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Update
Dr John C Lowe LLC
Temporary Problem with Thyro-Gold
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
www.drlowe.com
Dear Thyro-Gold
Customer,
I hope you'll forgive me for addressing this email to "Dear
Customer" rather than to you by name. The reason is that we didn't
want to take the time to address everyone individually, as we feel
that it is urgent to notify Thyro-Gold customers of a temporary
problem with the product.
Some people have written to us and asked why I haven't been
as available as usual. The reason is that we've been bogged down
with the temporary problem. I'll explain as briefly as I can.
The original manufacturer of Thyro-Gold increased Franconia Ltd's
cost for the high-quality New Zealand thyroid powder in the
product's capsules. The product has been of great value to many
people, and Franconia has done everything it could to keep the cost
as low as possible for customers. Unfortunately, however, when a raw
material supplier increases its purchase price, the manufacturer has
to pass the high cost along to the distributor, and the distributor
must pass the increased cost along to customers. This is the only
way the chain of businesses involved can stay in business.
To keep the retail cost of Thyro-Gold at its current price,
Franconia sought another highly-rated manufacturer who gave a
markedly lower bid for the production of the product. This raised
the possibility of Franconia actually lowering the retail cost of
Thyro-Gold.
The new manufacturer took longer than it initially agreed to in
producing its first run of Thyro-Gold (the company's first
screw-up). This resulted in near depletion of the stock of the
original Thyro-Gold at the distributing company in Kansas (QP
Distribution). Put under pressure, the new manufacturer oddly
produced and had the product ready to ship in three days. I say
"oddly" because the manufacturer had told us they weren't able find
the New Zealand thyroid powder we had insisted on.
Only three days later, however, the company told us that the product
was ready to ship to the distributor. That was an extremely short
time to finally find the thyroid powder, have it shipped to them,
and produce the bottles of capsules.
It was also odd the company should have had the powder in its
production plant at the beginning of production. But the company had
apparently waited to order thyroid powder at the time they had
agreed to ship the new run of Thyro-Gold.
Before we received samples from the distribution facility, several
customers, including a physician who has long used dietary
desiccated thyroid, had begun using the new manufacturer's product.
Clearly, according to them, it was dramatically inferior to the
original Thyro-Gold. We have now confirmed this for ourselves.
First, the powder in the capsules, which are smaller than the
original capsules, is white. I've never seen a dietary desiccated
thyroid powder that is white. In that it is animal tissue, it would
have to be bleached to be white.
Also, if you open one of the capsules and compare the smell of the
powder with that of the original Thyro-Gold, you'll also notice the
white powder completely lacks the smell of desiccated thyroid. When
cats smell the original Thyro-Gold capsules, they attack them; but
presented with the new manufacturer's capsules, cats entirely ignore
them. Cats are "obligate carnivores." This means their physiology
has evolved to efficiently process meat, and they have trouble
digesting plant foods. If animal tissue were in the new
manufacturers capsules, cats would be attracted to them, but they
aren't.
In addition, customers, including the physician, have reported that
the white-powdered capsules are ineffective for them. Even when
customers have taken twice the number of capsules they had taken of
the original Thyro-Gold, they have become hypometabolic.
The new manufacturer has so far been deceptive with us. After a week
and a half, the company has failed to provide us with a precise
description of the thyroid powder they claim to have put into
capsules. This deception in trade is a violation of Federal Trade
Commission regulations. Not only has the company been uncooperative;
the President and Vice President of Sales have tried to impose on
Franconia responsibility for proof of the nature of the thyroid
powder in the new capsules. For Franconia to do this through
laboratory analyses would cost as much as Franconia paid the company
to manufacture the Thyro-Gold. In addition, the analyses would take
up to six weeks.
With that time frame, if the analyses prove that the manufacturer
botched the production, the manufacture would perhaps cooperate and
produce the product correctly. However, for the company to correct
their botched production might add another six-to-eight weeks to the
wait. This would subject many customers who now depend on Thyro-Gold
to unnecessary suffering. This, of course, would be unconscionable,
regardless of who is at fault. To prevent as much inconvenience and
suffering as possible, Franconia has already returned to the more
costly manufacturer and has the original Thyro-Gold in production.
We will let customers know when the new run of the original product
is shipped to the distribution center. We are told that will be
four-to-six weeks.
If you've ordered Thyro-Gold in the last couple of weeks, you'll see
the white powder in the capsules. Please hold on to these capsules,
as we may need your input as evidence. If the new (and one-time!)
manufacturer isn't forthright before the end of this week, Franconia
will file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission, the FDA, and
the state's Attorney General's office. The complaints will be for
deception and fraud in trade within the United States. Through PRWeb,
we'll also notify supplement companies, customers, and natural
medicine clinicians of the complaint filings. We'll also keep all
these people abreast of the progress of the investigations. We'll
both name the company and give detailed descriptions of the
difficulties this company has caused Franconia, Tammy and me, and
Thyro-Gold customers. According to Franconia, this blunder has now
caused it substantial financial loses. Franconia will sue the
manufacturer to attempt to recover its losses.
If you have complaints about the white-powdered capsules, please
write to me at drlowe@ThyroidScience.us. We'll be happy to communicate
with you. Thank you for your patience during the few weeks it takes
to make high-quality Thyro-Gold available once again.
With best personal regards,
Dr. John C. Lowe
Director of Research: Fibromyalgia Research Foundation
Editor-in-Chief: ThyroidScience.com
Editor@ThyroidScience.com
drlowe@drlowe.com
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