What if a salesperson sells a product using false information?

What are the legal ramifications?What if a salesperson sells a product using false information?
I'd say it depends on the product and the claim. False claims are all too common, misleading statements or stretching the truth, half truths... people use whatever tactic they can to hock their products.





They used to call such people Snake Oil salesmen in the 1800's.


Here are some interesting sites about them, and how you can still see %26amp; hear the same quakery claims about bogus products today.


http://lymeblog.com/modules.php?name=New鈥?/a>





http://www.csicop.org/sb/9812/snakeoil.h鈥?/a>





There are so many bogus products being sold today... just takes one to believe they're doing something (that isn't possible) for a whole lot of people to believe until they're harmed by the products or harmed because they didn't get real help in time.





Is it legal? NO. Today In the US and in ALL states, there are laws in place to protect consumers from dodgy goods and services and these include health products. Under the Fair Trade Practices Act, it's illegal for a business to make false and misleading statements about products and services, or to sell goods that don't fulfill the promises made


about them.





also have to look at what FDA regulates and how companies try to make their products look like the FDA oks them, when it may be that they have approved the ingredients as safe, and not the product nor it's claims. A product make of fruits and vegetables for instance. The ingredients are obviously ok to digest and are good for you. But the product may say they have medical studies that say their product can keep disease at bay and that the FDA gives them approval... which is not correct. The FDA is constantly going after companies like that.





For instance, no over the counter cream or tonic that is applied to the outside of your skin, is going to remove fat cells down inside your body. If anything applied topically affects the inside of your body, I believe the FDA steps in to make sure it is safe to use. Usually topically applied products are not regulated unless they affect your body - like make your heart race or such.





And then you have all the ancient tonics or miracle ';cures'; of other countries, that usually consist of parts of animal species being slattered, just so they can sell more ';snake oil'; to believers. And people swear this pill is making them better, or this bracelet is curing their arthritis, or this magnet is removing the toxins from my body.





http://hubpages.com/hub/Early-Patent-Med鈥?/a>