FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  June 24, 1988

                   FTC BRINGS CHARGES AGAINST
                  INSULATION TESTING LABORATORY

     The Federal Trade Commission has charged a home insulation
testing laboratory with improper testing and faulty recordkeeping
in violation of the FTC's R-value Rule, in a complaint filed in
federal court yesterday.  The complaint asks for civil penalties
and an order prohibiting future rule violations.
     Terralab Engineers, Inc. and its president, Douglas
MacGregor, allegedly violated the rule by failing to prepare
insulation for proper testing, failing to conduct tests properly
and failing to keep all the records the R-value Rule requires a
testing laboratory to keep.
     The R-value is a measure of an insulation's resistance to
heat flow:  the higher the R-value the greater the insulating
power.  Under the FTC's R-value Rule, which became effective in
1980, any home insulation label, fact sheet, advertisement, or
other promotional item which states an R-value must state an R-
value determined in accordance with the R-value Rule.  The rule's
requirements apply to every manufacturer, importer, distributer,
seller, installer, promoter, or labeler of home insulation.
Testing laboratories must obey the rule unless their clients tell
them in writing that the test results will not be used for
promotional purposes.
     The complaint against Terralab is the first complaint the
FTC has brought against a testing laboratory for violating the R-
value Rule.  The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for
the District of Utah.  Terralab is located in Salt Lake City.
The FTC's Denver Regional Office conducted the investigation and
filed the complaint.
     A complaint is an allegation that the law has been or is
being violated.  It is not a ruling that the law actually has
been violated.
     Copies of the complaint will be available shortly from the
FTC's Public Reference Branch, Room 130, 6th Street and
Pennsylvania Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580; 202-326-2222;
TTY 202-326-2502


                            #   #   #

MEDIA CONTACT:          Brenda A. Mack, Office of Public Affairs,
                        202-326-2180

STAFF CONTACT:          Claude C. Wild III, Director, Denver
Regional Office,
                        303-844-2271

(File No. 832-3230)

(Civil Action No. 88-C-561G)


(Terralab)