PLEASANT GROVE, Utah (KUTV) — Three previous and current distributors for the Utah-based multi-level marketing company doTERRA International, LLC, are facing lawsuits that were brought on by complaints filed on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission Friday concerning the trio's false advertising of the company's essential oils and dietary supplements as both preventative treatments and cures for COVID-19.
According to officials of the FTC, Lauren Busch, a former registered nurse in Utah, Eliza Johnson Bacot, a nurse practitioner in Georgia and Dr. Tina Wong, a California pediatrician all made false claims in a 2022 doTERRA webinar series that the company's essential oils and dietary supplements "could treat, prevent, or cure COVID-19," while reportedly flaunting their medical backgrounds in promoting the products.
In violation of the FTC Act and the COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act, Busch, a doTERRA Diamond level distributor in Utah at the time the webinars were made, reportedly made claims that the products were a part of "protocols that have been found to be completely effective and amazing by practitioners who [were] actually working with [COVID-19] patients who [were] struggling... and that they [were] very successful..." and that there is "...amazing research on essential oils that inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein [relating to chemical compounds] in several of our oils."
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