The New York state Attorney General sent cease-and-desist letters to GNC, Target, Walmart, and Walgreens after testing popular supplements including echinacea and St. John’s wort.
AP / Elaine Thompson
The state attorney general's office called for Walmart, Walgreens, GNC, and Target to immediately stop selling a number of generic supplements, a move that followed DNA testing of a number of popular herbal remedies.
Overall, just 21% of the tested store-brand herbal supplements actually contained the plant material they advertised, the attorney general's office said. The remaining 79% either didn't contain the herb or included other materials that weren't on the ingredients list.
"Mislabeling, contamination, and false advertising are illegal," New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman said in a statement. "They also pose unacceptable risks to New York families — especially those with allergies to hidden ingredients."
*Authorities tested gingko biloba, St. John's wort, ginseng, garlic, echinacea, and saw palmetto from the store's Herbal Plus brand.
*Only garlic showed up consistently in the DNA test. Saw palmetto showed up in one of four bottles. The other supplements could not be found.
*In 22% of the tests, DNA matched ingredients listed on the label. In the rest, contaminants included asparagus, rice, primrose, alfalfa, spruce, ranuncula, allium, legume, saw palmetto, and echinacea.
*Authorities tested gingko biloba, St. John's wort, ginseng, garlic, echinacea, and saw palmetto from the Spring Valley brand.
*None of the supplements consistently showed the DNA of the ingredient they were supposed to contain.
*DNA tests matched the ingredient label only 4% of the time. Contaminants included allium, pine, wheat/grass, rice mustard, citrus and cassava.
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