Fuel Savings or Fuel Fraud? blog.washingtonpost.com
Strange New Products is a blog that looks at the "weirdest, funniest, stupidest, and ingenious new products entering the marketplace." Last December, it posted an item about BioPerformance, a pill that you pop into your gas tank to improve fuel mileage and reduce emissions. As the blog noted, BioPerformance's makers called it a "revolutionary fuel saving product" that can improve fuel mileage 35 percent--or more.
But Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has called the pill a fraud, saying it's made of naphthalene, basically the chemical found in mothballs. Not only is naphthalene toxic, but it could also decrease engine performance, said Abbott, who in mid-May obtained a temporary restraining order and asset freeze against Dallas-based BioPerformance. "The pill does absolutely nothing to improve gas mileage," Abbott said in a press release.
Abbott said BioPerformance was really an illegal pyramid scheme, "merely a smokescreen to trigger the recruitment of more and more paying members." He noted that consumers are encouraged to become "dealers" at various dazzling seminars that the company sponsors around the country, at start-up costs between $300 to $500. (Indeed, in the company's initial press release, BioPerformance said its mission was "to reduce pollution, conserve fuel, reduce the price of fuel by reducing demand and create 1,000 millionaires through the marketing of its product.")
In response to the lawsuit, BioPerformance president Lowell Mims posted a notice on the company's Web site, saying the company was complying with the court order while "eagerly waiting for our day in court." Mims said a new round of testing on the product "will soon be released and should help dispel the defamatory charges..."Our new round of testing on the product will soon be released and should help dispel the defamatory charges that have been made against the product and should help us return to fulfilling our central mission."
Meanwhile, in April, Strange New Products posted an update about BioPerformance: "Strange New Products did not test this product and does not endorse it. We only serve to inform readers about this, and other products. Consult an automobile expert before using it." |
