Word: wyden
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Leading the congressional probe is Representative Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, who last week called diet-industry executives before his House Small Business Subcommittee and asked them to explain their hard-sell tactics. Wyden's staff raised several concerns about specific companies. For example, the Diet Center programs, which offer special foods and pills, claim to provide guidance by "weight-loss professionals." Customers may presume that these professionals are nutritionists, says Wyden, but they are "basically salespersons." Ads for the Physicians Weight Loss Centers imply that a doctor will supervise each patient's diet, but frequently the lone staff physician...
...procedure remains an expensive long shot, which fails perhaps 85% of the time. This week the House Subcommittee on Regulation, Business Opportunities and Energy will hold hearings to investigate growing complaints that many heavily promoted IVF clinics misrepresent their success rates. The panel's chairman, Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden, intends to reveal an industry survey showing that the performance of IVF practitioners varies enormously. According to Wyden, half the IVF clinics have yet to achieve a birth, though they may charge up to $7,000 for each fertilization attempt. Says the Congressman: "With millions of couples, many of them desperate...
...industry insists that most customers are not cheated because they are told their chances of having a baby are slim. And many fertility specialists doubt that misleading advertising is as prevalent as Wyden claims. In fact, his assertion that half the clinics have never had a birth may be overstated because at least some of them have not been open long enough for a patient to complete a pregnancy...
...there is no denying Wyden's contention that the industry has "virtually no oversight." He will soon introduce legislation requiring that IVF labs be certified by the Government. In the meantime, Wyden will publish his survey, listing clinics, the qualifications of their personnel and their success rate. The report could become a much needed consumer's guide to IVF. In Wyden's view, if a husband and wife put down $7,000, they have a right to know what chance they have of getting a joyous return on their investment...
...Questionable payments to foreigners. Representative Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, asked Lewis last week about "a whole host of questionable payments being made overseas," including a $250,000 annual fee to a South Korean consultant. Lewis vehemently denied that the money was being funneled to the South Korean government as a bribe to win contracts for F-16 fighters. The chairman rejected a charge made by Veliotis that he had received permission from Lewis to go after contracts to sell natural-gas tankers to Burma and Indonesia by offering kickbacks of $1 million a ship. "I have absolutely no knowledge...