GNC Workout Booster Brings Lawsuit

The New York Times reports, “For the last few weeks, GNC, the dietary supplements retailer, has run a special on its Web site for a workout booster called Jack3d. Pronounced Jacked, the powder contains a stimulant that marketers say increases strength, speed and endurance. Yet, last April, federal health regulators issued a warning that the stimulant – called dimethylamylamine, or DMAA – frequently raises blood pressure and heart rate, and could lead to heart attacks,” and the Defense Department removed all products containing DMAA from military base stores after the deaths of two soldiers who had used Jack3d. “Now the parents of Michael L. Sparling, one of the soldiers who died, have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against USPlabs, the developer and marketer of Jack3d, and GNC, the store where he bought it. The suit, filed on Wednesday in state court in San Diego, claims that the companies deceptively marketed Jack3d as safe and effective while not warning consumers about its potential health risks.”

From the American Association for Justice News Brief for February 14, 2013 and from the desk of John R. Badal, President of the law firm of Liever, Hyman & Potter.