This particular operation has some similiarities with previous
Toronto based promotions. The originating company is being
called Geneva Bioscience Ltd. , however there appears to be no
such company listed in Ontario.

The address of 1370 Don Mills Road, Suite #300, North York,
Ontario is a small shared office complex.

The phone numbers listed for the company are abit strange - the
U.S. advertisements list a phone number of 1-866-257-0877. This
number leads to an answering service in Maryland.

Upon questioning how to reach Geneva Bioscience Limited,
callers are led to a "Customer Service Number", 1-877-818-1637,
which just happens to lead to another answering service - this
one located in New Brunswick, Canada. This is the same location
that PhytoPharma uses for its answering services. We are
suspicious that the same answering service is involved again!

This promotion uses a combination of seaweeds to lose weight.
The theory behind this weight loss is that the seaweed fucus
vesiculosus contains iodine, which stimulates the thyroid gland to
make thyroid hormone, which may increase metabolism.
Increased metabolism then, as the theory goes, may lead to
some weight loss.

The scientific evidence on this is minimal and sketchy at best.
First of all, there is no way to know if the iodine levels in the fucus from this product do in fact alter thyroid activity. One study in the mid 1990's on hypertensive patients with obesity, using fucus in combination with diet, spiruline and gelatin had no weight loss
over a twelve week period (study by Monego et al 1996 - can be
referenced at the Health Psychology Home Page of Vanderbilt
University.

The advertisements have appeared in entertainment type
publications in the U.S. Rainbow Investigations would be
interested in hearing from consumers who've seen this product
advertised - let us know where you've seen it.