Products Containing DMAA are Still Available

General Nutrition Centers (GNC) is still selling dietary supplement products containing dimethylamylamine (DMAA), a full month after the FDA issued a health warning about the drug. DMAA is an amphetamine-like stimulant found in the workout-boosting product Jack3d.

The FDA says there have been over 80 reports of adverse health effects associated with DMAA, and urges consumers to stop using it. In addition, the FDA argues that DMAA does not qualify as a dietary supplement according to the accepted definition of a dietary supplement. The FDA has already convinced the product’s manufacturers to stop making these products. But the retailer GNC says it does not believe that DMAA is unsafe, and so it continues to sell its stock of workout products containing DMAA.

Whether DMAA qualifies as a dietary supplement may have to be decided in court, if GNC continues to push the issue. Even so, it’s unusual for a company to refuse to take a product off its shelves when it’s labeled unsafe by the FDA. Most companies would err on the side of caution by removing of the product from store shelves immediately. A company that continues to sell a product considered dangerous by the FDA would be risking future lawsuits. Indeed, there’s already one lawsuit against GNC for a death allegedly related to Jack3D.

What is GMC’s logic in continuing to sell Jack3d?!