In 1991, a more serious case of slander arose regarding whether NOW’s vitamin E was truly 100% natural. Another low priced, small, West Coast supplier circulated a damaging assay seeming to show NOW’s vitamin E was synthetic. The competitor noticed NOW’s vitamin E softgels had changed color and assumed this meant that we were cheating and using synthetic vitamin E instead of natural, which costs twice as much. The competitor sent the capsules to Irvine Analytical Labs in California requesting a test for optical rotation, which determines the naturalness level. Somehow the results came back showing only 15.8, when the results should have been 24. Upon receiving this ammunition, the competitor proceeded to distribute the report to health food stores and NOW found itself at war with a terrier of an enemy. We were 100% confident that the report was in error because NOW only purchased natural vitamin E from the three largest pharmaceutical softgel producers. Elwood Richard figured out that the testing lab had tested the entire contents of the vitamin E gel, instead of just the vitamin E content within the softgel. Since most softgels contain some filler, the filler oil should not be included in the assay for vitamin E. We also argued that vitamin E is a difficult test and we had seen two errors in laboratory testing of vitamin E in recent years. Additionally, NOW vitamin E was registered with the Natural Source Vitamin E Association and the National Nutritional Foods Association, which independently tested our products and never found a problem with NOW vitamin E. Despite our best efforts to correct the error, the damage was done. Many retailers heard the slander side of the story and never gave our side a chance or never even heard it. The ancient proverb is true, “He who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.” (Proverbs 18:17) The sad part about this story is the competing company never did admit their error or the lab’s error and so customers were left to wonder about who was correct. Three years later history repeated itself with the same competitor, the same lab, and the same vitamin E test. This time the lab tested the vitamin E at only 2.27 which is far below the expected 24 for natural vitamin E. Our competitor spread the assay all over the country, and somehow a larger competitor got hold of it and made matters much worse. The larger company, from Utah, made copies and passed the assay to dozens of salespeople who showed hundreds of stores before we were able to identify the same problem in testing. In response, NOW sent the same lot tested to three different labs including Eastman Kodak, the raw producer, the vitamin E association, and back again to Irvine Labs. We requested Irvine to only test optical rotation for 400 IU worth of vitamin E and the results came back at 24.72, exactly at label claim. During this period, serious legal letters were exchanged and NOW considered suing both companies for damages and legal fees. However, as a Christian-principled company, we will do everything possible to avoid lawsuits, even when our case is overwhelmingly clear. And in this case we traded numerous letters, made similar threats and eventually, after spending enough on legal fees, dropped the whole matter. The larger competitor did, finally, issue an internal retraction, but no formal apology or explanation was ever given to our satisfaction. Among competitors, however, NOW chose to be more aggressive in competing with those brands and to introduce new products that would be better than either company’s best products. 62 BEATING THE ODDS
