Suit calls on 74 vitamin manufacturers to warn about lead

SANTA CRUZ — 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
Douglas Laboratories
Dynamic Health Laboratories
Enzymatic Therapy
Esteem Products
Fairhaven Health
Foodscience Corporation
Foodscience of Vermont
Futurebiotics
Genspec Labs
Health Authority Dba Doctor’s Trust Vitamins
Hxn Corporation Dba Health Xpress
Integrative Therapeutics
Irwin Naturals
J.R. Carlson Laboratories
Kirkman
Kordial Nutrients
Maximum International
Metabolic Maintenance Products
Metagenics
Mountain Naturals of Vermont
Natural Organics
Nature’s Secret
Nature’s Way Products
Nbty
New Chapter
Nexgen Pharma
Nf Formulas
Now Foods
Nutribiotic
Nutritional Specialties
Nutri-west; Olympian Labs
Only Natural
Optimal Nutrients, USA, a division of Pegasus Plus
Pioneer Nutritional Formulas
Pure Essence Laboratories
Rainbow Light Nutritional Systems
Solgar; Spring Valley Herbs & Natural Foods
Supernutrition Life-extension Research
The Daily Wellness Company
The Vitamin Shoppe Industries
Threshold Enterprises, the Parent Company Of Source Naturals
True Fit Vitamins
Universal Nutrition
Wyeth Laboratories

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