoman said the One A Day ads and claims of prostate cancer benefits are supported by the Food and Drug Administration.

“We are standing behind all the claims we make in support of the products,” Trish McKernan, Bayer’s global spokeswoman, told CNN.

Bayer advertises One A Day Men’s 50+ Advantage and One A Day Men’s Health Formula multivitamins by claiming “emerging research” suggests that selenium can lower prostate cancer risks. The claims appear on the vitamins package labels, TV and radio ads, and on the company’s Web site.

One of the ads poses a question to consumers before delivering a reassuring answer. “Did you know that there are more new cases of prostate cancer each year than any other cancer?” one radio ad states. “Now there is something you can do.”

One A Day Benefits Challenged

The vitamins contain 105 micrograms of the selenium per daily dose, which is about twice the Recommended Daily Allowance of 55 micrograms a day for adults. The consumer advocacy group called Bayer’s claims of selenium benefits for men in fighting prostate cancer “astounding” and “deceptive.”

A large study seeking to determine selenium’s effectiveness in protecting against prostate cancer was halted in October 2008 after researchers found that the mineral was not preventing the cancer in men and may have in fact been causing some study participants to develop diabetes.

Authors of that study scolded Bayer, saying, “Bayer Healthcare is doing a disservice to men by misleading them about a protective role for selenium in prostate cancer.”

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