New York attorney general targets phony Zika protection products

NEW YORK –  New York state’s top prosecutor said on Wednesday his office has sent cease-and-desist letters to seven companies accused of deceptively marketing ineffective “Zika-protective” products amid growing concern over the mosquito-borne virus.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman also issued a consumer alert warning against the companies’ advertisements, which are mainly for ultrasonic and botanical oil-based mosquito repellants. Those products “simply don’t work,” Schneiderman told a news conference.