Young Living and doTERRA distributors were reprimanded after the Food and Drug Administration FDA issued warning statements via overnight delivery to CEO Gary Young and David Stirling. Young Living and doTERRA both use independent distributors as a sales-force.
The majority of complaints the FDA issued in the warning letters involved the way some independent distributors marketed the companies’ products. Primarily, the FDA was concerned with Young Living and doTERRA consultants’ online marketing material for the brands’ essential oils.
According to FDA regulations, neither dietary supplements nor essential oils are allowed to be marketed by the company that sells them in such a way that it appears as though the products can prevent, cure or treat any disease. If a company does market in that manner, the product is considered a drug by the FDA. If a product is a drug, it must be approved by the FDA. So, any product marketed to cure, treat or prevent a disease, that is not already an FDA approved drug, is considered an illegal, unapproved drug by the FDA.
The FDA found that Young Living essential oils were marketed for “viral infections (including ebola), Parkinson’s disease, autism, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, insomnia, heart disease, post-traumatic stress disorder