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SEC Sick of Anthrax Claims

November 15, 2001
The Securities and Exchange Commission has ordered three small companies to stop making allegedly inflated claims that their products can fight anthrax and bioterrorism.

"The nation is consumed with issues of anthrax," Linda Chatman Thomsen, associate director of the SEC's Enforcement Division said. She said the agency wanted to stop companies from exploiting the public's fears.

Two of the companies -- Disease Sciences Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla., and Classica Group of Lakewood, N.J. -- claimed in news releases that they had technolgy which could kill anthrax in mail and packages. The third company, R-Tec Technologies of Flanders, N.J., claimed it had developed a mechanical system to protect humans from biological and chemical attack.

The SEC said all the claims were unproven.

The three small companies made the claims in news releases directed primarily to investors. The SEC had earlier warned investors to be wary of companies claiming to have products useful in fighting terrorism.

The SEC also temporarily halted trading in 2DoTrade Inc.'s stock while it investigated the company's claims that it is testing a disinfectant that kills anthrax.

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