The Monterey County District Attorney’s Office and two other county prosecutors reached a settlement last week with a recreational oxygen selling company that claimed to alleviate health problems. 

Boost Oxygen, LLC, also known as Boost, is a company based in Connecticut that sells canisters of recreational oxygen online and in stores, District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni said Thursday. 

“For years, the company advertised that its products could alleviate physical ailments and conditions such as altitude sickness,” Pacioni’s office said. 

District attorneys in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties joined in on the suit, alleging that Boost said its product was 95% pure, something prosecutors said was false or unsupported by any evidence. 

In a stipulated judgment entered in a Ventura County court requires Boost to pay $330,000 in civil penalties and $83,000 in costs, the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office said. Boost is also prohibited from making claims that violate the false advertising law, including claims that is product can treat or assist in the cure of acute mountain sickness, altitude sickness, or any related medical illnesses; illness resulting from smoke inhalation or pollution, allergies or allergic reactions; shortness of breath due to COVID-19, the flu or other respiratory viruses; or a person’s ability to drive at night or long distances. 

Boost cooperated with the investigation, prosecutors said. 

Katy St. Clair got her start in journalism by working in the classifieds department at the East Bay Express during the height of alt weeklies, then sweet talked her way into becoming staff writer, submissions editor, and music editor. She has been a columnist in the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Examiner. Starting in 2015, she begrudgingly scaled the inverted pyramid at dailies such as the Vallejo Times-Herald, The Vacaville Reporter, and the Daily Republic. She has her own independent news site and blog that covers the delightfully dysfunctional town of Vallejo, California, where she also collaborates with the investigative team at Open Vallejo. A passionate advocate for people with developmental disabilities, she serves on both the Board of the Arc of Solano and the Arc of California. She lives in Vallejo.