'20/20' Interview with Sam Caster

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INTERVIEWER

Uh, okay, Sam Caster, thank you very much for participating in this "20/20" interview.

SAM CASTER Sure.

INTERVIEWERLet me just ask you first off about, um … what your feeling is about when associates go past what Manatech(?) can claim legally. When …

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INTERVIEWER

… there have been occasions that I've seen where, in fact, have disciplined associates for saying too much or claiming too much. So when you hear these claims what do you think?

SAM CASTERWell, I think, first of all, uh, it's the context in which a claim is made. For instance, what we make sure our associates understand, Jim, is that dietary supplements are not designed to treat cure or mitigate disease. And we put that in all of our literature We put it in all of our training. We put it on every bottle of product. So the claims that we regulate are when people try to associate our product, branded name with an inappropriate claim for treatment, cure, or mitigation.

But then there's a broad spectrum of things that are utilized in the marketplace that do not constipate (sic) a … a treatment for cure claim. For instance, the dietary supplement law allows for the distribution of educational materials. So, for instance, uh … a retrospective study or a prospective study or a case study, or quality-of-life survey on … let's say something like cystic fibrosis. Where in the case we did a quality-of-life survey with a 108 families with kids with CF.

And these are kids that are under doctors' care. These are kids that are taking standard of care treatment and a what we were looking for, and what we're always looking for, is the quality of life improvement that can be achieved through the intervention of good quality nutrition.

INTERVIEWERAnd this, of course, was a double-blind clinical study?

SAM CASTERNo. This was not a double-blind study. This is quality-of-life survey. Uh (Overlap)

INTERVIEWERSo really …

SAM CASTERYes.

INTERVIEWER… so how much scientific basis does that really have?

SAM CASTERI think it has a tremendous amount of scientific basis for quality-of-life improvement. Uh, for instance, when we were going to do the quality-of-life improvement survey, we called The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and asked them, "Which survey would you recommend?" And they gave us the one that they thought had the most credibility.

So in dietary supplements, if you're not looking for an alternative cure to a disease, what you're trying to validate is the integration of dietary supplements into standard-of-care therapies. And what quality of life might that bring? And so when associates talk in reference sometimes to materials that are published under the guidelines of DeShay(?), it's totally appropriate.

Now it is our responsibility to make sure that they articulate those things appropriately and we spent a lot of time training our associates showing them how to distinguish a true cure claim from a quality-of-life enhancement claim.

INTERVIEWERAnd how many times do you estimate, or do you know …

SAM CASTERUh-hm.

INTERVIEWER… that your associates have, in fact, gone over the line and you've had to discipline them?

SAM CASTERWell, I think mainly what we do is we do our -- we have various types of compliance efforts. Some are pro-active, where we're searching the Internet looking for branded names of our products that might be linked in some way to something that might give the implication of a disease claim. If we find that that has occurred, then we take action against that individual.

And typically it's an educational process. Most people don't understand because the law's very complex around use of various types of materials.

Our field actually self-regulate themselves. Most of the input that we get from a compliance is actually submitted from the field. They heard something, they saw something. And … or saw a new piece of literature or something in the marketplace. And so we get inquiries frequently from people asking those types of questions.

INTERVIEWERYou have a compliance department. How often have they had to tell associates, "Stop this." Or reprimand an associate. "Stop this or you will be suspended" How many have you suspended?

SAM CASTERWell, every month we get inquiries like that. I mean every month. And so I would say in the hundreds they were talking to people throughout the year. Uh, but again, these things are not necessarily specific to a disease claim. They could be anything from misrepresentation potentially of … of a product, to whether they're using a material appropriately or where they're doing the meeting or the sinage(?).

So there's a lot of things that come in in terms of inquiries. But we do discipline. The people that we have asked to leave the company are the people that we have taken through the educational process. And for whatever reason, either don't get it or refuse to cooperate. And in that case, we do take them and invite them to leave the company.

INTERVIEWERSo I'm going to ask you one more time …

SAM CASTERUh-hm.

INTERVIEWER

… if … is there a number?

SAM CASTER

I don't know that I could give you a specific number. Uh, as I told you I think every months we get inquiries. And every month, we get self-compliant responses. But, again, they're … they're all across the board. So I don't know specifically what you're looking for … but I can tell you that on a monthly basis, you know, we deal with compliance issues.

INTERVIEWERSo let me to the … let me get specific then.

SAM CASTERUh-hm.

INTERVIEWERAnd on these DVDs that are sold … not inside your meeting but right outside the door …

SAM CASTERUh-hm.

INTERVIEWER… um … they make some pretty specific things. First, they all seem to give a disclaimer. First, they do say … it isn't medicine. It doesn't cure or mitigate anything.

SAM CASTERUh-hm.

INTERVIEWERJust as you just said a moment ago.

SAM CASTERUh-hm.

INTERVIEWERAnd then there are like two hours of testimonials of people who say, "I was cured from cancer. Cancer mysteri- … miraculously has gone away." So do you see how there's a disconnect there? And how people could be confused about what Manatech thinks its product can do?

SAM CASTERWell, you know, I think there … it's a complex situation. I think …

INTERVIEWERWhat's complex about it? It (Overlap)

SAM CASTERWell, I (Overlap)

INTERVIEWERIf … if you claim a cure …

SAM CASTERUh-hm.

INTERVIEWER… and yet, then right afterwards, people … do claim a cure.

SAM CASTERWell, what's complex about it is that … uh, everybody in modern health care acknowledges the fact that nutrition plays an important role in the body's ability to function appropriately. Uh, Dr. Roger Williams, past president of The American Chemical Society wrote a book called "Nutrition Against Disease."

And he said the human body heals itself. And nutrition provides the molecules that are necessary to support the body's ability to do that. Uh, there's a whole new movement in medicine called Integrative Medicine. It's being taught now at … at multiple universities' medical school.

And essentially it's about a holistic view of how everything plays in the health care equation. So you know, the … what is complex is … how does nutrition move into mainline health care? Because it's very clear -- and we're very clear -- nutrition is not designed to treat, cure, mitigate disease, meaning it is not meant to substitute standard of care, it is not meant to substitute a doctor's oversight. But it plays an important role in the whole health equation. I think what you find across the country now in a lot of these new cancer centers is they're using dietary supplements and nutrition as key roles in the overall holistic therapy of people with disease processes.

It takes nothing away from the doctor's ability to deal with the patient. It doesn't substitute for standard of care. It just simply provides a new mechanism in terms of old paradigm of health care for supporting the body's natural processes. So I think when you start talking, in general, about why is it complex … it's because you're showing quality-of-life benefit through dietary supplements in conjunction with standard-of-care therapy.

And a lot of times people see that and they go, "Well, gee, that sounds a little bit like a health claim." But it's a nutritional claim. I mean it's exactly what nutrition was designed to do. Support human physiology.