Fish oil PCB levels subject of lawsuit

SAN FRANCISCO, March 2 (UPI) -- Makers and sellers of fish oil supplements were sued in California for not including labeling about PCB contamination, a plaintiff's attorney said Tuesday.

"Consumers who want the health benefits of fish oil shouldn't also have to take the health risks of an extremely toxic man-made chemical," attorney David Roe said in a release. "And they don't have to, since preliminary test results show that some fish oil brands have only 1/70th as much PCB contamination in them as others."

The lawsuit contends the eight makers and sellers of fish oil, shark oil, fish liver oil and shark liver oil peddled as supplements have polychlorinated biphenyl contamination above the "safe-harbor" limits set for human PCB consumption under California's Proposition 65, which requires a warning label for consumers.

"The industry knows very well about the PCB problem in fish oils and widely markets its supplements as already treated for PCB contamination," said Benson Chiles, a plaintiff in the case. "They have no excuse for what we've been finding."

The defendants are CVS Pharmacy Inc., General Nutrition Corp., Now Health Group Inc., Omega Protein Inc.. Pharmavite LLC, Rite Aid Corp., Solgar Inc. and TwinLab Corp.