Hundreds of potentially false or deceptive claims concerning treatments for diseases such as AIDS and cancer have been discovered on the Internet.

The Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday the claims were found during North American Health Claims Surf Day, split between Sept. 29 and 30, by the FTC and public health agencies and consumer protection groups from Canada, Mexico and the United States.Surfers found more than 400 World Wide Web sites and numerous Usenet newsgroups that contain promotions for products and services claiming to help cure, treat or prevent AIDS, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease and multiple sclerosis.

As a result, the FTC sent hundreds of e-mail messages to Web sites and newsgroups pointing out that advertisers must have evidence to support their claims. It plans to revisit the sites in coming weeks to determine whether changes were made.

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