SECAUCUS, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Almost two months after a lawsuit was filed against Omega-3 fish oil manufacturers for failing to warn about toxic contaminant levels of PCBs found in their products, companies are still not making an effort to reveal this critical safety information to consumers. While some fish oil makers, most notably Nordic Naturals, have agreed that “consumers should have access to accurate information about environmental contaminants,” much of the industry continues to maintain that their products are safe, yet refuse to release results to consumers of their products.

To put pressure on the companies, the plaintiffs of the lawsuit and FishOilSafety founders Benson Chiles and Chris Manthey will be hosting a booth at the industry annual trade show, SupplySide East, with one simple question: “If your products are as safe and clean as you maintain, why not simply let people know and decide for themselves?”

According to Mr. Manthey, “Just like the tobacco industry did for decades, we’re hearing that the industry is planning a slick PR campaign instead of coming clean and addressing the problem. They’re endangering consumers and, ironically, their own $1 billion business.”

“This information is absolutely critical when pregnant women are being told to take Omega-3s, and yet we know that PCBs and dioxins are especially hazardous to developing fetuses,” Chiles explains. “From either a moral or a legal liability perspective, I don’t know anyone who would want to be responsible for endangering children’s health.”

Meanwhile, consumers are confused as to whether or not they should continue taking the products. “I was two months pregnant when I learned about concerns of PCBs in fish oil supplements,” says Kristie Porcaro, a mother of two who previously had open heart surgery. “Even though I knew fish oil was good for my heart, I made the decision to stop taking it. Without knowing for certain what was in my supplements, I didn’t want to put my baby at risk.”

Manthey added, “Many consumers need to take fish oil supplements for medical reasons, but they should be able avoid those with the most contamination without worry. Our tests show some are 70x more contaminated than others. We need the companies with the least level of contaminants to let their customers know they can still be trusted.”

Interested media that want to speak with the attorneys in the lawsuit, the plaintiffs, or any of the consumers that are concerned should contact Patricia Charles at patricia@kelleycampaigns.com or (301) 887-1060 ext. 111.

For more information about the lawsuit, which products are doing their best in transparency and PCB levels, and to find out how to join the national consumer effort via petition, consumers can visit www.fishoilsafety.com.

Secaucus, NJ, Apr. 28— Promoters of a trade show for the nutritional supplements industry in Secaucus, N.J., ejected one of their own paying exhibitors on Tuesday for raising questions about the levels of toxic PCBs found in popular fish oil pills that are marketed to consumers, including pregnant women and children. Police were also summoned around 1:30 p.m. after a man who identified himself as a conference exhibitor doing business with Now Foods, used obscene gestures and threatened physical violence against FishOilSafety.com co-founder Chris Manthey.

Now Foods was among the defendants, who also include CVS Pharmacy, Inc.; General Nutrition Corp. (GNC); Now Health Group, Inc.; Omega Protein, Inc.; Pharmavite LLC (Nature Made brand); Rite Aid Corp.; Solgar, Inc.; and TwinLab Corp, in a lawsuit filed last month against eight fish oil supplement makers and retailers for failing to warn consumers about the PCB contamination.

Jenny Bolton, president and CEO of Virgo Publishing, which organized the SupplySide East trade show at the Meadowlands Exposition Center, called security and ordered Manthey and his fellow exhibitors Benson Chiles and Allison Lenthall off the property, along with their trade show booth for FishOilSafety.com, which had been on display for less than an hour. She then issued a press release calling the display “inappropriate” and that they acted to “ensure the integrity” of the trade show. Earlier, Virgo Publishing Vice President of Health and Nutrition Peggy Jackson confronted Shane Starling, an editor for NutraIngredients-USA who had interviewed Manthey, claiming that Starling ought to be protecting the industry.

“It’s remarkable that the supplement industry, whose trade group bills itself as ‘The Council for Responsible Nutrition,’ abandons responsibility when it conflicts with protecting short-term profit interest,” commented FishOilSaftety.com co-founder Benson Chiles. “We were there to educate industry leaders about the risks associated with certain toxic fish oil supplements. What’s ‘inappropriate’ about that?”

In March 2010 FishOilSafety.com hosted a similar exhibition booth at the World Aquaculture Society conference in San Diego. “We had a great experience in San Diego,” said Chiles. “Responsible industry participants are appreciative of our efforts.”

The group was banned from the rest of the three-day conference even though they had spent over $4,000 to rent a space for the booth, which described how a testing laboratory found that some brands of fish oil supplements contain 70 times higher levels of toxic PCBs than others.

“Some fish oil makers, most notably Nordic Naturals, have agreed that consumers should have access to accurate information about environmental contaminants,” said Manthey. “But much of the industry continues to maintain that their products are safe, while refusing to release results to consumers of tests of their products.” He said consumers who need to take fish oil supplements for medical reasons ought to be given the information so they can avoid the most contaminated ones.

Interested media can speak with the attorneys in the lawsuit, the plaintiffs, and concerned consumers by contacting Patricia Charles at patricia@kelleycampaigns.com or (301) 887-1060 ext. 111.

We went there to suggest that industry retailers ask the suppliers lined up in the other booths exactly what levels of PCBs and other chemicals are in their new cure-all Omega-3 fish oil supplements.

Our tests have found that some fish oil pills have 70 times more PCBs in them than others, which might be good to know, particularly since they’re hawking them to pregnant women and children in bottles with labels like the one I picked up at Costco on my way to the show–”L’il Critters Omega-3 Gummy Fish–Kids Love ‘em, Parents Trust Them.”

I’m not sure why parents trust this supplement-cum-candy so much, because neither that bottle nor any other I’ve found will tell you what the PCB levels are–despite decades of scientific literature documenting high levels of industrial contaminants in fish and in the blood of people and cultures who eat a lot of fish. Sure, many companies now treat their fish oil to remove some of the PCBs, but because the FDA has set no limit for these contaminants in supplements, there’s almost no way for the consumer tell the difference between the cleaner product and the one that has 70 times more PCBs in it.

For some reason the supplement industry thinks there should be no additional regulation of their industry — in March they cowed Senator McCain into withdrawing support for his own legislation that would have done that. They also think that they shouldn’t even have to warn people when their product contains chemicals that could hurt your health — this in a product that’s supposed to improve it. There is one warning that the executive director of the industry trade group has been willing to provide — a warning that “companies not named in the lawsuit should not consider it an opportunity to publicize results of testing on their own supplements.” It looks like they’re hanging onto “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” even if the military abandons it.

Instead, like the Vatican, they’re claiming that they’re the victim — a victim of media attacks and in this instance a California law that doesn’t set any limits on the levels of contaminants they can expose people to, but only requires warnings to consumers when the amounts are too high. (It’s a law much like the Federal False Claims Act, signed by Lincoln in the Civil War to stem fraud by military contractors, which enlists whistleblowers to help the government catch violators.) The irony to all this is that regulation would actually help the industry, giving consumers the confidence that the products they buy are safe; but the industry is apparently so enamored of anti-regulation rhetoric that they’re willing to simultaneously endanger their customers and their long-term profitability. Thus ideology does make idiots of us all.

I’m surprised at another thing–why industries still think it’s a good idea to follow the tobacco industry’s playbook, which ultimately failed disastrously. Maybe there was a time not so long ago when you could hide your own scientists’ studies, roll out a slick PR campaign, and control the politicians and regulators with the knowledge that your opponents couldn’t afford to go toe-to-toe with you.

That approach, if it ever worked, is long gone, along with record stores, newspaper classifieds (and a lot of the newspapers themselves), and many other such pre-Internet approaches. With the gatekeepers laid off, costs greatly reduced, and information dispersal at light speed, we’re now starting to find out what industries like the nutritional supplement business used to be able to pay to keep secret. Watch this space.

The author is a plaintiff in a lawsuit under California’s Proposition 65 against two fish oil supplement retailers–CVS Pharmacy Inc. and Rite Aid Corp.–and six manufacturers–General Nutrition Corp. (GNC); NOW Health Group Inc.; Omega Protein Inc.; Pharmavite LLC (Nature Made brand); Solgar Inc.; and Twinlab Corp.

Despite knowing about the potential threats for years, the FDA has allowed supplement makers to provide misleading labels for consumers and doctors, who often recommend fish oil supplements.  For example, PCBs and dioxin are especially hazardous to pregnant women.  Cost effective, safer fish oil supplements are already available on the market, and there’s no reason labels should not provide accurate and meaningful information to people who do not want to ingest contamination.

Consumers have the right to know what is really in fish oil!