'Miracle' providers claim constitutional protection (quackery)

An Ashland couple accused of peddling over the Internet a diluted version of industrial bleach as an elixir for everything from earaches to cancer claims the federal government has no jurisdiction over their operation because it is a private health "association."

Federal prosecutors labeled their claim "misguided."

In federal court filings, defendants Louis Daniel Smith and Karis Delong claim they have constitutional protections to make and sell "Miracle Mineral Supplement" through their online company, Project GreenLife, because their products are offered only to members of a "First Amendment Private Health Care Association."

Smith, 42, and Delong, 38, claim the First and 14th Amendments protect these associations because they are private and not part of the public domain over which agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration have power, so federal health laws don't apply, according to court filings seeking to get their case dismissed.

Project GreenLife shipped Miracle Mineral Supplement and other products only to members of the association, a distinction that frees them from the scrutiny of the FDA, which is mandated to protect public health, Smith and Delong argue.

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