Business as usual for retailers despite fish oil lawsuit

For Carole Childers of All Ways Healthy natural food store in Lake Zurich, Ill., it's "buisness as usual" despite growing concerns among supplements manufacturers named in a recent lawsuit claiming their fish oil products exceed tolerable polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) contamination levels.

The suit, filed by environmental group, fishoilsafety.com, says eight manufacturers are providing fish oil supplements with unsafe levels of PCB intake for humans, as determined by California Proposition 65. CVS Pharmacy, General Nutrition Corp, Now Health, Omega Protein, Pharmavite LLC, Rite Aid Corp, Solgar and TwinLab Corp as well as 10 other brands will defend the suit as representatives from other industry companies rally behind them.

"I think as a whole we go in cycles. Right now, we're coming up with this whole problem with supplements and government regulation. I think this is part of it," Childers says. "This is a crazy lawsuit. In my store I'm a nutritionist and I recommend fish oil all the time. I use three brands that I trust and I know are checked diligently. We have to do a little bit of the work ourselves. If you're going to Wal-Mart and buying cheap brands, well, you get what you pay for. The government shouldn't be regulating supplements; they're not drugs. Next, they'll be passing laws on vitamin C. I'll continue my business as usual," she said.

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