Off The Grid: Ginko, Fish Oil, and Garlic. OH MY!!

We can't trust big pharma.So what made you think we could trust the dietary supplement industry?I mean, c'mon, they were the same people that gave us Fen-Phen.But wait Mitch, wait just a second...their products are sold at such reputable national retailers as Wal-Mart!Well I've got news for y’all: the Walton family may not be the only shady dealer when it comes to the consumption of alternative medicine.Health freaks...grandma, grandpa...over protective mothers...I hope you're all sitting down and taking notes.Target, Walgreens and GNC may all be in on this bait and switch.

An investigation was led by the New York State attorney general's office into store-brand supplements.And all of the four retailers mentioned above received cease-and-desist letters.The investigation found a number of the dietary supplements containing hardly any of the herbs displayed on the packaging label.But they DID include potential allergens NOT displayed on the packaging label.Wait...what?!?! Yeahhhhhhh...mustard, wheat or radish replacements have all been found capped inside those little “vitamins” you've been popping.

The New York Times reported on the cease-and-desist letters by just directly quoting them.So we will too. “Contamination, substitution and falsely labeling herbal products constitute deceptive business practices and, more importantly, present considerable health risks for consumers.”DUH!

Wal-Mart was the worst offender with six of its supplements tested containing no pure form of the ingredient advertised.Target was the least misleading having only one of the six tested resulting in a non-pure form. THANK GOD!I really didn't want a reason to hate Target.But show of hands...who wants to know how the dietary supplement industry gets away with this?Supplements are NOT considered food OR drugs so they have longgggg been loosely regulated.Federal guidelines require companies to ensure that their products are safe and accurately labeled, BUT the FDA has little power to enforce that rule.And if I haven't convinced you yet that these “drugs are bad, mmmkkk,” then consider this: in the past five years, tainted supplements have been associated with kidney failure, hepatitis and other problems.

In response to the findings, Walgreens publicly stated it will remove the offending products nationwide.Wal-Mart and GNC said they will respond “appropriately” to the findings. While Target was a bad-ass and didn't even respond.The strong, silent type.Target, you probably get all the chicks.

But in all seriousness, whatever happened to a little good ol' fashioned transparency.Is that REALLY too much to ask?

Mitch Allen - OTG Staff

Oh yeah!, and If you want to catch yourself up on what big pharma has been doing, check out this recent Off the Grid episode...