GNC Tanks After Allegedly Selling Drug Laced Products

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has filed a lawsuit against General Nutrition Corporation, better known as GNC, for allegedly selling supplements that contain illegal ingredients.

Federal and state officials have been cracking down on supplements that call themselves all-natural, but contain hidden drug ingredients.

As per the claim of the attorney general, the company has sold more than 3,000 products with picamilon in Oregon between January 2013 and June 2015.

“The claims made by the Oregon Attorney General are without merit and GNC intends to vigorously defend against these allegations”, GNC told USA Today. These ingredients are not approved in the U.S. for human use, nor are they considered natural, so they shouldn’t be hiding in botanical supplements at GNC stores.

Picamilon, while not approved in the United States, is used as a prescription drug in a few countries to treat neurological conditions. In April, the FDA sent letters to five USA companies instructing them to immediately cease the manufacture and sale of their products that tested positive for BMPEA. BMPEA is a powerful synthetic stimulant similar to amphetamine which is banned in sports by the World Anti-Doping Agency, the complaint said. “If the FDA is unable to take action, and the health and safety of Oregonians are threatened, Oregon can move in quickly to fill the regulatory void”, Hart said in a statement.

In fact, insists Oregon assistant attorney general David Hart, any state has the power to work in consumers’ interest.

GNC stopped selling products with BMPEA and picamilon, immediately upon learning indirectly, rather than from notice directed at GNC, that FDA did not view BMPEA and picamilon as legal dietary ingredients.

GNC got served a lawsuit on Thursday.