Some products are legal to sell in one country but illegal in another. If you are in an MLM, you might want to check you are not breaking the law by selling prohibited products. It is no defence to say that you did not know. If you are saying you own a business and are selling products, you have taken on the responsibility for checking them out.
If you are a Bot Watcher, you may want to check the activity you are observing is legal, in case you want to complain.
Here is a list of some of the prohibited items I have come across. It is by no means an exhaustive list. Please send me information on any products you come across that need to be added.
Vida Divina
This item is a drug in UK law and needs to be sold with a prescription. It cannot be sold through MLM channels.
Sleep N Lose by Vida Divina has Melatonin in it which is not licenced in the UK to be sold outside of a pharmacy without a prescription.
People selling this could be reported to the MHRA or the ASA.
This email was sent to a rep and she put it on Facebook.
See Botwatchblog’s analysis of Vida Divina.
Forever Living
Forever living do not have any products listed with the MHRA for medicinal use, including for use as a Traditional Herbal Remedy.
There are no allowable health claims for their products.
In the EU, companies can apply to their own country’s authorities for authorisation to sell their Aloe Vera products as a constipation cure, but that would be the only allowable claim.
In the USA, the FDA removed Aloe Vera as an allowable drug to be sold over the counter. It is now used there as a supplement. The US Department of Heath and Human Services say this about Aloe Vera.
Forever Living’s products are not illegal to sell, but it is illegal to sell them as being medicinal in any way in the UK. I imagine it would be pretty hard to sell the products without being able to make any claims about Aloe Vera, especially when you bear in mind that testimonials are not allowed either, even verbally.
Juice Plus+
Juice Plus+ are not registered with the MHRA in any way so they are not allowed to make any health claims for their products in the UK. Their products are classed as supplements.
Please be aware that there is vitamin A in these products so they really should not be used by pregnant women.
Ariix
On the 11th September 2017 I came across this message on Facebook from an Ariix seller.
“Higher levels of ingredient than UK legislation likes” means illegal then!
So Optimals, Power Boost, Beauty Boost and Restoriix are illegal to sell in the UK. I have asked Ariix for clarification. Here is their reply
Valentus
Valentus are trading illegally in the UK. See what happened to Charlotte Thomson in this Daily Mail report.
Do not buy or sell any of these products in the UK.
For more on this MLM, see this post on Botwatchblog.
Xerveo
Ganoderma mushroom does not have any allowable health claims in the UK. If this coffee is sold in the UK, there can be no weightloss claims made about it or any other claims that it can do anything to your bodily functions. It can only be sold as a normal coffee.
At £40.95 for 24 servings, that is expensive coffee.
How to check for illegal health claims
In the EU, there is a database you can check to see if the claims for your product are illegal or allowed.
Please check here before making claims or copying adverts for products with medicinal properties. Clicking on the link takes you to this page-
Please click here to check out claims made for food ingredients. This is the page you get when clicking the link.
Search here for the scientific information about an ingredient and its uses.
To check if a product has this allowable use in individual countries, you need to check the individual country’s databases. In the UK, it is the MHRA that police this.
This database lists all the names of products, the company that makes it, and the allowable claims for it.
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