New York Attorney General Targets Supplements at Major Retailers
Source: New York Times
The New York State attorney generals office accused four major retailers on Monday of selling fraudulent and potentially dangerous herbal supplements and demanded that they remove the products from their shelves.
The authorities said they had conducted tests on top-selling store brands of herbal supplements at four national retailers GNC, Target, Walgreens and Walmart and found that four out of five of the products did not contain any of the herbs on their labels. The tests showed that pills labeled medicinal herbs often contained little more than cheap fillers like powdered rice, asparagus and houseplants, and in some cases substances that could be dangerous to those with allergies.
... Among the attorney generals findings was a popular store brand of ginseng pills at Walgreens, promoted for physical endurance and vitality, that contained only powdered garlic and rice. At Walmart, the authorities found that its ginkgo biloba, a Chinese plant promoted as a memory enhancer, contained little more than powdered radish, houseplants and wheat despite a claim on the label that the product was wheat- and gluten-free.
Three out of six herbal products at Target ginkgo biloba, St. Johns wort and valerian root, a sleep aid tested negative for the herbs on their labels. But they did contain powdered rice, beans, peas and wild carrots. And at GNC, the agency said, it found pills with unlisted ingredients used as fillers, like powdered legumes, the class of plants that includes peanuts and soybeans, a hazard for people with allergies.
Read more: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/03/new-york-attorney-general-targets-supplements-at-major-retailers
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)I'm glad I lived there when it was free.
rpannier
(24,330 posts)Are you criticizing the state of New York for having these fraudulently labelled products pulled from stores?
bhikkhu
(10,720 posts)80% of herbal supplements at big-name retailers tested didn't contain any of the herbs they were supposed to have? Somebody is making some serious money defrauding people.
newthinking
(3,982 posts)Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)getting them off the shelf is of course the first step and hopefully followed by regulator actions and fines.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)Risks of Herbs and Supplements Finally Getting Some Attention
Posted on February 9, 2010 by skeptvet
Another article I ran across recently that bears of the dangers of herbal medicine use is A review of the potential forensic significance of traditional herbal medicines in the Journal of Forensic Sciences (Byard RW. 2010:55(1);89-92). This is a nice summary of some of the specific dangers of unregulated and unscientifically used herbal preparations, including direct toxicity, heavy metal poising, adulteration with toxins, interaction effects of multiple active compounds taken together, and interactions with conventional medicines. These risks are exacerbated by the facts that many users of herbal remedies dont tell their doctors what they are taking (or they may not know themselves), most doctors know little about the possible risks of such remedies, and there is no meaningful regulatory control over the preparation or marketing of these products.
On this last point, a revision to DSHEA has been proposed in the Senate by Tom McCain (R-AZ) and Byron Dorgan (R-ND). While not perfect, this bill would improve the FDAs ability to monitor dietary supplements and other currently under-regulated supplements and to force removal of these from sale if there is evidence of harm. Given the power of the supplement lobby and their biggest legislative boosters, Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Orin hatch (R-UT), and the general anti-regulation mood of the country, I am not overly optimistic this will become law, but I am encouraged at least that mainstream political figures are at least willing to talk about the inadequacy of consumer protections in the area of herbs and supplements, and this alone may raise awareness of this underappreciated risk.
Coon JT, Ernst E. Panax ginseng: A Systematic Review of Adverse Effects and Drug Interactions. Drug Saf 2002;25(5):323-44 Drug Saf 2002;25(5):323-44
http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2010/02/344/
Scorin' with Orrin (Senator Orrin Hatch)
August 27, 2001
At last summer's Olympic games in Sydney, Australia, Norwegian wrestler Fritz Aanes suffered two heartbreaks: He lost the bronze medal, and then he was banned from competing internationally for two years, after testing positive for the potent anabolic steroid nandrolone. Although he couldn't do much about losing his medal, Aanes protested vehemently about his drug test, arguing that he had not taken steroids. The problem, he claimed, stemmed from another source: mislabeled dietary supplements manufactured in Utah.
Aanes made a compelling case. Nandrolone had been banned since 1975, and because it was easily detected for up to a year after only one injection, it had largely disappeared from pro sports. Athletes really bent on cheating had much better (and harder to detect) drugs to choose from. Later, a lab in Cologne, Germany, confirmed that there were trace amounts of nandrolone in Aanes's Utah supplement that weren't listed on the label.
Aanes wasn't the first athlete to blame tainted American dietary supplements for a positive drug test. Three others headed for or competing in the 2000 Olympics also tested positive just for nandrolone. And the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had been getting reports about the possible supplement-steroid link since 1999, when more than 350 athletes competing around the world tested positive for the curiously pervasive compound.
Researchers suspected that not only were dietary supplements being mislabeled, but many of the U.S.-produced supplements called pro-hormones actually behaved like steroids, even though they were legally sold over the counter. The surge in positive tests for nandrolone also coincided with the spike in pro-hormone use after St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire admitted to using androstenedione -- or "andro" -- while chasing the single-season home-run record in 1998. (Banned by the IOC, andro is a steroid that the body converts to both testosterone and estrogen.)
After the controversy in Sydney, the IOC warned athletes to avoid American supplements, particularly those manufactured in Utah, the "Cellulose Valley" of the U.S. supplement industry. The IOC also blasted the U.S. for poorly regulating supplement producers and asked then-White House drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey to review the Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act (DSHEA), which had deregulated the U.S. supplement industry in 1994.
Then Olympic officials, increasingly frustrated with the U.S. response to their concerns, went one step further and blamed the surge in nandrolone tests on a single U.S. senator: Orrin Hatch (R-Ut.). Hatch was the chief architect and sponsor of DSHEA, which among other things, prompted supplement makers to flood the market with vitamins, herbal remedies, amino acids, and other "natural products" like andro without any federal safety or purity guarantees. "[Hatch] is directly implicated in this affair," said Prince Alexandre de Merode, chairman of the IOC medical commission.
The IOC criticism was particularly biting given that Hatch's home state will be hosting the next winter games in 2002, and that one of the games' major sponsors is, in fact, a supplement company. Utah had already produced a major Olympics bribery scandal; all it needed was a reputation as the world's steroid capital just as the IOC was arriving with its drug-test lab.
So Hatch fired back at the IOC, saying that athletes could not blame their bad drug tests on him, or on the supplement industry, which he claimed was properly regulated in the U.S. "I am tired of this childish finger-pointing," Hatch said. "The last time I checked, neither the prince nor the athletes were experts in food and drug law."
The pressure from the IOC didn't seem to faze Hatch, who reiterated his belief in personal responsibility and the right of consumers to care for themselves using supplements. Gen. McCaffrey, though, did get the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to study the possibility of declaring andro a controlled substance much like narcotics and anabolic steroids. The move prompted a group of pro-hormone makers to pay a lobbying visit to Hatch's Washington office to express their concerns. The group represented a rather unusual constituency for the well-respected senior senator, a pious Mormon drug warrior who abstains from tobacco, coffee, and booze and makes Christian music CDs in his spare time.
Among the visitors were representatives from Weider Nutrition International, a leading pro-hormone producer in Utah which last year was fined $400,000 by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for making false claims about some of its weight-loss products. Another was body-building guru, chemist, and supplement maker Pat Arnold, the "father" of pro-hormones.
Hatch's office apparently reassured them that the senator would continue to defend their interests. Arnold later posted a report on Anabolicextreme.com about his visit, writing, "Hatch's assistants informed us of the pressure they were getting from the IOC representatives (a bunch of arrogant princes and ambassadors) to do something about the terrible andro and the unfair advantage it gives people and abuse by kids (and other silly crap). The IOC is very angry at Hatch because of his role in making supplements like andro and creatine (which they consider evil) freely available in this country. Hatch, of course, realizes how ridiculous they are."
Hatch was unavailable for comment, but he has been unapologetic in his support for the supplement industry, having battled the FDA and other federal agencies over the regulation of vitamins, herbals, and other natural medicines for more than a decade. He believes the government has no more right to restrict Americans' access to vitamin A or the herbal ma huang than to McDonald's french fries. Hatch considers his 1994 law, DSHEA, a triumph on behalf of consumer health freedom. But a close look suggests that if anything, DSHEA (or the Hatch Act, as body builders call it) has left Americans "free" to serve as guinea pigs for a multibillion-dollar industry, much of which is built on a foundation of fraudulent claims, pyramid schemes, and lousy manufacturing practices.
Since DSHEA became law, substances as varied as paint stripper, bat shit, toad venom, and lamb placenta have all been imported from overseas, bottled up -- -often by people with no scientific or health backgrounds -- -and marketed as dietary supplements to unsuspecting American consumers. Many supplements have been tainted with salmonella, arsenic, lead, pesticides, unapproved foreign prescription drugs, as well as garden-variety carcinogens. And despite their New-Age health aura, a significant portion of these "natural supplements" are stimulants, depressants, and other mood-enhancers that some medical experts believe would be classified as drugs if they were synthetic. A surprising number of these products are addictive.
Thanks to Hatch, the U.S. now has standards as low as those in many Third World countries for the sale of many products with serious, pharmacological effects. The results have been deadly. Between 1993 and 1998, the FDA linked at least 184 deaths to dietary supplements, which are now suspected of contributing to the sudden deaths of three football players in August.
Yet Hatch -- as one of the Senate's most powerful Republicans who is often touted as a possibe Supreme Court justice -- has resisted attempts to clean up the supplement market. There's big money in dietary supplements, and Hatch has taken his fair share in campaign contributions. But his support for the industry goes well beyond simple campaign-finance issues. Hatch is part of a deeply committed segment of the American public that believes in the right to use alternative medicine and nutritional supplements with a religious fervor.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0109.mencimer2.html
---------------------------
Risks of Herbs and Supplements Finally Getting Some Attention
Posted on February 9, 2010 by skeptvet
Another article I ran across recently that bears of the dangers of herbal medicine use is A review of the potential forensic significance of traditional herbal medicines in the Journal of Forensic Sciences (Byard RW. 2010:55(1);89-92). This is a nice summary of some of the specific dangers of unregulated and unscientifically used herbal preparations, including direct toxicity, heavy metal poising, adulteration with toxins, interaction effects of multiple active compounds taken together, and interactions with conventional medicines. These risks are exacerbated by the facts that many users of herbal remedies dont tell their doctors what they are taking (or they may not know themselves), most doctors know little about the possible risks of such remedies, and there is no meaningful regulatory control over the preparation or marketing of these products.
On this last point, a revision to DSHEA has been proposed in the Senate by Tom McCain (R-AZ) and Byron Dorgan (R-ND). While not perfect, this bill would improve the FDAs ability to monitor dietary supplements and other currently under-regulated supplements and to force removal of these from sale if there is evidence of harm. Given the power of the supplement lobby and their biggest legislative boosters, Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Orin hatch (R-UT), and the general anti-regulation mood of the country, I am not overly optimistic this will become law, but I am encouraged at least that mainstream political figures are at least willing to talk about the inadequacy of consumer protections in the area of herbs and supplements, and this alone may raise awareness of this underappreciated risk.
Coon JT, Ernst E. Panax ginseng: A Systematic Review of Adverse Effects and Drug Interactions. Drug Saf 2002;25(5):323-44 Drug Saf 2002;25(5):323-44
http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2010/02/344/
appal_jack
(3,813 posts)The Hatch Act / DSHEA actually opened up a lot of opportunity to small-scale growers and herbalists. Between 2002 and 2010, I grew a number of different herbs and bottled and sold some tinctures locally, at a moderate profit. In my case, I marketed the tonifying herbs Ashwaghanda & Jiagulon, the mild sedative Valerian, some immune system boosters including Elder Flower and Boneset, and an expectorant / cough / lung remedy Elecamapagne. I had confidence in my tinctures, since I performed every step of the process: from growing, harvesting, and washing the herbs, to the alcohol and/or water extractions, to the bottling and labeling. People really liked them, and business was picking up.
But then the FDA imposed "Good Manufacturing Processing" (GMP) requirements on herbal tinctures. To keep selling them, I would have to process the herbs in a certified commercial kitchen, and keep a pile of paperwork on each batch and product. This paperwork should help to avoid mix-ups at the scale of a business that buys bulk herbs and sells product, but they were ridiculous for me. I chose not to do that, and quit selling tinctures.
However, these companies in the OP surely did pretend to comply with FDA GMP regs. Fat lot of good it did their customers: the companies just lied on their paperwork.
The problem is not the freedom that DSHEA affords small-scale, honest entrepreneurs. The problem is those businesses, whether large or small, who have no scruples or honesty. If someone is buying a bottle that says 'ginseng,' they should damn well get ginseng. DSHEA has little to nothing to do with this problem.
-app
appal_jack
(3,813 posts)SunSeeker
(51,602 posts)Last edited Tue Feb 3, 2015, 03:45 AM - Edit history (1)
California surely has the same problems. Our AG needs to bust these assholes. Kamala Harris, you listening?
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)Or you could just grow your own. That way you'll always know they're real: http://www.seedsavers.org/ or http://www.nativeseeds.org/
K&R
Trillo
(9,154 posts)Works okay if you have land, and water enough to grow them.
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)progree
(10,909 posts)Smarmie Doofus
(14,498 posts)William Seger
(10,779 posts)The two BPs are practically identical: They are both run by selfish, greedy business executives who will do anything to make a quick buck, even if it means endangering millions of lives.
The main difference between Big Pharma and Big Placebo is that Big Pharma is regulated, to make sure its products work and contain the substances on the label, while Big Placebo is free to sell more or less whatever it wants, label be damned.
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Big_Placebo
RobinA
(9,894 posts)the fraud was that those herbs don't do what is claimed. Turns out herbs weren't even in the stuff. I wonder why the picked on store brands. Does this mean the non-store brands actually contain what they say they do?
Trillo
(9,154 posts)if they are in fact as fraudulent as the report alleges, but they're all retailers. Why aren't the big manufacturing corporations, the ones with the labels on the bottle, the ones that have fraudulent ingredients, being stopped from manufacture?
It appears from the phrasing that GNC is not manufacturing their own products. If they had, they wouldn't need to "test" the products, they'd know precisely what made up the products' ingredients.
Is it possible that the labs used by the AG were somehow taking shortcuts, and these products were good but that the testing was fraudulent?
I guess the only way to know for sure is to grow your own. Perhaps that should be taught in public schools. How to grow all the herbs and herbal medicines, since it is a survival activity that was supposed to be passed from generation to generation, but somehow got stopped, presumably during the Industrial Revolution and movement of people to cities. Time to bring it back as part of the yearly compulsory curriculum?
jeff47
(26,549 posts)You do not have to prove it actually does what you claim.
And as long as you believe your own claims and don't have proof to the contrary, you can continue to market your supplement.
I'm thinking I'll start believing sugar pills cure everything, but market them as individual cures. That way as one cure is disproven I can just move on to the next.
RobinA
(9,894 posts)It has to be what you say it is. My guess would be that the retailers (as an organization) didn't have a clue what was or was not in the stuff. Walgreens contracts with XYZ company for ginko and somebody either at the XYZ plant or a middle man, slaps a Walgreens label on the purported ginko and off it goes to the Walgreens store.
Walgreens then gets in trouble because they've got their ginko label in alfalfa. So then they have to sue XYZ for selling them alfalfa instead of ginko. XYZ probably then says that Walgreens knew it was alfalfa...and it's off to the races.
Stores do not make the stuff that has a store label on it.
sendero
(28,552 posts).... any supplements they wish.
I also think that any manufacturer caught selling products that do not contain the ingredients claimed should be fined out of business and the officers barred from ever being in the supplement business again.