GNC accused of selling supplements laced with chemical ingredients

Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum had filed a lawsuit against the health supplement retailer for allegedly violating the Oregon Unlawful Trade Practices Act by mixing unapproved drugs into products declared as lawful dietary supplements.

There is no basis for the Oregon Attorney General’s assertion that GNC or any other retailer “knew or should have known” that these ingredients were not legal for use in dietary supplements.

There are 25 GNC stores in Oregon selling thousands of those products in the past several years.

GNC denied the claims and said it will “vigorously defend against these allegations”. However, analysis by the US Food and Drug Administration found that the AR plant actually does not contain BMPEA. New York’s AG went after GNC in February, demanding the company – along with Target, Walmart and Walgreens – stop selling herbal supplements that don’t contain herbs.

BMPEA is often hidden in supplements containing the botanical Acacia rigidula.

For more on this, read the article from CBS News titled: “Oregon sues GNC over ingredients in dietary supplements”. The company also says it promptly took action to remove all products containing picamilon and BMPEA from sales following FDA statements regarding such products’ regulatory status.

In particular, pills with names like “Turbo Shred” and “Meltdown Peach Mango” illegally contained the synthetic chemical picamilon and the amphetamine-like stimulant BMPEA. In April, the FDA sent letters to five US companies instructing them to immediately cease the manufacture and sale of their products that tested positive for BMPEA.

Researchers have increasingly been finding that a few common nutritional and dietary supplements contain illegal pharmaceuticals and untested chemicals.

In fact, insists Oregon assistant attorney general David Hart, any state has the power to work in consumers’ interest. Shares of Vitamin Shoppe Inc. fell 4.3% Thursday, declining less than GNC.