Group states Herbalife items must much lead

Group states Herbalife items must much lead

Tue, May 20 2008

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Six nutritional supplements offered by Herbalife Ltd contain harmful levels of lead if drawn in the suggested dosages, based on information published on Monday on an internet site associated with a lengthy-time critic from the firm.

Herbalife disputed the claim, saying the weight-loss and dietary items met regulating needs in most of their marketplaces.

"The Food and drug administration has not established an over-all limit on lead in meals, but we're certainly within their recommended recommendations," Herbalife spokesperson George Fischer stated inside a telephone interview, mentioning towards the U.S. Fda, which sets nutritional recommendations.

The Fraud Discovery Institute published instructions on its Site on Monday credited to Christopher Grell, a lawyer in Concord, California, who is an expert in defective products cases.

The letter stated suggested daily doses of six Herbalife items contained amounts of lead which are harmful and more than what California law enables under its Safe Consuming and Toxic Atmosphere Act. It advised the state to order Herbalife to put "obvious and reasonable alerts" on individuals items.

Craig Minkow, founding father of the institute, has $50,000 committed to Herbalife "put" options, betting the company's shares will fall.

Minkow, a North Park pastor who served a lot more than seven years in jail for stock fraud, now activly works to uncover fraud with the institute. He's past demeaning Los Angeles-based Herbalife.

Minkow stated inside a telephone interview that his wager the company's shares will fall was just meant to finance his analysis.

California law requires companies to warn customers if their items contain chemicals recognized to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.

The six items pointed out within the letter would be the ShapeWorks Protein Drink Mix, Healthy Meal Dietary Shake Mix, Tang Kuei Plus herbal pills, Thermojetics Nature's Raw Guarana instant tea mix, ShapeWorks Cell Activator and Multivitamin Complex.

The organization states items are offered in 65 nations with a network well over 1.8 million marketers.

Herbalife shares closed lower 4.2 percent at $40.17 on Monday around the New York Stock Market.

Grell stated within an interview Monday that each pills might not exceed California's .5 microgram limit on lead in nutritional supplements, but he stated the daily suggested dosage would lead to lead exposure big enough to warrant an alert label.

A document purported to become an invoice from Analytical Labs in Anaheim Corporation, located in Brea, California, for $5,820 for testing the six items was published on Fraud Discovery's Site. Analytical Labs didn't answer calls as well as an e-mail to go over any tests.

Minkow formerly uncovered a discrepancy within the biography of Gregory Probert, who had been then Herbalife's leader and chief operating officer, that brought to Probert's resignation in April.

Probert had stated he'd gained an Master of business administration degree at California State College. The organization stated he'd been enrolled in the college throughout the 1980's but never acquired a diploma.

Herbalife's market price, after Monday's stock decline, was $2.61 billion. It had sales of $2.15 billion in 2007.

Recently, Herbalife stated that The country had released a reminder cautioning on the intake of Herbalife items because of suspicious cases of liver damage. Herbalife stated it had been in discussions using the ministry.

"In excess of 28 years, hundreds of an incredible number of Herbalife customers worldwide happen to be securely using Herbalife items by having an very low incidence of significant adverse event reviews stating liver function irregularities," the organization stated at that time.