Health Supplements Biggest Problem – Undeclared Substances!

One of the biggest issues facing the health supplement industry is the frequency in which undeclared substances find there way into the products.

One commissioned study conducted by Informed-Choice indicates that approximately 25% of supplements in the market could be contaminated.

Some of the undeclared substances in supplements found could be deadly.  One example of this is when the undeclared drug, Sildenafil, an active drug ingredient for erectile dysfunction, was found in the product STEAM, made by Nutracoastal Trading, LLC.  When Sildenafil interacts with Nitrates, the result could be a lowering of blood pressure.  People with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or heart to disease often take nitrates and if combined with STEAM, could have faced life threatening consequences. 

In other cases, there could be financial impact to those that take supplements that have undeclared substances. It seems that almost every week there are athletes in the news claiming that the supplements they were taking had undeclared substances that caused them to fail a drug test. Sometimes the athletes are right. A good example is in 2004 Triathlete, Rebeka Keat, tested positive for norandrostendione and was suspended for two years for failing the drug test.  With the help and support from her sister, her name was finally cleared when the WADA laboratory  tested the supplements  she was taking and found that they were contaminated with norandrostenedione.

Since my job is product liability insurance, what I find most interesting is the question of whether or not product liability insurance would cover both of the supplement manufacturers/distributors in the above mentioned cases.

In my opinion, the first case Nutracoastal Trading, LLC is a slam dunk and should be covered by product liability insurance; however, the second case, involving Rebeka Keat, is not so clear and the manufacture/distributor may not be fully covered by their product liability policy.

In the first case, since the trigger for product liability coverage is bodily injury or property damage, the manufacture/distributor of STEAM should be covered by their product liability insurance policy, since the lawsuit would likely be a result of an interaction of Sildenfil with Nitrates and likely lead to bodily injury or death.

In the second case, it is not as clear whether or not there was any bodily injury.  The attorney for Rebeka Keat could claim emotional distress and trigger the bodily injury coverage of the product liability policy and possibly receive judgment or settlement compensation. However, much of the damage to Rebeka could have been more economic in nature such as the loss of current and future sponsors.   While the product liability insurance carrier may have a duty to defend the manufacture/distributor of the supplement that caused Rebeka to get banned from competition, any attempt to recover economic losses would likely not be covered by the product liability insurance policy, since there was no bodily injury or property damage to trigger coverage.