[f5fstop]

WASHINGTON -- Rob Durham had a secret -- or at least he thought he did.

Tomoeh Murakami Tse / The Washington Post


Even as the prices on gasoline station signs had begun to rise, Durham, a real estate agent and budding entrepreneur in suburban Chicago, received an e-mail from a friend telling him about a "top-secret gas pill" that could significantly boost fuel efficiency while cutting emissions.

"The more I saw, the more I believed in it," said Durham, 39, who joined his friend and became a distributor. He still says the product works.

Authorities say the pill wasn't just "top-secret," it was also bogus. The additive is the equivalent of a mothball, according to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, and federal authorities say it is one of scores of products pushed by a cottage industry preying on consumer angst over $3-a-gallon gas prices.

With drivers yearning for alternatives, manufacturers of products claiming to boost mileage are offering up solutions -- in the form of pills, powders, liquid additives and mechanical devices. Among them are magnets attached to the fuel line that "realign" fuel molecules and "vortex generators" that create mini tornadoes inside the combustion chamber of the engine.

Some businesses marketing the products have cited rising sales in recent months, but federal authorities, consumer groups and auto experts said most of the items were unreliable. Over the past 30 years, the Environmental Protection Agency has tested more than 100 products that claimed to boost fuel efficiency. Many were sent to labs at the manufacturers' request, but all failed to show significant gains in mileage. Eight showed small increases, although three of them also increased emissions as well, which could make the products illegal.

"A lot of these claims tend to rely on magical thinking," said John Millett, an EPA spokesman. "If it really were a magic bullet, we would know about it."

That hasn't stopped manufacturers from coming up with products like the "top-secret gas pill" sold by Durham. The additive, called BioPerformance, which also comes in powder form, is manufactured by an Irving, Texas, company of the same name.

Last month, Abbott, the attorney general, filed a lawsuit against the company, saying it had recruited thousands of paying members such as Durham in an apparent pyramid scheme. Consumers were encouraged to become "dealers" at seminars held across the country.

"The company's ads claim the gasoline pills and powders they offer have a non-toxic 'top secret gas pill' that can increase fuel efficiency by 30 percent or more and cut harmful emissions by up to 50 percent," according to a news release from the attorney general's office. "In fact, the additive is basically the chemical equivalent of mothballs, which are toxic."

Messages left for Lowell Mims, a co-owner of BioPerformance Inc., were not returned, and the company's voice message mailbox was full Friday. In a letter dated May 26 posted on the corporate Web site, Mims told distributors that he was confident the additive would be proven effective.

Despite the official complaint, Durham, who has not been sued, defended BioPerformance.

"I'm in the business because the product works, and there's never a better time to be out there," said Durham, who had to stop selling the additives after a few months when the company's assets were frozen.

The Federal Trade Commission has filed a dozen lawsuits since the mid-1990s against makers and marketers of gas-saving products, halting the sales of the products by the defendants. But many remain available for purchase through online auction sites or other resellers.

"These are scams of opportunity," said Laura DeMartino, an attorney with the FTC, which put out a booklet for consumers titled "'Gas-Saving' Products: Fact or Fuelishness?"

Such warnings by federal regulators apparently have not stopped consumers from buying these products.

With the summer driving season starting and no short-term relief from high gas prices in sight, some consumer groups and auto shop managers said they have received more inquiries about the products.

But, auto specialists said, the best "device" consumers can get for their cars is a tire gauge, available for about $20.

"When the gas price goes up, this stuff comes out of the woodwork," said Ed Kriston, a Towson, Md.-based auto repair specialist approved by AAA Mid-Atlantic. He said his advice is always the same: Keep the air in the tires up ... and make sure the vehicle is serviced."

Staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.