SMU's Professor Ed Biehl Helps Blow Whistle on 'Gas Pills'
Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 10:17 pm(CBS 11 News) IRVING Following a two-month CBS 11 News investigation, state investigators have shut down a north Texas company.
CBS 11 reporter Brooke Richie has been looking into "Bio Performance", and has been testing their "secret gas pill" to see if it really works.
It's billed as a pill full of promises… both to save money, and to make it fast.
Bio Performance Inc. launched last December. The Irving-based company was started by north Texas pastor Lowell Mims. Their product – a little green pill, labeled the "top secret gas pill."
Drop it in your tank, the company claims, and your gas mileage could increase by 25 percent or more.
Customer Doyle Kiker claims, “I’ve gained about almost four miles to the gallon, 90 miles to a tank of gas.â€
The pills retail for about $80 a bottle. But as consumers rushed to sign up, the complaints began to file in to consumer watch groups.
Concerns included - vehicles knocking and jerking, and customers who never received their product but continued to be billed.
When CBS 11 News first tried to talk to Bio Performance executives in March we were told they don’t do interviews.
Scott Lamon of Tyler is one of the frustrated former customers.
“Within the first week, I started noticing things in my truck that I'd never experienced before. A lot of sluggishness, sputtering, actually starting to stall.â€
In addition to selling pills, Bio Performance is also a direct marketing company, or what the attorney general calls an illegal pyramid scheme.
At seminars across the country, potential distributors hear they can become millionaires by selling the little green pills. CBS 11 went into one seminar with our hidden camera to learn more.
One man told the audience, “I can tell you, I have never seen an opportunity where you can invest $500 and in four months make the kind of income that is possible here.â€
No one seemed to know for sure whether the pills worked - so we had them tested.
Professor Ed Biehl, chairman of the Southern Methodist University chemistry department found the pills weren’t what you might think. “It was mothballs, that's the common name. The scientific name is naphthalene.â€
The secret gas pills were mothballs, like the ones you might place in a closet.
“If they're claiming it's a catalyst that could improve gas mileage, I just don't see how that could be,†Biehl said.
CBS 11 went to an automotive expert for his opinion.
“Run from it, put those pills in the trash can. Chalk it up as a bad investment, but don't put them in your gas tank,†said Todd Davis, Tommy White Automotive.
Bio Performance hired independent chemist Chris Cuvar who dismisses the naphthalene claim, though he admits he's never tested the pills himself. “I can say that no, I cannot say that it's not that. But I will tell you this: the chances of it being are very remote because of the effects it would have on the human body. “
Those negative effects on the human body surfaced when the Texas Attorney General became involved. Greg Abbott ruled that the pills were both bogus and dangerous.
A source familiar with Bio Performance says the company is receiving more than 200 cancellation letters a day. Despite that, Bio Performance's sales continue to soar.
According to a consultant retained on Monday, that explains the delay in refunds. “The company had no way of knowing that in five months it would generate $25 million in sales. They're behind, there's no question of that,†said Dr. Clifton Jolley, Bioperformance consultant.
Those who call the gas pill a miracle say the company's problems are just growing pains. Those still waiting for refunds or answers say it was simply too good to be true.
A Bio Performance spokesperson tells CBS 11 News that those skeptics, including the attorney general, - will learn the truth about the gas pills and he says the company is confident it will be exonerated.
CBS 11 reporter Brooke Richie has been looking into "Bio Performance", and has been testing their "secret gas pill" to see if it really works.
It's billed as a pill full of promises… both to save money, and to make it fast.
Bio Performance Inc. launched last December. The Irving-based company was started by north Texas pastor Lowell Mims. Their product – a little green pill, labeled the "top secret gas pill."
Drop it in your tank, the company claims, and your gas mileage could increase by 25 percent or more.
Customer Doyle Kiker claims, “I’ve gained about almost four miles to the gallon, 90 miles to a tank of gas.â€
The pills retail for about $80 a bottle. But as consumers rushed to sign up, the complaints began to file in to consumer watch groups.
Concerns included - vehicles knocking and jerking, and customers who never received their product but continued to be billed.
When CBS 11 News first tried to talk to Bio Performance executives in March we were told they don’t do interviews.
Scott Lamon of Tyler is one of the frustrated former customers.
“Within the first week, I started noticing things in my truck that I'd never experienced before. A lot of sluggishness, sputtering, actually starting to stall.â€
In addition to selling pills, Bio Performance is also a direct marketing company, or what the attorney general calls an illegal pyramid scheme.
At seminars across the country, potential distributors hear they can become millionaires by selling the little green pills. CBS 11 went into one seminar with our hidden camera to learn more.
One man told the audience, “I can tell you, I have never seen an opportunity where you can invest $500 and in four months make the kind of income that is possible here.â€
No one seemed to know for sure whether the pills worked - so we had them tested.
Professor Ed Biehl, chairman of the Southern Methodist University chemistry department found the pills weren’t what you might think. “It was mothballs, that's the common name. The scientific name is naphthalene.â€
The secret gas pills were mothballs, like the ones you might place in a closet.
“If they're claiming it's a catalyst that could improve gas mileage, I just don't see how that could be,†Biehl said.
CBS 11 went to an automotive expert for his opinion.
“Run from it, put those pills in the trash can. Chalk it up as a bad investment, but don't put them in your gas tank,†said Todd Davis, Tommy White Automotive.
Bio Performance hired independent chemist Chris Cuvar who dismisses the naphthalene claim, though he admits he's never tested the pills himself. “I can say that no, I cannot say that it's not that. But I will tell you this: the chances of it being are very remote because of the effects it would have on the human body. “
Those negative effects on the human body surfaced when the Texas Attorney General became involved. Greg Abbott ruled that the pills were both bogus and dangerous.
A source familiar with Bio Performance says the company is receiving more than 200 cancellation letters a day. Despite that, Bio Performance's sales continue to soar.
According to a consultant retained on Monday, that explains the delay in refunds. “The company had no way of knowing that in five months it would generate $25 million in sales. They're behind, there's no question of that,†said Dr. Clifton Jolley, Bioperformance consultant.
Those who call the gas pill a miracle say the company's problems are just growing pains. Those still waiting for refunds or answers say it was simply too good to be true.
A Bio Performance spokesperson tells CBS 11 News that those skeptics, including the attorney general, - will learn the truth about the gas pills and he says the company is confident it will be exonerated.