The FDA in late May mailed warning letters to 23 companies asking them to stop making false claims on their products.

The letters included variations on the statement, "According to information on your website, your products are intended to prevent, treat, or cure disease conditions or to affect the structure or function of the body." The FDA advised recipients to "take prompt action to correct the violations cited" in the letters and gave them two weeks to reply.

Several of the companies targeted make tea and herbal tisane products:

• Plant Cures Inc., Ojibwa Tea
• Herbs for Cancer, Cancer Tea Formulas
• Fern Health, New Sun Green Tea
• Road to Healing, Native Herbal Tea Rene Caisse's Original Formula
• The Institute for Healthy Aging, Green Tea Extract

Margaret O'K. Glavin, associate commissioner for regulatory affairs at the FDA, said in a statement, "Although promotions of bogus cancer 'cures' have always been a problem, the Internet has provided a mechanism for them to flourish."