Pain Treatments

They Can’t Believe

                     
Part 1 of 4 Dictatorial Judgment of the Federal
Trade Commission against Darrell Stoddard

To find out how to buy Biotape or Biotape products,
You will have to do a search on the Internet.
I am forbidden to sell anything or even tell you where to buy.

Our Internet order page was removed by order of
a United States District Court for the following reasons:

Abstract:
•    One Sided Judgment Against Darrell Stoddard

•    FTC definition of the words: “False, Misleading,                     Unproven, and Unsubstantiated”

•    Double-Blind Placebo Controlled Studies
•    Absolute Power Corrupts
•    “Father Forgive Them”

One Sided Judgment Against Darrell Stoddard

        On August 3, 2007, I, Darrell Stoddard, was served an “ORDER AND JUDGMENT FOR PERMANENT INJUNCTION AND OTHER EQUITABLE RELIEF” by the United States District Court, Central District of California in a suit by the Federal Trade Commission for making false and misleading medical claims for the product called Biotape.

        I was ordered to pay $87,982.19 (now 4-15-08 $113,049.67) in damages to the United States Treasury even though not one person has ever claimed to be harmed. (Some people report skin irritation from Biotape but that always clears within a few days after removing the tape.)
     As citizens of the United States, I thought we were guaranteed by the Constitution the right to a trial by a jury. My right even to be heard by a judge in this case was not possible because it would have been necessary to go to California and hire a California attorney. This would have cost an estimated $60,000 that could not be recovered and that I did not have.
        The case was tried in California and only one side, the side of the FTC, was heard. Judge Stephen G. Larsen appears to have granted every restriction against me the FTC asked for. I have been convicted of the above charges without being heard by a judge or jury.
      Even if I had put dozens of medical doctors and hundreds of patients on the witness stand, all testifying that Biotape  relieved thir pain and did no harm, I would have still lost the case, because I was never charged with harming anyone.
        Whether or not Biotape relieved pain or whether I had told the truth was never a question either. My only crime was the words I used and if those words were substantiated by what the FTC would accept as reliable medical evidence.
       In an arbitration hearing in Los Angeles two years before receiving the above judgment, we were verbally told by an FTC attorney (Laura Sullivan?) that there would be no financial penalty against us. To be in compliance at that time, we put disclaimers on all of our web pages and literature stating that the evidence for Biotape was only anecdotal and unproven by double-blind placebo controlled studies.
       Copies of the web pages and our literature with the disclaimers were sent to the FTC for them to tell us what we must do to comply. We waited two years for the FTC to do this. In July, 2007 we were informed by FTC attorney Edward Glennon that no matter how many disclaimers were made, we would not be in compliance.
        If pharmaceutical companies are allowed to advertise and sell drugs that have harmful side effects providing they disclose the side effects, then should I not be allowed to advertise and sell Biotape which has no side effects, providing I include a disclaimer stating that the evidence is only anecdotal and not supported by double-blind placebo controlled studies?
        On August 3, 2007 I was served papers notifying me of the $87,000 fine which represents gross sales from an infomercial. (The truth is I only received one third of the $87,000 because I had to share it with two others. Half of the gross sales were for the book Pain Free for Life. The $87,000 fine is therefore six times what I received in gross sales of Biotape from the infomercial.)
        A medical doctor and former astronaut sent us the following email on the day the papers were served:

Darrell,
I was just thinking of you since I had another awakening as to just how much I need your bioelectric tape to convey chi around. The other night, my tape came off my back in the night and I forgot the event. The next day was spent wondering what had happened to me with returning low back pain, fatigue, disinclination to do anything, weakness, sour attitude, etc., and finally after two days of worsening I stumbled onto my lack of tape during my shower. The strange thing is that I did not pick up on this earlier as it is my fourth or fifth test of going without, but I honestly forgot about it, so subtle was the return of the problem. Within an hour I was back to normal and more committed than ever to this bioelectric tape and what it does to my back pain. You cannot believe what a difference Biotape makes in me.
Doc (Duane Graveline, MD, MPH)

       We received the following Email the day after the papers were served:

Dear Mr. Stoddard,
      I have been in excruciating pain for over 15 years. I have even contemplated suicide as an option for pain relief. I have used a lifetime maximum of insurance benefits and more in an effort to find relief. I was so tired of having the constant excruciating pain suck the life out of me. I put the Biotape on immediately and started reading your book. I was so impressed with your book that I didn't put it down until I had finished it. I've only had the tape on for 13 hours and I can already feel a significant (40%) improvement. Your book was the best book I've ever read. It has given me knowledge and insight to gain control of my health when I thought my only option was to "suck it up and learn to live with the pain forever." Every time I expressed a desire to find a remedy for my pain I was told that I was "in denial" and I need to face reality. Thanks for my new reality! May God bless you and put a hedge of protection around you.
Forever grateful, Jeanine Fowler

     Maybe the FTC or Judge Larsen should inform Dr. Graveline and Jeanine Fowler that they are “victims of fraud.” Go to "www.healpain.net" on the internet and click on number 2 to read about 21 more “deluded people” that should have been “protected” from Biotape claims. (Hundreds more are on file. We included only the most “delusional.”) 
       You can go to "www.healpain.net"and click on number 4 to read about 18 doctors that have been “deceived” by the results they witnessed first hand using Biotape for chronic pain.
        Did I make false and misleading medical claims? Definitely not! Every word I said was true. The evidence I presented was based on thousands of clinical treatments. The outcome of suich treatments (case studies) is legitimate medical research and published in every medical journal.

FTC definition of the words: “False,  Misleading, Unproven, and Unsubstantiated”
       More than 18,000 documented treatments for pain, most of them successful, is significant “evidence” for the effectiveness of Biotape. Dennis Remington M.D. presided over more than 12,000 treatments. He concluded that overall the treatments were successful 80% of the time. This evidence according to the FTC is still false and misleading, because it is unproven and unsubstantiated by double-blind placebo controlled studies. 
      That is what the words unproven and unsubstantiated mean. To anyone who does not understand the medical meaning of those words, the words imply that there is no evidence for Biotape and that selling Biotape is nothing but a scam based on lies.
       If you asked a thousand people what the words unsubstantiated and unproven mean, none of them would answer correctly. Unless they were scientists, attorneys, or doctors, no one would say that the words mean unsubstantiated and unproven by double-blind placebo controlled studies.  By leaving out the above last six words in their complaint, the FTC misled everyone that saw it.
        The headline of an internet page (posted by a law firm) telling about the FTC complaint reads: “FTC Claims Biotape is the Latest in Medical Quackery.” A news release by the FTC dated 9-18-07 refers to the $86,000 as my “ill gotten gains.” A Senior Citizen Alert 9-20-07 states “Senior Citizens Scammed by “Fake Pain Relief Tape.”  Would anyone reading the above headlines not think that Biotape is a total fraud, and a scam sold only to make money? 
       More than 57,000 people, including all medical doctors, have been misled by the FTC complaint. We have received that many visitors to our website since the FTC complaint was posted. The search words Biotape and/or Darrell Stoddard bring up both the FTC complaint and our website.

        Doctors have refused to even consider Biotape because of the FTC complaint. One prominent pain specialist (that never even saw or tried Biotape) stated on a national TV news program that “pain was far too complex to be helped by anything as simple as Biotape.” Later the doctor refused to answer questions and said his reason for doing so was “the FTC complaint.”

     

Double-Blind Placebo Controlled  Studies
        After receiving the complaint by the FTC, I went to New Zealand at considerable expense to do a double-blind placebo controlled study with Sir Thomas Davis, MD, former Harvard Medical School professor, NASA Space Surgeon, knighted by the queen of England for his work in medicine, and known as the “Father of Double-Blind Studies.”
      The New Zealand Trade Commission read the FTC complaint against me on the internet and went on national television and in newspapers warning people not to take part in the study. We were served papers stating that if we sold Biotape in New Zealand, we could be fined as much as $250,000.  The New Zealand Trade Commission was obviously mislead by the words “False and Misleading” in the FTC complaint.
        The complaint made it impossible to do the study which the FTC claims I must do. Had the complaint, which has been on the internet for three years, stated that, “The evidence for Biotape is unproven and unsubstantiated by double-blind placebo controlled studies,” it would have been true and not misleading.
        The FTC Complaint is still on the internet 10-22-07.  Because of the complaint, I was prevented from doing a double-blind study and threatened with a $250,000 fine; Biotape was called the Latest in Medical Quackery; the sale of Biotape brought ill-gotten gains; and senior citizens were reported Scammed by Fake Pain Relief Tape. The FTC Complaint is not only false and misleading but defamatory.
        Should I not be compensated for the amount required to do a double-blind study and also damages for the false and misleading complaint against me?
         The FTC judgment against me states it is “FOR EQUITABLE RELIEF.” I must ask “RELIEF” for whom? Nothing in the judgment says anything about reimbursing those who were supposedly defrauded. Because the $86,000 fine was to be paid to the United States Treasury, the fine must be for the “RELIEF” of the Treasury.
        

Absolute Power Corrupts
        The laws and courts of our land have granted the FTC unbridled dictatorial power to freeze assets, seize property, dictate penalties, and silence whomever they choose. 
       In recent cases prosecuted by the FTC the penalties have been equal to the total income of the goods sold. Financial statements are required and if the statements are found to be incomplete the penalties may increase not 100 but 1000%!
        Kevin Trudeau paid a two million dollar fine for infomercials to sell my book Pain Free for Life, and Biotape. If the FTC ever discovers that the financial statements Trudeau gave them did not include every asset (this could be a wrist watch, fishing pole, camera, gun, palm pilot, or cell phone), the penalty will be twenty million dollars! Has power gone to their heads or what?
       Why would anyone but pharmaceutical companies not want you to know about drug free, harmless treatments for pain? The FTC attorneys and Judge Larsen, think they are doing good and protecting the public (because people are not intelligent enough to think for themselves).

Father Forgive Them
     In Victor Hugo’s great Classic, Les Miserables, the French police officer Javert thought he was doing good by pursuing Jean Valjean to bring him to justice. Not until the end, when Jean Valjean forgave Javert, did Javert realize what a horrible mistake his life had been.
       The FTC lawyers and Judge Larson believe their actions are just. When they or a loved one are hospitalized for internal bleeding, or has kidney or liver failure, or has a heart attack or a stroke from taking pain medications; or when they hear of a drug addict murdering to get narcotics, then maybe they will wonder if there could possible be something better than drugs for pain.
      When they or a loved has spinal surgery and ends up with more pain after than before the surgery, then maybe they will wonder about the fact that all of the evidence for back surgery is also only anecdotal and not supported by blinded placebo controlled studies. (See part three of this article.)
        Judge Larson and the FTC lawyers know not who it is or what it is that they have tried to silence.
       Biotape, and the right kind of water and minerals, has the potential of replacing the 50 billion dollars that is spent in the world each year on harmful pain medications. Is that claim not even worth investigating?
     The minds of the FTC attorneys and Judge Larson are closed. For this reason, I say, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Someday I will thank the FTC even for the negative publicity.
        You can sleep well at night knowing that the FTC, your government, courts, and judges are looking out for your health (and your pocketbook), and protecting you from predators and visionaries like Darrell Stoddard.
 

If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as the souls who live under tyranny

 - Thomas Jefferson

Darrell Stoddard,
Founder - Pain Research Institute  www.healpain.net
Author – Pain Free for Life

and a future book:
         Cure Pain

And other Diseases for a Dime                     

(Read about my new book in Part 4 of this paper.)

Email: Stoddard@healpain.net
266 East 3200 North, Provo, UT 84604 U.S.A.
Phone 801-377-3891

It's a lot safer for doctors to kill their patients with treatments that have been approved than to cure them with treatments that challenge tradition. -- Jane Fagen

Go to Part 2 of  Federal Trade Commission Dictatorial
Judgment against Darrell Stoddard)