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Twinlab
Vitamins: Deceit in a Bottle
editorial
by Jeff Nelson
President VegSource Interactive, Inc.
August 10, 2001
 Although
our B-12 levels have always been normal (we've used soy- and ricemilks
fortified with B-12 and other vitamins), in recent years our family
began taking occasional B-12 supplements just for good measure.
The brand we purchased was Twinlab, a sub-lingual B-12 supplement
sold at a local vegetarian store and touting that they contain only
cobalamin (pure B-12) and "natural cherry flavor." This
is the sum total of the ingredients list.
Although I was told by the store where we bought them that these
were vegan, we recently heard that Twinlab uses gelatin in their
B-12 tablets, and Twinlab confirmed it today that their B-12 contains
animal products.
Obviously, we are no longer going to use Twinlab B-12 or ANY Twinlab
products, and we urge all vegetarians to boycott this misleading
company.
Vegetarians and vegans live by looking at labels, and when you
have a company like Twinlab which is lying on their labels (and
leaving out ingredients IS lying in my opinion), you know they can't
be trusted.
People who are taking Twinlab B-12 are taking it for their health.
If Twinlab disclosed the ingredients of their vitamins on their
labels, many people would NOT take them, would NOT buy them -- out of
the very same concern for their health.
Twinlab deserves to be punished by a class action suit for their
lack of full disclosure.
Anyone who believes they have been deceived by Twinlab, we have
set up a special discussion board for people to talk, and perhaps
we can generate momentum to put this company -- which may be breaking
labeling laws -- out of business.
A company whose vitamin B-12 products *can* be trusted is Solaray,
which vegan expert Joanne Stepaniak recommends.
You can write to Twinlab at Product@twinlab.com
and let them know how you feel.
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UPDATE!
One of
our guests has researched the issue and found that the FDA
requires that vitamin makers list ingredients, specifically
using "gelatin" as an example!
From
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/qa-sup8.html --
Q. "Must
all ingredients be declared on the label of a dietary supplement?
A. "Yes,
ingredients not listed on the "Supplement Facts" panel must
be listed in the "other ingredient" statement beneath the
panel. The types of ingredients listed there could include
the source of dietary ingredients, if not identified in the
"Supplement Facts" panel (e.g., rose hips as the source of
vitamin C), other food ingredients (e.g., water and sugar),
and technical additives or processing aids (e.g., gelatin,
starch, colors, stabilizers, preservatives, and flavors).
For more details, see: http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/fr97923a.html."
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Looks like it's time to bring a class action suit against Twinlab
for violating this FDA rule and duping many vegans and vegetarians
into eating cows' hooves.
8/15/01 -- Friend and owner of Vegan.com Erik Marcus suggested
writing a letter to FDA complaining of Twinlab's actions. Read
that letter Erik and we sent. (requires
free
Acrobat reader)
Boycott
Twinlabs Discussion Board
Please indicate if you wish to join in a class action suit
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