Thank you for your inquiry. We follow strict guidelines for heavy metal testing, including California's Proposition 65. This legislation was created to ensure that any product sold within the state would not contain hazardous materials at harmful concentrations. It is the most restrictive law in the country. Any lot failing to pass any of the established acceptable test values will be rejected. Our Quality Assurance Department uses the inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) to screen raw material for unwanted compounds. This device can detect presence of elements down to parts per million.



It probably isn’t possible to have 100% mercury free products, although some products may have undetectable levels of mercury depending on the sensitivity of the detection equipment. One good thing about the Super Omega-3 EPA and DHA is that the fish oils in Nature's Sunshine Products are highly purified using molecular distillation. This is the only process that can remove contaminants that could be present in the oils. Molecular distillation involves distillation in high vacuum. It uses low temperature to minimize damage to heat sensitive molecules that would be damaged by using purification methods that use higher temperatures. This method considerably lowers the amounts of heavy metals and other contaminants like PCBs.


Sincerely,
Gina Benson
NSP Scientist
Health Sciences Department