Airborne Losing Altitude

Airborne, the miracle cure to the common cold, has just lost a class action lawsuit by customers for deceptive advertising, with $23 million in damages. Aw, what a shame.

Thank you to the more than 100 readers who sent me an email alerting me to the news. Many asked if I had something to do with the lawsuit. Not directly, but I'm guessing that the plaintiffs submitted into evidence the Scientific American column featuring my blog post on Airborne's deceptive marketing.

And now that there's a scandal to report, suddenly people are paying attention to the experts. "Have you heard?" "It's all over the news." "Omigod! I can't believe it!" "It's true, I saw it on E!" The very pop science that elevated Airborne to a billion dollar company is now sending this rocket crashing back to earth. Here's what a popular Hollywood news site reports:

Airborne is shit!!!! The company has just settled a class action lawsuit for $23 million!!!!

"There's no credible evidence that what's in Airborne can prevent colds or protect you from a germy environment," David Schardt, a nutritionist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said in a written statement this week. "Airborne is basically an overpriced, run-of-the-mill vitamin pill that's been cleverly, but deceptively, marketed."

We feel lied to!!!!!

Over the last two years I have received endless emails and blog comments (most of which, I confess, I "moderated" away) maligning the FDA as corrupt for refusing to approve "non-Western" medicine. Now that they can spin conspiracy theories around a new villain (a certain second grade school teacher's billion dollar corporation), perhaps they will acknowledge that the FDA has good reason not to approve scammy, new age, bullshit medical claims.

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