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Time for a litigation supplement?

10 October 2013 / Sarah Moore
Issue: 7579 / Categories: Opinion
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Sarah Moore exposes some regulatory deficiencies in the world of vitamins & supplements

In the UK, the “nutritional supplement” and vitamin industry is big business—currently worth around £400m a year. One factor facilitating this growth is a regulatory environment that allows companies to promote their products in flagrant breach of labelling and advertising rules, with little risk of significant penalty or large scale consumer litigation.

As a result, the UK consumer is left exposed to the misleading claims of some manufacturers who promote their “health” products with labelling fictions that have little to do with the product inside the packaging. On the whole, the risk for consumers of vitamins and supplements is not one of personal injury per se, but rather that they purchase expensive products on the basis of fraudulent labelling claims. Within this context it is vital that manufacturers are compelled to either substantiate their products’ claims to medical efficacy, or remove them: under the current regulatory system in the UK this is not happening.

At the end of August,

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Kingsley Napley—Claire Green

Kingsley Napley—Claire Green

Firm announces appointment of chief legal officer

Weightmans—Emma Eccles & Mark Woodall

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Gilson Gray—Linda Pope

Gilson Gray—Linda Pope

Partner joins family law team inLondon

NEWS
The landmark Supreme Court’s decision in Johnson v FirstRand Bank Ltd—along with Rukhadze v Recovery Partners—redefine fiduciary duties in commercial fraud. Writing in NLJ this week, Mary Young of Kingsley Napley analyses the implications of the rulings
Barristers Ben Keith of 5 St Andrew’s Hill and Rhys Davies of Temple Garden Chambers use the arrest of Simon Leviev—the so-called Tinder Swindler—to explore the realities of Interpol red notices, in this week's NLJ
Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys [2025] has upended assumptions about who may conduct litigation, warn Kevin Latham and Fraser Barnstaple of Kings Chambers in this week's NLJ. But is it as catastrophic as first feared?
Lord Sales has been appointed to become the Deputy President of the Supreme Court after Lord Hodge retires at the end of the year
Limited liability partnerships (LLPs) are reportedly in the firing line in Chancellor Rachel Reeves upcoming Autumn budget
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