New York Attorney General Slams Supplements at Major Retailers

On February 2, the New York State Attorney General accused GNC, Target, Walgreens, and Walmart of selling a number of store brand dietary supplements that were fraudulent and in many cases contained ingredients not listed on the labels.

He demanded that the retailers remove the products from their shelves in the state of New York. The New York Times and many other major news outlets ran prominently placed stories about the action.

The cease-and-desist orders to stop selling the products are based on DNA barcoding testing conducted. Overall, the test results claimed to find that just 21 percent of the store brand herbal supplements verified DNA from the plants listed on the products’ labels – with 79 percent claimed to come up empty for DNA related to the labeled content or verifying contamination with other plant material.

The seven herbs tested were tablets claiming to contain extracts of: Gingko biloba, St. John’s wort, ginseng, garlic, echinacea, valerian and saw palmetto.

Here at Nelson Healing Center, we only carry professional, researched vitamin and herbal products. These supplements have been lab tested and standardized and are of the highest quality on the market. There is a reason for price differences in GNC, Target, Walgreens, and Walmart’s vitamins and herbals. They are not standardized and here is the proof. People waste millions of dollars on inferior products, thinking they are saving money while trying to doing their body some good. Large pharmaceutical companies who make these inferior quality products capitalize on this, knowing people don’t really know what they are buying. This is why it is essential to consult with Natural Health Practitioners who specialize in treating disease with vitamin and herbal products.