Recently in California it was discovered that many common brands of fish oil contain up to 70 times the permissible "safe" levels of lead and PCBs. There were 74 manufacturers that were named in a suit on behalf of proposition 65 in California that requires companies to disclose that their product had been tested to have unsafe levels of lead. Proposition 65 is the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 requiring manufacturers to notify potential consumers of possible lead exposure.
Funny thing about this is that lead was high in these fish oils. Lead is not normally a concern in fish oil manufacturing but mercury is because of the fish source. Since lead is the object of prop 65 and mercury is not, I think it is still reasonable to be concerned about accumulating mercury levels from these fish oils. One patient I treated for very high levels of lead and mercury in the blood (recent exposure) could only isolate his lead and mercury exposure to a fish oil purchased at a common Warehouse coop and one dinner with swordfish in the past 2 months. After stopping the fish oil, and starting a clean one I recommended, his blood lead and mercury levels went back to normal after a few months. PCBs are also a huge concern in fish oils and farmed salmon.
There was also one reported incident of Selenium toxicity in a patient taking a multiple vitamin/mineral supplement that contained 200 TIMES the stated level of Selenium on the label. This post is to warn all of you out there to be careful that your supplement products are manufacturer using GMP practices (Good Manufacturing Practices) certification. The scary thing is that a few of these companies cited in California for excessive Lead and PCBs had GMP certification. Below is the list of companies named in the suit in California.
We will soon be opening an online store so that our readers can get safe, consistent supplements with reliable testing. So many people waste their money on supplements that are either not sufficient or unregulated and in more and more cases, toxic.
DEFENDANTS NAMED IN THE LAWSUIT in California
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
From http://www.greenhealthspot.com/
We purchase ours from Costco..Kirkland brand but don't know if it's from another brand...been meaning to move over to Krill oil ... a good time to start looking but I guess there's no real guarantee that what we buy is safe unless you take it to a lab and have it tested... just seems like you can't trust anything anymore...sigh... ~nancy
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