PA Sues Lab Over Web Sales Of Anthrax 'Test Kit'

May 2, 2002
By Steven Bonisteel, Newsbytes

Pennsylvania's attorney general said Wednesday the state is suing an Ohio-based company in a bid to halt online sales of what it claims is an at-home test for anthrax infections.

At the Web site of Toxicology Associates Inc. in Columbus (http://www.toxassociates.com ), consumers can order an "anthrax bacteria analysis" for $65, with results available within 72 hours of purchasers returning the materials the company provides for self- administered nasal swabs.

But Attorney General Mike Fisher said in a prepared statement that Toxicology Associates is "misrepresenting the effectiveness and reliability of its test kit (because) those buying the product are not told that the testing method is inconclusive and specifically not recommended by disease control experts."

Fisher said the lawsuit, alleging violations of Pennsylvania's Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, claims that Toxicology Associates should tell consumers that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has stated that nasal swab cultures that text positive do not necessarily mean that test subjects have received enough exposure to be in any danger.

What's more, the complaint says, Toxicology Associates should have informed its customers that the CDC has stated that a negative result in testing of a nasal swab culture does not conclusively prove that the subject has not been exposed.

"Therefore, the nasal swab is, at best, a relatively crude test that tells us something in the positive but nothing in the negative," the complaint says, quoting the CDC.

The complaint, filed in Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, also says that Toxicology Associates' own laboratory isn't qualified according to CDC standards for facilities capable of providing positive anthrax analysis.

"This is critical information that we maintain the defendant should be aware of and should be passing along to consumers before they order the $65 test kit," Fisher said. "By omitting these anthrax testing facts the defendant, in our view, is not only deceiving consumers but possibly endangering those who would rely on the inconclusive results to determine if they've been exposed to the bacteria, instead of consulting a doctor or medical expert."

Shoppers purchasing the anthrax test on the Toxicology Associates Web site are told: "Anthrax, commonly found in livestock, is now possibly being used as a biological weapon by terrorists against the U.S. Fight back. Know for sure. Get yourself tested right now."

Fisher said the company appeared to be "using the nation's heightened sense of vulnerability to turn a profit."

The state's complaint seeks to have Toxicology Associates refund money received from buyers of the anthrax test and pay a $1,000 penalty for each sale - $3,000 if the purchaser was 60 years old or more.

Additionally, the state is asking the court to bar Toxicology Associates from advertising or selling the kits to Pennsylvanians.

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