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Supplements

Supplement Companies: Unawareness To The Rescue

Supplement Companies: Unawareness To The Rescue

  • March 25, 2013 8:16 pm
  • 7 comments

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Author evilcyber visit my website

We have seen enough of lax dietary supplement regulation. If companies aren’t willing to behave responsibly on their own, stricter rules have to be enforced.

We Are Unaware, Unaware!

When it comes to supplements, we are living in interesting and for some people apparently rather fatal times: First we have Jack3d with potentially three deaths linked to it, then Monster Energy with possibly another five.

What would you do if you sold a product about which you hear these reports? Would you feel a moral obligation to investigate this as closely as possible? Would you do your utmost to prevent people from being harmed by something you are responsible for? I would, but then again I may not be sociopathic enough to survive in what today constitutes the healthy health business environment (excuse the pun).

Because out there, in the real world, things are a bit different. Monster Energy Corp., the company behind the popular drink of the same name, claims “unawareness of any fatality anywhere that has been caused by its drinks” and USPlabs, behind Jack3d, states being “unaware of anyone that died who has used the product in accordance with the labels’ directions for use.”

Well, if nobody ever looked  it’s easy to claim unawareness. Because under current supplement regulations they weren’t required to establish safety of their products before selling them and to my knowledge they also never did so out of their own accord. For DMAA, the potentially dangerous ingredient in Jack3d, there isn’t even a toxicological profile – how USPlabs came up with their directions is anyone’s guess.

Supplements Or Beverages?

On the other hand, how far does that unawareness really go? It is remarkable that right after the FDA stepped up their controls on energy drinks, Monster and Rockstar, another company in that market, decided that their products aren’t dietary supplements after all, but beverages.

Why then did they for ten years do their utmost to make their products appear vastly different from regular soft drinks?

According to a Rockstar representative one reason for the switch was that “consumers found food labels easier to read.” It then surely is coincidental that when their former energy supplement becomes a beverage, they aren’t required anymore to tell federal regulators about reports potentially linking their products to deaths and injuries.

If Supplements Were Cars

Maybe I’m too cynical, but to me this awfully looks like using regulatory loopholes as long as possible. Loopholes that in other areas were closed long ago. In the automobile industry, for example, it’s enough to have a possible flaw in seatbelt attachments for a company to recall 200,000 vehicles.

If the supplement industry built cars, they’d claim the customer went through the windshield because he didn’t close the seatbelt properly and they are unaware of any deaths caused by their seatbelts.

It’s time for supplement companies to either start behaving responsibly or for considerably tougher regulation.

Picture courtesy of Steven Depolo.

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Latest Comments

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7 Comments

  1. Jody - Fit at 55 says:
    March 25, 2013 at 9:09 pm

    I know!!! People have to learn to read & research on their own right now – they don’t want to but they need to!!!

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      March 26, 2013 at 7:40 pm

      Yes, unfortunately that’s how it is at the moment.

      Reply
  2. Jess says:
    March 26, 2013 at 9:55 am

    Crazy isn’t it! Amazing they get away with it!

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      March 26, 2013 at 8:18 pm

      It boggles the mind!

      Reply
  3. den says:
    March 27, 2013 at 4:21 pm

    As much as we would like to think that companies will do the right thing, much too often that is not the case. It seems that the only thing that drives most big companies to change, is if it affects their bottom line.

    And with the apathy and lack of awareness seeming to be getting worse, it is unlikely that anything will happen. Either by more of us changing our buying habits or the government tightening up regulation.

    Reply
    • evilcyber says:
      March 27, 2013 at 5:16 pm

      That is a dire, but unfortunately also realistic assessment of the situation.

      Maybe I’m naive, but what happened to business ethics?

      Reply
  4. Dr. J says:
    March 27, 2013 at 10:09 pm

    Maybe we need to borrow a “line” from Michael Pollan.

    If your grandfather didn’t use it, you shouldn’t either 🙂

    Reply

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