Hi Karen,
I've emailed NSP before about mercury levels in products like
Algin and the
Super Omega-3 fish oils, especially since I've been taking Algin for years. Below are the answers they emailed to me:
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.
They also assured me that:
"We [Nature's Sunshine Products] 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."
I've never asked them for lab reports, but if you'd like to, you can contact them by visiting
NSP Contact Us In my opinion, even if there are trace amounts of mercury in Algin, the amount of mercury it's absorbing and the health benefits I'm receiving from taking it outweigh the small exposure I might be getting. I know that Algin has helped both Russ and I tremendously, and from the feedback we've received from others, Algin has helped a lot of others as well.
I wonder if there's actually
more mercury in the air we breathe or the foods we eat than in NSP's Algin. In fact, NSP's Health Sciences department actually told me that:
Prop 65 standards are so stringent as to actually declare yams, turnips, artichokes, apples, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers and many more fruits and vegetables to be in violation. Even California’s culinary water supply violates Prop 65. Because Prop 65 standards aren’t met in nature, the drinking water, fruits and vegetables grown in California were exempted. The requirements for herbal products, however, remained unchanged.
So, I guess we really have more to be concerned about by eating produce grown in California than by taking products manufactured by Nature's Sunshine. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />
And regarding Demi's comments about vegetarian capsules...
Actually, Nature's Sunshine does have several vegetarian products in either liquid or tablet form. In fact, NSP has been extremely interested in vegetarian products and used to offer a greater number of them. However, consumer interest in these products was so low that NSP was forced to discontinue most of them. The additional costs to purchase and maintain the equipment needed to produce vegetarian capsules would require price increases on their 400+ encapsulated products. As you know, most consumers are very concerned about prices and simply aren't willing to pay more to have vegetarian capsules. Consumers ARE interested in getting products that don't contain heavy metals or other contaminants, so that's where NSP has placed their focus.
Hope this helps! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
