HBO report links Hatch to military deaths associated with DMAA via his sponsorship of DSHEA

By Hank Schultz

- Last updated on GMT

Image: HBO Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel
Image: HBO Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel

Related tags Dietary supplements Dietary supplement

An HBO Real Sports segment about dietary supplement use in the US military implied that Sen. Orrin Hatch was complicit in the deaths of several US soldiers who collapsed with the banned ingredient DMAA in their systems. 

DSHEA cast as  root of problem

In the show which aired last night reporter Soledad O’Brien made the link via Hatch’s sponsorship of Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act (DSHEA), which was cast as an anything-goes hall pass for the dietary supplements industry, calling it the law that “shields the industry from regulation”.​  Other than making the Hatch-death link, which is new, the segment recycled tried-and-true criticisms of the industry, saying that it is insufficiently regulated and that products are not approved by FDA before going to market.  It quoted industry critics such as Anne Weismann, chief counsel for the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, and Dr Pieter Cohen of the Harvard Medical School. The segment did not include any input from supplements industry representatives.

“In the world of supplements almost anything is possible, thanks to the law that governs the industry, or some might say, doesn’t govern the industry,” ​O’Brien said.

The video began with an emotional recounting of the death and US Army private Michael Sparling, who suffered cardiac arrest while on a training run. Sparling had been using the pre-workout supplement Jack3D, manufactured by USP Labs, which at that time contained DMAA, an ingredient that FDA has since removed from the market.  O’Brien’s report did mention that a subsequent military review of Sparling’s death and the deaths of two other soldiers found that they could not be causally linked to the ingredient.

O’Brien’s report went on to ding the industry on players such as Matt Cahill, CEO of Driven Sports, and Jacob Geissler, CEO of USP Labs, both of whom have criminal records. O’Brien’s report implied that Hatch’s activities on behalf of the industry enabled such companies to do business.

“Hatch has never stopped fighting to limit the regulation of the supplements industry,”​ she said.

A segment from the show can be viewed at the end of this article. 

Robust response

Industry trade organizations were quick to respond to what they see as a distorted and one-sided report. Chief among their complaints is that the industry is in fact regulated, and Hatch in particular has worked to improve those regulations, including sponsoring the 2006 law that set up the adverse events reporting requirement for dietary supplements.  Problems in the industry can be attributed to a lack of adequate enforcement, not deficiencies in the regulatory scheme, they say.

“Millions of consumers use dietary supplements daily and do so safely and with great benefit,”​ said UNPA President Loren Israelsen. “This is in large part due to the efforts of Sen. Hatch. Based on his record, we are surprised and disappointed that HBO missed the mark so badly. 

“Regrettably, HBO has chosen to misinform its viewers on the regulation and safety record of supplements. And while we agree that rogue players and products do exist, this is not because of DSHEA or Sen. Hatch,”​ he said.

Steve Mister, CEO of the Council of Responsible Nutrition, said his organization was dismayed that O’Brien chose not to allow industry representatives to provide information that might have resulted in a more balanced report.

“We are disappointed that HBO ignored our requests to provide perspective from the mainstream, responsible dietary supplement industry as we would have confirmed our position that the products the segment focused on are being illegally marketed as dietary supplements in violation of the requirements for new ingredients.

"Further, we would have provided accurate information and a more balanced perspective of the numerous provisions in the law, added with the passage of DSHEA and beyond, that have given FDA more authority than it previously had to remove unsafe products from the market and ample tools to enforce the law. To that end, we are concerned that FDA has not always acted as swiftly as appropriate to remove from the market these kinds of questionable products, and we continue to urge for further resources, financial and otherwise, for FDA to more fully enforce the law,​” Mister said.

Relative safety

O’Brien’s report hinged on the three US Army deaths that have been associated with DMAA and also told the story of a US Navy sailor who was taking an unspecified weight loss supplement and who later required a liver transplant. She cited 48 medical evacuations of military personnel from Iraq and Afghanistan, implying that these were the result of supplement use. She did not contrast these figures with any adverse events in the same period associated with the use in the military of prescription medications. If the adverse event record for these substances in the general population over the same time period is any guide, there must have been many hundreds if not thousands of adverse events among soldiers and sailors associated with prescription drugs.  

“The use of supplements is rampant in the military. Few of the troops realize the risks but our research indicates they can be severe,” ​O'Brien said.

Critics of dietary supplement regulation tend to focus on pre-market approval as the only option, ignoring the fact that pre-market approval is not a full-proof method to safety, nor is it a viable option for the vast majority of products in our industry that don’t receive the same patent protection and financial incentives as pharmaceutical products," ​said CRN's Mister. "Our industry is open to dialoguing with those who are serious—and realistic—about finding ways to avoid the kinds of tragedies shown in this segment in the future."

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2 comments

Terribly Incomplete Report

Posted by Chuck,

Just like ephedra, DMAA was given a bad name by people who abuse it. People who died using it used way more than they should've and that's why they died.

Never in the report at all did they mentioned how much the affected people we taking, if they followed the label, any details. DMAA was an awesome supplement that was very effective in helping me drop 35 lbs one summer. Shame it was ruined by people who misused it and then ruined it for everyone. I'm sorry they died, but they did it to themselves.

In addition, they concluded that DMAA didn't cause those military deaths.

Also, I love how they say the USP labs guy is a criminal, but then he was only guilty of dealing steroids. Well color me shocked that a guy in the supplement world dealt roids before going straight.

Worst report I've seen on Real Sports, and the poor quality of this report undermines any message they would want to push forward that the supplement industry needs more regulation.

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Hatch and Company

Posted by Jeff Nedelman,

If you want to know where the DSHEA skeletons are buried, just read last February's piece by Libertarian law professor Dan Farber in the UC Berkeley law journal.

To borrow a phrase from James Mitchner about the early missionary work in Hawaii, "The missionaries went to do good and they did very, very well." DSHEA was great Utah politics and Hatch has done well in fund raising and his family and staff have financially benefited greatly by his close association with DSHEA.

Another political story comes to mind, this one involving "Da Mayor" Daley, the old man, who when questioned by the ever so intrusive media as to why he gave all of the city of Chicago's insurances business to his son without competition shot back and angrily said, "I don't know what this country is coming to when a father cannot help his son get ahead."

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