How is Omnitrition Still Able to Sell hCG Drops if They are Illegal?

Monday, May 27, 2013

Since struggling with side effects from Omnitrition's hCG diet, I've had to wonder why they FDA has not gone after them yet. They've sent letters to other companies marketing their illegal hCG drops. Omnitrition's drops are no less illegal. I think I've finally received my answer.

First off, just to clarify, yes, the Omni Drops are illegal and this blurb can be easily found on the FDA website:

www.fda.gov/forconsumers/consumerupd
ates/ucm281333.htm
"FDA advises consumers who have purchased homeopathic HCG for weight loss to stop using it, throw it out, and stop following the dieting instructions. Harmful effects should be reported online to FDA’s MedWatch program or by phone at 800-FDA-1088 (800-332-1088) and to the consumer’s health care professional."

So, how has Omnitrition slipped through the cracks?

Well, take a look at their main sales page:

https://www.omnitrition.com/

Let's notice a few things about it, shall we?

- Talk about an unprofessionally thrown together page. Notice under the buttons i.e. products you read "This is a short description." Not much time taken for this page. They didn't even clean up the front page. This site was thrown together quickly and not much thought went into it at all.

- So, you want to know about their Omni Drops, right? After all, that is what keeps them in business. Take a moment to click on 'Products'. Oh, wait, you can't read about their products unless you already have a distributor with whom you are working.

hmmmm...now that is interesting. They clearly are a business but they are being secretive about their products. Why is that? Well, it is assumed that if distributors are pushing their relatives, friends and churches into this diet, those people will be less likely to complain to the FDA about their business practices or when they suffer side effects from this diet. They are probably right about that too. If Aunt Bertha is pushing this diet on the family, you really don't want to hurt her business opportunity (or feelings) do you? However, the average Joe finding the product online will have no qualms reporting them when there are side effects because there is no personal connection there.

- So, really, how do we read about the products? Well, once you have a distributor, you're in! Let's borrow a distributor's page.

www.omnitrition.com/mjsaupp
or distributor number 67205

Now, click on 'Products' and then 'Weight Management' (because we really are interested in the hCG drops they market), what do you see? Ah, look, there are those Omni Drops. But, wait, there is no description anywhere about these drops or what they do. And, notice, there is absolutely no mention of these being hCG drops. In fact, can you find the word hCG anywhere on their site? Pretty amazing since it is the weight loss 'hCG drops' that are drawing people to this diet. If this were legal, don't you think they'd be pushing this aspect more on the site? Well, it's not legal and so they rely on Aunt Bertha (et al.) to get the word out there.

Interesting blurb there if you scroll all the way down:

" I saw these statements on another HCG site and thought it best to add it:
NONE OF THE INFORMATION PROVIDED ON THIS WEBSITE IS INTENDED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. WE ARE NOT A MEDICAL FIRM NOR A PHARMACY. For medical advice, please contact your doctor.

Required Legal Statement: FDA has not approved hCG for weight loss and there is no substantial published evidence that hCG is effective in obesity treatment."

- The Omni people are doing everything they can to protect themselves while leaving their distributors (the ones selling the diet) vulnerable. While you won't find any mention of hCG products on their site, their distributors are encouraged to advertise. For example, check out this blog:

omnidrops.blogspot.com/p/faqs.html

Look at number 1, there it is, ". What are Omni Drops?
Omni Drops are pharmaceutical grade HCG, made in an FDA-approved lab. They contain HCG and vitamin B-12!"

Yep, the Omni folks are smart enough to know not to mention hCG on their site but their distributors are clueless. If anything goes down, their distributors would be (might be?) the ones to take the fall. They are the ones advertising that the Omni Drops are hCG (they are not) and causing the weight loss (it is not...it's the 500 calorie diet). The company itself can claim that they personally were not advertising hCG.

So, how do you report a company that is selling an illegal product? This is the link I was given:

www.fda.gov/Safety/ReportaProblem/uc
m059315.htm

There is a form to fill out. If this company is above board, they have nothing to fear, right? If this company is above board, they don't need to even worry about this blog.

Have to say, though, even on the Facebook forum, some of the long-timers were clued into this. I saw threads asking if there was real hCG in the drops. The ones who had been on this diet awhile (and were selling) would tell them to ask their distributors that question. They wouldn't answer it directly. Eventually a newbie or new distributor would excitedly announce, "Of course there is real hCG in the product, duh!" (or some variation thereof). And, at that, the thread would be left alone.

edited to add: There are other theories as well about how this company has stayed under the radar. It sounds like they didn't start pushing the hCG drops until 2011 which is coincidentally when the FDA went after a number of companies. I didn't know that. Either this one hadn't started selling the drops yet or was so the product so new and unknown, the FDA hadn't caught wind of it yet. I know they know about it now and have had complaints. I think, also, once those other drops were taken off the market, this company just jumped in and found a way to start making money again.