For supplement designer M. Cahill, a 12-year career in the production of weight loss pills and body building supplements is now under intense scrutiny as the USA Today investigation which examined Cahill’s track record reveals serious allegations against the supplement designer. Cahill spent more than a decade developing and launching new medical products that have been described as nothing less than risky; however, it was only recently that the supplement designer was officially condemned for his actions, as federal regulators continuously struggled to keep up with Cahill’s ever-changing series of companies for years on end.
As Cahill headed to prison for the sale of dangerous weight loss pills, further investigations into the supplement designer’s decade-long career revealed more and more disconcerting findings. The federal charges that Cahill faced tied back to the supplement designer’s unusual decision to mix a highly toxic pesticide with baking powder. This lethal combination was stuffed into the capsules of the “weight loss supplement” produced by Cahill and sold over the internet. Oddly enough, the findings against Cahill’s products, and the supplement designer’s federal charges, did not stop him from starting his next big company, thus allowing the powerful supplement designer to expose to the market the next illegal steroid product for sale.
One of Cahill’s newest steroids was released on the market in 2004, despite the fact that it has never before been tested on humans; that is, with the exception of a few of the supplement designer’s friends who tried it themselves for a few weeks. The release of the drug was just the next in what had already been a long succession of successful products for Cahill, all of which flourished within the dietary supplement industry – a $30 billion industry in which Cahill seemed to be the frontrunner in new products, sales, and all things related to weight loss and body building products.
In an industry that has long since been known for selling products that have not been properly tested or approved by the government, Cahill thrived. Among several other supplement designers with spotty histories and / or past criminal convictions, Cahill and his products flourished. The fact that his supplements were knowingly causing liver damage to users did not seem to faze the supplement designer in the least. If anything, Cahill noticed nothing but the sales, and he continued to produce new products for the market, his latest being the best seller, Craze, which was named the “New Supplement of the Year,” by bodybuilding.com in 2012.
Almost unflinchingly, Cahill has released to the market products which contain a host of unsafe chemicals, including one that was banned for human use in the 1930s because of its propensity to leave users blind. Undisclosed amounts of amphetamines have also been traced to samples of the supplement designer’s Craze product, despite the product’s label which suggests that it is an all-natural supplement sold online and in a variety of stores, including GNC and Walmart.
Cahill is currently facing a federal criminal charge for his introduction of yet another supplement which he claimed to be all-natural and released to the market in 2008. According to prosecutors, Rebound XT contained an unapproved new drug, for which Cahill should be held legally responsible. This argument is strongly backed by many users of Cahill’s products, one of whom is a world-famous body builder who claims that his use of the Craze product recently caused him to fail a drug test. There have been several more accounts like this, along with too many reports of consumers of Cahill’s products who ended up in the hospital as a result of their use of his supplements.
Such unabashed reports against Cahill shine light on a larger problem: that of the federal authority held over the regulation of supplement products such as those that were produced by Cahill. Currently, the system of federal laws that govern the regulation of supplements treats these products as foods that are assumed to be safe until they have been proven otherwise. The director of the Food and Drug Administration’s dietary supplement division has publicly stated that the FDA has less authority when it comes to supplements than it does when it comes to other types of drugs. Unlike other drugs, dietary supplements do not need to be approved by the agency for safety and effectiveness before being sold on the market.
The further investigators delve into Cahill’s many shoddy business practices over the years, the more unsettling the findings become. For example, it was discovered that Cahill used an alias and lied to a West Virginia supply company about owning a landscaping firm in order to purchase DNP powder for his pill business. DNP, an industrial chemical that has been used in explosives and as a pesticide, was declared by the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to be too toxic for human use under any circumstances; yet, Cahill continued to find unscrupulous ways to obtain the chemical and include it in his supplements. Along with the sale of Vicodin, Valium, and other injectable steroids, Cahill was grossing approximately $30,000 a month from his business.
Finally, Cahill’s long run in the dietary supplement industry, where he went seemingly under the radar, is catching up with him. Last March, Cahill was subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury in San Jose, where he was asked to provide records regarding his Rebound XT product. In June of 2012, Cahill’s supplements were also called into question when the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) conducted tests on Craze and found several prohibited stimulants, including both amphetamine and amphetamine-related compounds. Numerous accounts of serious injury, illness, and even death have all been made in relation to some of Cahill’s most popular products, however, these have not stopped Cahill from continuing to promote his products on internet message boards which are accessible to individuals nationwide.
The reports and allegations that have been made against the now-infamous dietary supplement designer are only some among many that are currently circulating in the weight loss and body building industry. Here, perhaps more than anywhere else, it is exceedingly easy to get away with marketing unsafe products for sale, and Cahill’s actions have proven this to a tee. If you or someone you love suffered in any way from the use of an unsafe dietary supplement, we urge you to speak with a California defective drug attorney from our firm. The Senators Firm is here to help you pursue the matter legally and seek compensation for your pain and suffering.