New York, NY: A consumer fraud class action lawsuit has been filed against The Dial Corporation over allegedly unsubstantiated health claims made by the Defendant in its promotion of the Dial Complete line of antibacterial soap products.
The Dial Complete lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court, District of New Hampshire, seeks to represent consumers in Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin who purchased a Dial Complete product (Case No. 11-md-2263-SM).
The complaint alleges that, through its extensive and comprehensive nationwide marketing campaign, Dial intends to, and does, represent to consumers that washing their hands with Dial Complete – which contains the active ingredient triclosan – is more effective than washing with regular soap and water or with other liquid soaps that do not contain triclosan.
The lawsuit further alleges that Dial also deceptively and unfairly represents that using Dial Complete provides special health benefits, including, but not limited to, being over 1,000 times more effective at killing disease-causing germs than other antibacterial liquid hand soaps, killing 99.99% of bacteria, killing 99.9% of illness-causing bacteria, reducing disease transmission by 50% compared to washing with a plain soap, and killing more germs than any other liquid hand soap.
In an April 8, 2010 "Consumer Update", the FDA stated that it does not have evidence that triclosan-containing antibacterial soaps and body washes provide any extra health benefit over soap and water alone. Yet despite mounting concerns surrounding triclosan, Dial has continued to aggressively advertise Dial Complete as having substantial health benefits and being more effective in its use than ordinary soap and water, the complaint alleges.
