by the Associated Press

 RICHMOND – The FBI is investigating a $225,000 agreement by Warner-Lambert Co. for two lawyers hired to sue the pharmaceutical company over whether its head lice shampoo works, a newspaper reported.

 Debra Duke of Richmond, who with a neighbor hired the attorneys in February 1997 to look into their complaint about Nix shampoo, told the Richmond Times Dispatch that she was interviewed by the FBI about her conversations and written correspondence with the lawyers and Warner Lambert.

 One of the attorneys,  Mark M. Hager of Washington, has been charged with 10 ethics violations by the District of Columbia Office of  Bar Counsel in the matters.  The other lawyer, John Traficente of Boston, is expected to face an ethics inquiry in Massachusetts, the newspaper said.

 Hager, who teaches law at American University is accused of violating ethics rules by reaching a settlement agreement with Warner-Lambert before a lawsuit was filed and by failing to notify his clients of the agreement.

 The agreement, dated Aug. 8, 1997, specified that the pharmaceutical company would pay Hager and Traficente $225,000 to drop the matter and turn over the names of 90 people who had expressed interest in becoming plaintiffs in a class-action suit that would likely allege breach of warranty.  The relief for the would-be plaintiffs who said Nix didn’t work consisted of refunds.

 Warner-Lambert specified it would pay no more than $10,000 total in refunds.  The company also agreed to stop claiming that Nix is 99 percent effective, and it promised to begin printing a money-back guarantee on the box, the newspaper said.

 Warner-Lambert also agreed to form a panel of experts to determine whether head lice in the United States have become resistant to the pesticides in the product.

 Duke said she and her neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous, decided to seek legal help after battling more than a dozen infestations of head lice in their children in less than a year.  They said they followed package instructions to the letter – including cleaning rugs, upholstery, bedding and recently used clothing – but couldn’t get rid of the lice.

 The two women, both married to doctors, also told then Virginia Attorney General Richard Cullen about their concerns.  In July 1997 Cullen asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to investigate whether a resistant strain of lice has developed in the United States.  The FDA has not released the results of the inquiry.