WASHINGTON -- The manufacturer of Lysol brand household disinfectant products Monday petitioned the Federal Trade Commission to allow the advertising claim that it can be ofbenefit in preventing colds.
Sterling Drug Inc. and SSC&B, the agency that prepared the advertisement for Lysol, asked the commission to reverse the ban 'if competent and reliable scientific evidence' supports such contentions.
The petition contends there is evidence that 'the predominant means of transmission of colds is contact with virus by hands followed by ... hand contact with eye or nose.'
It said this contradicts a 1972 commission complaint saying airborne germs and viruses were the 'known cause of colds.'
The FTC in 1974 settled the complaint, which charged that Sterling Drug and the advertiser misrepresented Lysol's effectiveness in preventing disease.
The order should be modified because there is a 'public interest in allowing truthful communication to the public concerning scientific knowledge and opinion on transmission of colds and on appropriate preventive measures,' the petition said.
The petition is subject to public comment until Nov. 3.
