An Iowa judge has ordered a company promoting drinkable sunscreen and mosquito repellent to cease their "deceptive and unfair" marketing practices.

Osmosis LLC, Harmonized Water LLC and their owner, Benjamin Taylor Johnson, are barred from making product claims without "competent and reliable" scientific research, according to a Wednesday news release from the Iowa Attorney General's Office.

As part of the consent order made by district court judge Scott D. Rosenberg, the company denies liability but must pay $70,000, which includes refunds to Iowa consumers and money to the state’s consumer education and litigation fund.

The company, which is based out of Evergreen, Colorado, is known as Osmosis Pür Medical Skincare in Iowa. They claim their "harmonized water" products can prevent sunburn, repel mosquitoes, "cancel" pathogens, and more.

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller filed a consumer fraud lawsuit against Johnson's company in March of 2017. The lawsuit said unsupported claims about the harmonized water put Iowans at risk.

“Consumers who rely on claims that spritzing water into their mouth will protect them, or treat them, might not use other proven preventive measures or treatments,” Miller said in the release. “That’s dangerous when you’re trying to protect yourself from harmful threats such as cancer-causing sunlight exposure or the Zika virus.”

In their own Wednesday news release following the settlement, Osmosis Pür Medical Skincare said they were "excited" to reach a settlement with the State of Iowa. The company will "be modifying some of the marketing used to describe our cutting-edge technology," and then continue selling products in Iowa.

Most Osmosis products are sold in three-ounce spray bottles for about $30. The only listed ingredient is water.

However, Johnson has claimed that the water is enhanced using radio waves and supposedly provides an array of benefits.

For example, squirting "UV Neutralizer-Tan Enhancing” water into the mouth is said to create UV-canceling waves that vibrate above the skin. A similar claim is made about the mosquito-repelling mouth spray.

A "disruptor water" is supposed to cancel pathogens like bacteria, fungi and viruses. Osmosis also claims it can cancel "bad memories" and treat autism.

“The list goes on,” Miller said in the release. “Iowa law requires a seller to have a reasonable basis for making such claims, and we alleged the reasonable basis was uniformly lacking."

According to the Wednesday Osmosis release, that array of benefits comes from "the current scientific fact in quantum physics that everything in nature and the universe is both a wave and a particle at the same time ... Our technology allows us to coerce some of the existing waves in water into beneficial frequencies based on NASA data amongst other science."

The Attorney General's news release highlights instances in which Osmosis' own tests revealed that the "harmonized water" does not work as advertised. In a 2014 study in San Diego, for example, two of three subjects using only the UV Neutralizer burned after laying in the sun at midday for an hour.

Dr. Paul VerHoeve, who hosted the study and co-authored the final report, said one subject "burned like a crisp."

But Johnson, Osmosis' owner, removed several test subjects after the study. The removals dramatically improved the results, allowing Osmosis to claim a more favorable 2-to-1 success rate.

Osmosis then used the 2014 study as "definitive proof" that the harmonized water worked as a drinkable sunscreen.

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The district court also prohibits Osmosis from using misleading product endorsements.

In the past, individuals who stood to make money from product sales provided endorsements. Osmosis failed to disclose those individual's financial ties to the company.

Osmosis' site even used positive testimonials from people who reported that they'd burned multiple times while using the harmonized water in the past.

One glowing review came from a woman who was married to the study's supervisor. The couple was given $5,000 worth of Osmosis products to sell in their clinic, a fact that was not made apparent in the testimonial.

Johnson himself admitted that the harmonized water does not work as advertised. When he purchased the water "harmonizer" from the late Vern Schroeder, a Carroll, Iowa, farmer who invented the machine, Johnson signed a purchase agreement acknowledging "that the products are placebo in nature and have no dietary or medical properties whatsoever.”

“This case illustrates how irresponsible some can be in putting others at risk for the sake of money and publicity,” Miller said in the release. “It is also a cautionary tale for consumers, who need to approach extraordinary health claims with a healthy dose of skepticism.”

Consumer tips from the Iowa Attorney General's Office: