WHEN A market stall claimed that a powder cured cancer, and a shopper complained to Hackney council, it moved quickly. It told Adenike Omojola that the claim was illegal under the Cancer Act.
Flyers for Moringa oleifera also listed diabetes, asthma, epilepsy, kidney stones, anaemia and mental problems as conditions that the “herb” could vanquish. The leaflets suggested even that it could cure ageing.
Roseline Saint-James, for Modrosel UK, told Loving Dalston: “I was spoken to by the trading standards [people] and advised to withdraw the leaflets because of the claims – which I have.”
“The products were verified as OK and the information on it is fine.”
Readers can easily judge for themselves: the “information” is shown here.
Saint-James said the council had offered her advice on “how to write my product leaflets”.
Trading standards officers said they had also put their advice to Modrosel in writing. A copy of their letter had been given to Royal Greenwich council, informing it that two Modrosel websites were registered in Greenwich.
Several days after the council told the Ridley Road Market shopper of their action, Modrosel’s websites still featured the dangerous advice. Now however, the section describing the product, offered via the site from just under £9, includes no description of Moringa.
Hackney Deputy Mayor Sophie Linden said that false claims about a product, especially when referring to cancer, could be “especially harmful”.
She added: “Council trading standards officers are there to protect consumers and as soon as they were made aware of these false claims action was taken to stop the trader making these potentially harmful claims.
“Trading standards officers will continue to work with those involved to make sure no more false claims are made about Moringa oleifera.”
Boots the chemist says that Moringa oleifera is a fast-growing evergreen tree that grows mainly in the tropics. The high-street pharmacy chain advertises a 250g container at £19.99.
David Altheer 300914
* Emboldened underscored words in most cases indicate a hyperlink, a reader service rare among websites. If a link does not work, it is probably because the site to which the URL refers has not been maintained.
* Emboldened underscored words in most cases indicate a hyperlink, a reader service rare among websites. If a link does not work, it is probably because the site to which the URL refers has not been maintained.
All our products have product descriptions. We offer all our products at under £9.
Modrosel.uk has never advertised on radio or TV.
We have worked with trading standards officers and removed the leaflets and flyers as instructed.
Thank you. I have removed the more-than-£9 reference, which was indicated on the Modrosel site at time of writing, and to the radio station, which seems to have dropped the ads. Of course, I accept that Modrosel has not advertised in broadcast media. – Ed.