Class Action Settlements: Airborne
Airborne is a popular dietary supplement that consumers have used for more than 10 years to ward off colds and flu. Sales of the supplement are over $100 million. It was developed by an elementary school teacher from Carmel, California, in the early 1990s who began selling the product in local stores. It claimed to be most effective when taken after the first signs of a cold become evident.
Airborne is not a drug and not subject to prior review and testing before being marketed, although it still must demonstrate that its claims are truthful and scientifically supported. Airborne contains a high level of vitamin C as well as vitamins A and E, riboflavin, selenium, zinc, manganese, sodium and potassium and other herbal extracts.
In 2006, a class action suit was brought against Airborne for falsely advertising that the product could ward off colds, although the company later modified its claim to saying that the capsules boosted the immune system. The suit alleged that neither claim was valid or supported by scientific studies.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest joined in the suit challenging Airborne’s claims. Its senior nutritionist, David Schardt, contended that the product’s ingredients do nothing to ward off colds and that the supplement is nothing more than a vitamin pill that has been cleverly but deceptively advertised.
Airborne had claimed that a clinical trial proved its effectiveness, but the study turned out to be no more than a two-person operation with no physicians or scientists involved and that Airborne itself had funded the alleged research.
On May 3, 2008, Airborne agreed to a $23.3 million dollar settlement to reimburse users of its product for up to six packages in addition to producing any proofs of purchase. An eligible class member would have had to purchase the product between May 1, 2001, and November 29, 2007.
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