Walmart, Target and others under fire over supplements

The New York Attorney General has ordered WalMart, GNC, Target and Walgreens to stop selling certain herbal supplements that it says don't contain the herbal ingredient on the label, even in small amounts....

The letters included statements like: "No St. John's Wort DNA was identified." "No plant genetic material of any sort was identified in the product labeled Echinacea." And some contained allergens like wheat that were not properly labeled.

Walmart, Target and others under fire for selling bogus supplements

The conspiracy angle here is people being swindled into buying supplements that may contain nothing of what is advertised on the label of the product.

I once bought supplements from a smallish company that seemed trustworthy, but one day I got a strange letter in the mail about someone claiming to be an ex-employee of the company who was clearing his conscience by confessing the substitution of fillers for what the company claimed it was selling people. At that point I didn't know whether to trust the letter or the company but I had no independent verification the products really contained what they claimed, so, at that point I decided to buy from major retailers who have a reputation to uphold and the resources and motivation to do testing to ensure they only sell genuine products.

Now I once again find that even the assumption that retailers with a reputation to uphold would do proper testing was apparently not valid. Companies don't like to spend money on testing because they don't see the value added....until something like this happens. As consumers we can't afford to spend $150 on testing that $10 bottle of vitamins to make sure it's not just filler substitute.

So, buyer beware...how can we make sure what we're buying is really what it's supposed to be?

So, buyer beware...how can we make sure what we're buying is really what it's supposed to be?

Caveat emptor.

Try Amazon, and read the reviews.

Bout the only thing one can do.

Or support your local mom, and pop pharmacies.

Millions of people are going to find out what "Placebo Effect" really means...

We can never be sure about what is in anything unless we make it ourselves. We see stuff like this time and time again. Different products, different reasons, all not up to standards or even dangerous. I often wonder if folks know how much trust they are giving other folks on a daily basis with all the things we put in our bodies.

Scary thought to be sure.

What gives the New York AG the authority to order anything? I believe that it is the FDA's job to handle things like this.

originally posted by: Kangaruex4Ewe
Millions of people are going to find out what "Placebo Effect" really means...

That was my thought also!

a reply to: JIMC5499
The FDA says it's up to the manufacturers and distributors to make sure they are selling what is on the product label, so how would the FDA know if there was a substitution? Do they actually do any testing?

www.fda.gov...

FDA regulates both finished dietary supplement products and dietary ingredients. FDA regulates dietary supplements under a different set of regulations than those covering "conventional" foods and drug products. Under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA):

Manufacturers and distributors of dietary supplements and dietary ingredients are prohibited from marketing products that are adulterated or misbranded. That means that these firms are responsible for evaluating the safety and labeling of their products before marketing to ensure that they meet all the requirements of DSHEA and FDA regulations.

a reply to: JIMC5499

False advertising. FDA can only handle any actual deleterious effects.

Neo of course won't mention that regulations can and do stop this BS all over the world - but that would require "big government"....and as everyone knows government should only regulate who you can marry, whether or not you can have an abortion, whether or not kids can have sex education, anything else the religious right thinks you should have to do or not do because THEY believe in it, the right of someone to rip you off.......actual prohibition of snake oil is something they should sty out of because the free market will sort that out!

Yeah.....right!

stop buying supplements and just grow or buy the natural source of these so called supplements. as long as it is in pill form it is always mostly fillers and less supplement. find and consume real seeds, herbs, berries and so on. if its in a bottle its just man made dope. take it directly from the Earth the way the human race has been doing until mass production came along.

originally posted by: Arbitrageur

The New York Attorney General has ordered WalMart, GNC, Target and Walgreens to stop selling certain herbal supplements that it says don't contain the herbal ingredient on the label, even in small amounts....

The letters included statements like: "No St. John's Wort DNA was identified." "No plant genetic material of any sort was identified in the product labeled Echinacea." And some contained allergens like wheat that were not properly labeled.

Walmart, Target and others under fire for selling bogus supplements

The conspiracy angle here is people being swindled into buying supplements that may contain nothing of what is advertised on the label of the product.

I once bought supplements from a smallish company that seemed trustworthy, but one day I got a strange letter in the mail about someone claiming to be an ex-employee of the company who was clearing his conscience by confessing the substitution of fillers for what the company claimed it was selling people. At that point I didn't know whether to trust the letter or the company but I had no independent verification the products really contained what they claimed, so, at that point I decided to buy from major retailers who have a reputation to uphold and the resources and motivation to do testing to ensure they only sell genuine products.

Now I once again find that even the assumption that retailers with a reputation to uphold would do proper testing was apparently not valid. Companies don't like to spend money on testing because they don't see the value added....until something like this happens. As consumers we can't afford to spend $150 on testing that $10 bottle of vitamins to make sure it's not just filler substitute.

So, buyer beware...how can we make sure what we're buying is really what it's supposed to be?

Yeah, this is crazy. Saw this in the NY Times this morning. 4/5 supplements, FOUR out of FIVE, were found to not have exactly what they said they were supposed to!! And some were "leading brands!"

Yet another example that companies of all kinds, unregulated and without oversight, will not magically "through the invisible hand of the market" self-regulate. These supplements do not have much oversight or regulation. Hence, here we are, little consumer protection. It's all about money.

originally posted by: DYepes
stop buying supplements and just grow or buy the natural source of these so called supplements. as long as it is in pill form it is always mostly fillers and less supplement. find and consume real seeds, herbs, berries and so on. if its in a bottle its just man made dope. take it directly from the Earth the way the human race has been doing until mass production came along.

I get your point. However, there ARE companies that have rigorous testing standards. But those also can be costly.

Generally, you are right though, having a really well balanced and diverse diet should meet most of people's needs.

originally posted by: Arbitrageur

The New York Attorney General has ordered WalMart, GNC, Target and Walgreens to stop selling certain herbal supplements that it says don't contain the herbal ingredient on the label, even in small amounts....

The letters included statements like: "No St. John's Wort DNA was identified." "No plant genetic material of any sort was identified in the product labeled Echinacea." And some contained allergens like wheat that were not properly labeled.

Walmart, Target and others under fire for selling bogus supplements

The conspiracy angle here is people being swindled into buying supplements that may contain nothing of what is advertised on the label of the product.

I once bought supplements from a smallish company that seemed trustworthy, but one day I got a strange letter in the mail about someone claiming to be an ex-employee of the company who was clearing his conscience by confessing the substitution of fillers for what the company claimed it was selling people. At that point I didn't know whether to trust the letter or the company but I had no independent verification the products really contained what they claimed, so, at that point I decided to buy from major retailers who have a reputation to uphold and the resources and motivation to do testing to ensure they only sell genuine products.

Now I once again find that even the assumption that retailers with a reputation to uphold would do proper testing was apparently not valid. Companies don't like to spend money on testing because they don't see the value added....until something like this happens. As consumers we can't afford to spend $150 on testing that $10 bottle of vitamins to make sure it's not just filler substitute.

So, buyer beware...how can we make sure what we're buying is really what it's supposed to be?

As to your last point, Walgreens, GNC, all of them, are not testing companies, they are retailers. BUT, they are responsible for making sure they deal with reputable companies. The companies themselves are responsible for quality control and non-false advertising.

Just a word to the wise here.

While this may in fact be on the up and up, it may also not be.

Big Pharma has for a while been trying to get vitamin supplements removed from breakfast cereals on the basis that 'They are not really needed.'

Big Pharma would like nothing more than to get total control of this cash cow segment of the market place by driving all of the small competitors to the wall.

Just food for thought.

P

a reply to: pheonix358

You want supplements in your cereals? Just add berries, honey, chia seeds, or grains and oats or a combination of all which you can easily purchase from our healthy/organic food store.

I usually just add raspberries or blueberries to the cheapest corn flakes I can find with a scoop of chia seeds. Occasioanly add honey as well. Its great stuff man. I noticed recently I can also buy the oats and grains that normally come in some cereals in bulk from the health food store. thats getting added to our familie's diet as well.

The supplement and herbal market has less oversight, testing, and regulation than any food you buy.

If you want to get rich quick legally just open a supplement factory you can put pretty much anything you want in it and there isn't a damn thing anyone can do about it. If you really want to make a killing have someone write up a scientific sounding paper claiming some wild health benefits of your product and get it published at an un-reputable journal for a few grand. If you get exposed just reincorporate then rinse and repeat.

Half the supplements out there probably are not pure. There is fraud all over the place. It's not just these big stores, it is everywhere.

I've always thought that the supplement and vitamin market is likely among the largest scam's ever pulled on the public, so no surprise at all here.

Hopefully this will lead to them going after the phony companies producing these products. The stores decide what to carry based on what customers buy and it's not their place to test the products. They are hardly the bad guys in this and it's clearly the frauds in the supplement industry who need to be taken down.

Sadly, nearly everything on the shelves fitting this category is worthless. Find some common weed that is non-toxic, stick it in a capsule, make a false health claim and get rich is clearly how this works. I'm sure in most cases the substituted filler and what was supposed to be in the capsule are equally worthless. They likely figured since they are selling worthless products to gullible people, why not just fill the capsule with sawdust. Same thing. They know the health claims are for the most part fabrications anyway.

The answer is to grow your own herb.

We have Holland and Barrett here in the UK, it is pretty good and sources most mainstream herbs.

There are othercompanies that do even better, sourcing rarer and organic herbs.

I would recommend that anyone buying supplements really reads into them first to be sure they are effective and for any side effects.

Nature has the answer to most things.

Personally, I recommend easily sourced things such as Turmeric as a ground spice, garlic pills, cinnamon, Manuka honey, chlorella, zinc, coenzyme Q10 and nasturtium.

originally posted by: pheonix358
Just a word to the wise here.


Big Pharma has for a while been trying to get vitamin supplements removed from breakfast cereals on the basis that 'They are not really needed.'

this isn't a matter of "it's not needed" - this is a matter of "what they say is in it is not actually in it" - false advertising.

The one we should all care about is Vitamin C, which you can't consume enough of naturally. Have to get 'C' through supplement or the make-your-own kind well-known on ATS. Are any Vitamin C manufacturers or products caught up in this scandal (and it is a major scandal, but probably won't be reported in the news as such, one of those three day stories and then it goes away)?