I've ordered 30+ different supplements in bulk from China all of which I have tested and have never had any issue with metal contaminants. I think the problem is not China but resellers in the USA not picking their Chinese vendors wisely. It is not very intelligent, in my opinion, to characterize all Chinese Manufacturers by the mistakes of a select number of Chinese Manufacturers. That's like the biggest stereotype foul in the book, with regards to anything.
Many heavy metals in bulk supplements are easily removed by basic chemical purification processes. Part of the reason I am so highly skeptical of everyone claiming Chinese Supplements are low quality, not only for the fact that out of 30+ products in bulk I have never received anything contaminated, but additionally by the nature which they supplements/chemicals are synthesized and extracted, it is difficult to skip the purification steps which would remove heavy metals, without the product having a very dirty/non white appearance. Given, some supplements are naturally off-colored, but the good majority aren't.
I would advise anyone who is thinking of ordering supplements from China not to be put off by all these contaminated supplement claims and actually do their research before they go ordering from some random manufacturer. Many of these low-quality problems can easily be avoided with proper care and attention. Often times such care and attention is not applied by these major resellers here in the United States such as Cerebral Health and other importers(not that they are bad companies), but simply for the fact that their businesses operate on sourcing large quantities of different supplements, and its unrealistic for one supplier to supply them all. This means they have to work with multiple suppliers, meaning much more time is needed to investigate/research, and often times this step is skipped all together.
This does not only apply to US supplement wholesalers either. Companies that press vitamin pills and get them on the shelf in stores are just as likely to be purchasing from China from the same companies as the supplement wholesalers. Most of the time you can find out if they are or not by asking. If they refuse to answer, they most likely are, and some will simply be honest that they are. It is just entirely unrealistic and highly unlikely to think everyone of these supplements that are in pills in stores are sources from regulated US/European companies. It's not just unlikely it's impossible. China is the biggest manufacturer and supplier in the world for this sort of stuff, so there will inevitably be bad with the good.
Edited by Siro, 07 January 2014 - 08:55 AM.
