Products marketed as “all-natural” or “good for you,” like our daily vitamins, have been slowly revealing themselves in courtrooms as products that may need to be monitored as closely as prescription medications.
Last month, a Texas judge approved a $110 million settlement against the makers of vitamin supplement E-Ferol. The drug is thought to be the cause of death of nearly 40 infants in the mid-1980s. These drugs have clearly caused injuries to children. The company which marketed and distributed the solution claimed the supplement had the power to prevent blindness, although it had never been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration. Pulled off the market in 1984, E-Ferol caused dozens of children to suffer from liver and kidney damage after taking the drug.
Elsewhere, the maker of the Ultimate Power Meal, Gary Null, Ph.D., filed a suit against his own supplier this week after he took the drug and experienced dangerous side effects. In his lawsuit, Null alleges that the Ultimate Power Meal contains 1,000 times more vitamin D than labeled. After consuming his own product in December 2009, Null became severely ill with serious fatigue and bleeding from within his feet. Null is seeking $10 million in damages from Triarco, the manufacturer of Ultimate Power Meal, based in Wayne, N.J. Null claims that Triarco did not properly test the product before sending it out. Since the reporting of Null’s reaction, Ultimate Power Meal has been pulled off the market and subjected to a thorough recall. Health industry insiders claim that Null’s suit is strategic and may prevent class action lawsuits against his company for reactions caused by using the product.
And last year, over-the-counter drug czar Bayer Inc. was sued for claims by their Men’s One-A-Day vitamin that touted prevention from prostate cancer. The libel suit was filed in San Fransico in October.
