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This article is filled with factual errors and very dated material. For instance, the 1992 Arizona case referred to by Mr. Jarvis alleged that a Sunrider product was tainted with a toxic substance that caused the plaintiff to become ill. Interestingly, no one else who consumed this same product ever got sick. Nonetheless, a jury found in favor of the plaintiff. However, several years later, the plaintiff's former boyfriend admitted that he spiked the product with thallium to force Sunrider into an out-of-court settlement. He stated that he never dreamed Sunrider would take the case to trial. However, once the litigation was in full swing, he realized he could not back out and admit to the ruse. Last year the former boyfriend went to jail for an unrelated crime and thought that if he confessed to spiking the Sunrider product, he might be able to obtain a more favorable sentence. Unfortunately, his confession came too late and the case can not be retried. Therefore, the verdict is still on the record.

Mr. Jarvis' comments about Nutrien, a product Sunrider has not made in years, are also half-truths. For instance, the salmonella problem occurred over 17 years ago when Sunrider's manufacturing facility was in Salt Lake City. The problem was immediately corrected and there were no reports of illness. Sunrider stopped making Nutrien in 1987. Also in 1987, Sunrider moved its manufacturing from Salt Lake City to its current state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in City of Industry, California and there has never been a contamination problem.

This article also falsely implies that in 1989, Sunrider deliberately claimed that Nutrien contained a non-existent substance called vitamin B-8. The truth is that Sunrider inadvertently made a typographical error on the label and that error was missed prior to printing. When the error was brought to Sunrider's attention, we promptly acknowledged our error and paid a fine to the State of California. Sunrider never intended to falsely mislead the public into believing that “Vitamin B-8” was a real vitamin. This error occurred 12 years ago and has never happened since.

The Jarvis article also purports to describe a 1989 Longevity Magazine article regarding an alleged incident involving a Sunrider Distributor. Supposedly the Distributor told the family of a dying girl that Sunrider's products cured cancer. Sunrider has no way of knowing whether this incident actually occurred. However, Sunrider does not tell Distributors to promote our products as cures for cancer or any other disease. Such claims are violations of the United States Food Drug and Cosmetic Act and Sunrider does not condone such representations by Distributors. If, in fact, this incident occurred, the Distributor acted on his or her own.

The Jarvis article really misses the point concerning stevia. Although it is technically correct that in 1984, Sunrider was prohibited from marketing stevia as a food and beverage sweetener the truth is that Sunrider was instrumental in convincing the government to allow stevia into the country as a dietary supplement, rather than a food. Had it not been for Sunrider's efforts, stevia might still be banned from the U.S. even today.