Re: [新聞] 賀寶芙產品含鉛過量 衛署徹查
Herbalife Tangles with Prop 65, Testing Company
05/20/2008
SAN DIEGO-The Fraud Discovery Institute (FDI), a financial fraud watchdog
group, released an alert May 19 on dangerously high levels of lead allegedly
found in six common Herbalife (NYSE: HLF) products. FDI's investigation
included product analysis by an FDA-registered lab and a review of medical
literature, Herbalife's product literature and various peer reviewed medical
journal articles of Herbalife products and possible hepatoxicity.
Christopher Grell, co-founder of the Dietary Supplement Safety Committee and
lawyer specializing in dietary supplement litigation, conducted the
literature reviews.
According to Grell, the six Herbalife products tested-ShapeWorks Protein
Drink Mix, Healthy Meal Nutritional Shake Mix, Tang Kuei Plus herbal tablets,
Thermojetics Nature's Raw Guarana instant tea mix, ShapeWorks Cell Activator
and Multivitamin Complex-contained levels of lead that are both dangerous and
that are in excess of what the law allows under California's Safe Drinking
and Toxic Environment Act of 1994 (Prop. 65).
FDI argued: "The Proposition was intended by its authors to protect
California citizens and the State's drinking water sources from chemicals
known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm, and to
inform citizens about exposures to such chemicals."
Prop. 65 sets the maximum daily exposure at .5 mcg/d for chemicals that are
known to cause developmental problems, and 15 mcg per day for chemicals that
are known to cause cancer and/or birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Lead is listed in both categories in California.
FDI reported the following levels: Herbalife's Thermogetics, 0.663 mcg of
lead per tablet, a total of 5.967 mcg/d if taken as recommended; and
Herbalife's Shape Works Cell Activator, 0.294 mcg of lead per capsule, a
total of 2.637 mcg/d when taken as recommended.
In expressing confidence in the safety of its products, Herbalife responded,
"It is irresponsible to equate Prop 65, which concerns disclosure, with the
safety of our products." The company explained Prop 65 is a consumer
disclosure and labeling statute requirement, which mandates disclosure of the
presence of any of approximately 800 specified chemicals (including lead)
under certain circumstances.
"Our products fall within FDA-suggested guidelines for the amount of lead
that consumers can safely ingest through their diet and the FDA sets specific
limits on lead content in certain foods," the company countered. "Our
products include natural ingredients, and trace levels of naturally occurring
lead is present in virtually all natural ingredients." Herbalife added this
is not a question of contamination resulting from the manufacturing process
or unsafe handling, noting several common foods, such as chocolate, have come
under question of Prop 65 in the past. The company further stated: "We follow
established written quality assurance and quality control procedures. We
stand behind the safety of our ingredients and products."
Following FDI's release of the Herbalife test results, as well as numerous
other releases attacking Herbalife, Reuters News published details about
FDI's founder Barry Minkow's stock market bet that Herbalife would fail.
Called a "put", the investment by Minkow totaled about $50,000 and stands to
earn returns if Herbalife stock falls-HLF shares were down over 4 percent to
$40.17 by the end of May 19, the date of FDI's press release.
Minkow, a pastor who served seven years in jail for fraud, now leads FDI,
which devotes much of its Web site homepage to going after Herbalife. A
document posted on FDI's site shows the cost of lab services relative to the
Herbalife lead investigation at around $5,820, far less than the $50,000
investment in HLF failure
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