Consumerlabs Trashes Industry Again

Consumerlabs, the for-profit company that portrays itself as a consumer protection and advocacy group while also accepting money from the industry it claims to monitor, has once again slammed the dietary supplement industry in the media. I encourage you to read the full Reuters article in which both Dr. Tod Cooperman and Dr. William Obermeyer are quoted.

The story was released Feb 11 and picked up by Fox News, ABC News and some other outlets. Perhaps the relative lack of media pickup is a sign that the press is finally figuring out that Consumerlab has a profit motive to create fear and mistrust between consumers and their dietary supplements. The ongoing campaign by Consumerlab to scare people into buying its services is not the typical strategy employed by true consumer advocates. Neither is the Consumerlab business model of making money from both the consumers they profess to serve and the industry they profess to watch over. There are still unanswered questions about how a company that chooses (pays) to participate in the Consumerlab "Voluntary Certification Program" is treated versus a company that does not. Click here to read about this on the Consumerlab site. If a supplement company pays to participate in the "Voluntary Certification Program" and its product fails, will that information ever be released to the consumers who pay Consumerlab to be their advocate?

Consumer Reports, a non-profit consumer advocacy organization, does not accept any money from industry and is very clear about this. Click here to see the Consumer Reports policy. In my opinion, the very name "Consumerlab" implies a similar transparency and singular dedication to seeking the facts on behalf of consumers, simply by its similarity to the trusted Consumer Reports brand. All I can say is: I read Consumer Reports, I understand Consumer Reports, Consumer Reports is a resource of mine. Consumerlab, you're no Consumer Reports.

(Couldn't resist the Lloyd Bentsen / Dan Quayle / Jack Kennedy reference, if you are too young to know what that is, click here).

In the end, and I have been saying this for years now, industry can and should create its own transparent, not-for-profit, independently managed organization to test and certify products. The lack of such a program has created the vacuum that Consumerlab continues to profit within at industry's (and perhaps the consumer's) expense.