Airborne

I have just the thing for that cold … Airborne

Airborne is a popular supplement among schoolteachers, who claim that it prevents them from picking up the germs spread around their classrooms full of sick children. The Airborne package even tells the story of how it was created by a schoolteacher who was frustrated with just that problem—getting sick all the time during cold and flu season. Rachel flies a lot, and friends and family who want to be helpful are always suggesting that she should take Airborne before she gets on one of her long plane rides. If Airborne works for teachers and travelers, it should work for you, right? The problem is, there is no evidence that it works.

It may surprise you to hear that Airborne has not been studied scientifically. Since Airborne is a herbal supplement, it is not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and its makers are not required to tell us exactly what is in it or whether it is proven to work. We know that Airborne contains a mixture of vitamins, minerals, and herbs, including large amounts of vitamin C and vitamin A, as well as some zinc. In the medical literature, there are no studies of Airborne itself. We can assure you that if someone had done a good scientific study and proved that this worked, it would be published prominently. Of course, some of the components of Airborne have been studied rigorously. As you will see if you skip to some of the later chapters, studies show over and over again that vitamin C, echinacea, and zinc do not prevent or cure colds. If the individual components of Airborne do not work to prevent colds, it seems unlikely that Airborne itself will work.

If you are a fan of Airborne, you may be shocked by our claim that Airborne has not been studied. After all, the package used to talk about the “double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of 120 patients” that showed Airborne worked great in helping patients in the early stages of getting a cold. The makers of Airborne had to remove that claim because, as it turns out, the “study” was conducted unscientifically. In fact, as uncovered by an investigative report by ABC News, the scientific team at GNG Pharmaceutical Services were, in fact, two men working in a garage. The scientific studies that we use for evidence in this book are done in clinics and controlled laboratories by scientists and doctors. They are not done by two men in a garage. The makers of Airborne agreed to pay more than $24 million to settle a class-action lawsuit in regard to their false advertising about this garage “study” and the lack of evidence for their product.

As the Federal Trade Commission summarizes, the makers of Airborne cannot make any legitimate claims about the effectiveness of their products: “There is no competent and reliable scientific evidence to support the claims made by the defendants that Airborne tablets can prevent or reduce the risk of colds, sickness, or infection; protect against or help fight germs; reduce the severity or duration of a cold; and protect against colds, sickness, or infection in crowded places such as airplanes, offices, or schools.”

The FTC complaint also states that the individual defendants in the case, company founders Victoria Knight-McDowell and Thomas John McDowell, made false claims that Airborne products are clinically proven to treat colds.

We kind of like the idea of a plucky schoolteacher figuring out a way to treat colds effectively. What we detest is the idea that someone could make a fortune lying to people about whether something works. The Federal Trade Commission reports that lying is exactly what the makers of Airborne did, and they had to pay millions in order to settle the lawsuit caused by those lies.

The other thing we don’t like is that products like Airborne are not without risk. It is bad enough if something doesn’t work, but much worse if it could also make you sick. Since Airborne is not proven to work, we cannot be sure how much risk of a harmful side effect you might have from taking it. In these instances, vulnerable populations like pregnant women and children need to be especially careful because we just don’t know what the impact of this product might be.

Airborne is not proven to work. Existing studies of the components of Airborne suggest that it is unlikely to work even if it was rigorously studied. And the makers of Airborne have consistently lied about its effectiveness. All of these things add up to a product that does not deserve to be trusted (or foisted upon unsuspecting airplane seatmates).