Lawsuit filed by Ellen Rosenblum alleges the company sold spiked dietary pills that were marketed as all natural.
BY JACOB PALMER | DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
Lawsuit filed by Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum alleges GNC sold spiked dietary supplements that were marketed as natural.
The suit also accuses the company of knowing the pills had the offending chemical, picamilon.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum also accuses the retail giant of selling other workout and weight-loss supplements that contained a synthetic amphetamine-like chemical known as BMPEA, Beta-methylphenethylamine and by several other chemical names. Among other evidence of wrongdoing, the attorney general’s office cites emails circulated two years ago among top GNC executives in the wake of a 2013 USA TODAY article about BMPEA in supplements. “The USA Today article stimulated significant concern and discussion within GNC,” the suit says, yet the company continued to sell products containing BMPEA until earlier this year.
“GNC sells products obtained from third-party vendors that GNC knows or should know contain unlawful and potentially unsafe ingredients,” the lawsuit alleges, noting that GNC reviews and pre-approves all labels, packaging and marketing materials for products sold in its store that are made by other companies.
(SOURCE: Statesman Journal)
The suit accuses the company of 4,000 violations with each carrying a maximum $25,000 penalty.
RELATED NEWS: Oracle executives can be sued, Supreme Court rules; Multi-million dollar cancer charities accused of scams; Oregon’s top-10 consumer complaints
