US chains pull dietary supplements off shelves

New York

THE New York state attorney-general's office issued subpoenas to four major retailers on Wednesday demanding that they provide evidence for a variety of health claims printed on the labels of the dietary supplements sold in their New York stores. The subpoenas were sent as part of an investigation into store-brand herbal supplements carried at Walgreens, Wal-Mart, GNC and Target.

The attorney-general's office announced last week that it had conducted tests on 78 bottles of top-selling medicinal herbs at the four retailers and discovered that four out of five did not contain the ingredients advertised on their labels.