Re: Fish Oil possible contamination

[Guest guest]

I believe the following is serious enough to bring to the attention of list

members. I have always been wary of 'off' brands but now we see some more than

'off brands' are involved. For sure, it points to our need to be vigilant and

not let this get by without careful scrutiny.

Joe C.

-------------------------------

Some " healthy " fish oil supplements come with

serious chemical contamination; lawsuit to force warnings

Huge range between best and worst brands tested so far,

with more results to come; consumers can minimize risk by knowing the facts

SAN FRANCISCO, March 2--Some fish oil capsules sold as health supplements for

their Omega-3 fatty acids content have illegally undisclosed and unnecessarily

high levels of contamination with polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) compounds,

according to a lawsuit filed today in California court.

" Consumers who want the health benefits of fish oil shouldn't also have to take

the health risks of an extremely toxic man-made chemical, " said Roe, one

of the attorneys for the plaintiffs. " And they don't have to, since preliminary

test results show that some fish oil brands have only 1/70th as much PCB

contamination in them as others. "

The lawsuit names eight makers and sellers of fish oil, shark oil, fish liver

oil and shark liver oil supplements that have PCB contamination above the

so-called " safe harbor " limits set for human PCB consumption under California's

Proposition 65. That law requires consumers to be warned about such exposures.

Proposition 65, passed as a ballot initiative by a 2:1 margin in 1986, has a

consistent history of forcing consumer products to eliminate toxic chemical

ingredients or reduce them below published " safe harbor " limits.

" While looking at the industrial fishing operations of controversial Omega

Protein, we found that the industry seems very aware that fish oil supplements

can be high in PCBs, " said Manthey, one of the plaintiffs. " That's why

many of them say their supplements have been 'treated' to remove or reduce

PCBs, " he said. " But since they don't say how much PCB contamination is still

left, even consumers who choose 'treated' supplements can't know what PCB levels

they're swallowing along with their daily omega-3. "

" The industry knows very well about the PCB problem in fish oils and widely

markets its supplements as already treated for PCB contamination, " said Benson

Chiles, also a plaintiff in the case. They have no excuse for what we've been

finding. "

The third plaintiff is the Mateel Justice Foundation, a successful enforcer of

Prop. 65 in numerous contexts. Today's suit was filed in San Francisco Superior

Court, according to lead attorney Verick. More information is available

at www.fishoilsafety.com.

The initial defendants named, in alphabetical order, are: CVS Pharmacy, Inc.;

General Nutrition Corp. (GNC); Now Health Group, Inc.; Omega Protein, Inc.;

Pharmavite LLC (Nature Made brand); Rite Aid Corp.; Solgar, Inc.; and TwinLab

Corp.

Plaintiffs are conducting more tests and expect to add other companies to the

legal action, if and when test results of their fish oil products show levels of

PCB contamination that should have been warned about under California law. " We

will keep testing more fish oil products, so consumers can make the best

possible choices, " said Roe.

Highly persistent man-made chemicals once widely used in the electricity

industry, PCBs were banned for " open " uses that might expose people to them as

long ago as 1973, and Congress banned their manufacture for all uses in 1979.

The Great Lakes and the Hudson River are still massively contaminated with PCBs

after decades of cleanup work; 14,000 people in Japan were poisoned by chickens

fed with PCB-contaminated rice bran oil; and numerous studies have shown the

toxic effects of PCBs on babies' development, reproductive interference, and

cancer causation.

PCBs were officially listed as known carcinogens and known reproductive toxins

in California two decades ago, making them subject to the state's warning

requirement. The brand name products and test results that prompted the lawsuit

will be added to the Press Room

<http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6491/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?cont\

ent_item_KEY=2187> on FishOilSafety.com

<http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6491/p/salsa/web/common/public/index.sjs> .

These will include two charts, indicating both total daily exposure to PCBs and

" toxicity-weighted " exposure.