YL: Words and Legalities-FDA/FTC Info

[Guest guest]

samara writes:

 

> I, personally, didn't find him charismatic or compelling when I

> attended one of his workshops out of curiosity, in fact, I thought

> he was boring and misinformed.

 

 

Marcia,

I found him to be very taken with himself, and as I said, very into

seeing himself as being intensely charismatic. I was not personally impressed

with him, and in fact found his presentation off-putting,

but I recognized his desire to be seen as a guru-type. It was that to which I

referred. I do not remember the name of his wife, but she was exactly as I

described - meekly going along with his various descriptions of her problems and

complaints, and evidently bowing to his authoritative descriptions of what he

had her do.

 

I do not know these people personally nor do I want to - I went along only to

keep someone company and had no desire to be involved.

 

This was several years ago, during the time that I lived in Dallas. At that

point I had already been a practicing herbalist with many years of work under

my belt, and had studied botanical medicine and ethnobotany on a very intensive

level for several years. If anything

 

I disagreed with much of what I heard and found him to be boring as well. I was

also put off by the dazed and disinterested expression of one of the individuals

who was involved in YL when I spoke to her about an alternative herbal treatment

to something she was having trouble with. She would go with her guru's

recommendations (even if he was simply a marketing guru) and that was that.

 

Hope this makes my statement more clear.

 

Dara

[Guest guest]

You know I'm going out on a limb here and flat out state that I'm 'empathing'

here but I'm getting a very strong flat afect I've picked up in other groups

like this. That dull look in the eyes of those who follow and his consuming what

light is in them....you will see this with some groups of people and this is a

vehicle for this guy only....I've met one such individual ironically in the

herbal field and all I heard was 'static' and a lot of double talk and self

contradiction but some have the gift to gab and frankly I dont think people

'listen' when they want to be led...people like this are predatory and

apparently there is much fodder on which to feed. They can talk for quite a

while , make a few claims, some sense too but in the end they dont really

enlighten anybody that is 'conscious'. The problem is , if you've been watching

the news..there's a whole lot of people who are not conscious...

 

The way I'm reading the posts is that this is rather cultish . I do know that

they've done great harm with their practice with known essential oils and

treatments so much so if you mention a particular blend it is immediate you are

assumed to be of the YL group. That recently happened to me. So when I do a

blend of oils for diffusing, of course no claims and the standard caveats....'do

not apply neat, if exposed to skin wash copiously with soap and water, keep out

of the reach of children and pets, do not use near flames nor ingest and if

ingested contact a poison control number (and have the number on the label) and

half a label more of precautions. I also simply do my own. If friends want to

buy oils great, I hang with a decent intelligent balanced bunch.

 

But it has affected what I do. It has cost me and that which directly affects MY

business concerns me . I've got a lot of time and money invested but more

importantly, my credibility and the ability to supplement income given I simply

get ssdi.

 

I was treated borderline hostily not too long ago as I do blend my personal

....um....lets say 'gnarly four guys' oil which of course I was taken aback at

the response. I didn't know about this man and vaguely had heard about this

line....to me it was 'and yet ANOTHER MLM ' that will ultimately cause those of

us who are responsible to no longer have access to specific oils, herbs and

other products . I'm not sure how we'll battle to maintain our rights when we

dont have any power to put these people in check ourselves and its a danged

shame that known oils and herbs will not be used because of the 'over the top'

claims of products that are all panacea's for all 'conditions'....its bad enough

you have people out there who will rebuke you if you become ill because you

attracted that illness to yourself ....and worse when you have to listen to the

weekly charting someone did of the appearance of their BM's...love that one with

coffee and a roll...

 

I am not a confrontative person unless someone has really crossed the line but I

will be quite frank when I hear the sales pitches of people with herbal MLM

'degrees' who couldnt find the cheeks of their fanny with both hands a week ago

but now that they signed up and read a pamphlet and watched a video are now

scholars....I'm reminded 'why' our rights were lost. Those people create more

havoc in the medical community who are slowly coming around to alternative

methods but each time some flake starts talking out of an orifice clearly not

attached to anything above the neck they damn us all and they also stereotype us

as 'luny tree hugging granola munching poop chute chartering birkenstock

boneheads'...I resent it.

 

I have to wonder. if They have a product that fixes everything, how come they

have so many products?

 

After years in sales of the newest miracle cures and desparate people with

terminal diagnosis spending every dime they have to 'live' and are terrified ,

every time I see someone boast about how they are 'treating their friend with

pancreatic stage four cancer' Its all I can do to be civil. I just could not

sell the store out to people who were in terror and were going by some schmo's

list of items to gather. If you haven't noticed they cost much more than they

need to.

 

You can legally have an opinion. I can say 'in my opinion joe, you're a jerk'

and thats ok. If I state for a fact 'Joe IS a jerk' that is legal grounds for

slander. Its the subtle laws those at the top are aware of, those below and

across the nation will say what they say and the guy at the top responds 'who

ME? I didn't tell them to say that'...they sure as heck imply to the masses at

their seminars , diagrams and all....wait till you guys pay to attend one and

see a heart diagram thats missing a chamber. That company was Nature's Sunshine?

Natures something I'll find out .

 

I make soap. I dont have to list whats in my soap. But I do because someone

might have an allergy to an ingredient and I had better have those in order

properly . I CAN'T make claims however about my soap because then I will have

entered into a complete different realm with a whole different set of laws and

much more paperwork and higher insurance coverage etc..

 

I cannot say 'baby soap'. Anything for 12 and under is now heavily regulated and

must be proven safe (thanks china). I can't say a bar of a certain soap is good

for those who are acne prone...I legally could not say in a GNC store if someone

came in and asked me if vitamin C was good for a cold....here's where that gets

tricky.....I CAN while talking to the customer speak to them WHILE walking them

to the vitamin C shelf. I COULD say some people have been buying it and said

that they had a cold but I dont know...thats on the customer to know.

 

Implication often times tho passive is much more affective and we wonder why we

have to read reams of paper in lanquage that makes you wish you had not fallen

asleep so many times in high school. We have to make sure we read those and

understand those perfectly if you have an up and running shop or you can get

into some very serious trouble.

 

You know its gotten so bad when I say my prayers at nite I fall asleep before I

get to the prayer because I'm listing all disclaimers just in case that

'monkey's paw' syndrome will land flat on top of me. It should not have to be

this hard but I understand why. yes, we should have some regulation , these

people made that a necessity but its a gamble.

 

What I want to know is, what do WE do about it and HOW? I'm game.

 

evie

[Guest guest]

Evie wrote:

 

I have to wonder. if They have a product that fixes everything,

how come they have so many products? >

 

Part of it is what you might call the new detergent effect. You know,

Tide is airing commercials right now about a new version that

supposedly gets stains out the first time. Wait a minute! Does that

mean that previous versions did NOT get stains out? If so they

never told us back then!

 

Every time a company comes out with a new product the testimonials

roll out, sometimes by the same people who earlier claimed to be

in perfect health already. One has to take it all with a grain of salt.

 

As to the merit of MLMs, some products are worth it and some

are not, same as everywhere. I found bulk versions of some of

my favorite substances that are a fraction of the price of the same

MLM stuff, but I keep using some products because they are

so good.

 

Ien in the Kootenays

http://freegreenliving.com