74 Supplement Companies Being Sued By Santa Cruz District Attorney

Saturday, May 2, 2009

74 Supplement Companies Being Sued By Santa Cruz District Attorney

Santa Cruz County District Attorney Bob Lee has joined eight other counties in asking the court to halt the sales of vitamin supplements made or sold by 74 companies unless customers are warned that the products contain cancer-causing lead.

The complaint, initially filed by Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. in December in Alameda County Superior Court, alleges the manufacturers failed to provide the warning required by the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, also known as Proposition 65.

The complaint also seeks penalties of $2,500 a day for each violation.

State law requires businesses to provide a "clear and reasonable warning" before exposing individuals to chemicals known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive harm. Lead is highly toxic, and has been found to be capable of damaging the nervous system, particularly of children, at increasingly lower levels, according to the complaint.

Lee called the civil enforcement action unprecedented.

In Santa Cruz, Assistant District Attorney Kelly Walker is assigned to the case.

The alleged violations were discovered in July after the Food and Drug Administration released the results of tests of different multivitamin and mineral products, some of which contained excessive amounts of lead according to the FDA testing.

Supplement Companies Being Sued:

21st Century Healthcare, Inc.

Apex Fitness Group, A division of 24 Hour Fitness USA

Biosan Laboratories

Bluebonnet Nutrition Corporation

Bronson Nutritionals

Buried Treasure, a division of Life Line Food Inc.

Clinician's Choice

D&E Pharmaceuticals

Davinci Laboratories of Vermont

Delaware Natrol

Designs For Health