Consumerlab.com Drops Lawsuit Against CRN

—Case Dismissed With Prejudice; CRN Vindicated—

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 17, 2006 — The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), the dietary supplement industry’s leading trade association, today announced that ConsumerLab.com has dropped its lawsuit against the association.

ConsumerLab.com brought the case against CRN in April 2005, following CRN’s filing of a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission asking the regulatory agency to investigate ConsumerLab.com’s business practices, and the agency’s decision not to pursue the matter at that time. All but one of ConsumerLab.com’s claims in the lawsuit were dismissed by the Court earlier this year. Today’s voluntary filing vindicates CRN by dismissing the final count of ConsumerLab.com’s lawsuit, with prejudice—meaning that ConsumerLab.com cannot refile it. ConsumerLab.com, a for-profit company that receives fees from supplement companies for product testing, received no money from CRN and no retraction of any kind in return for dropping the case. ConsumerLab.com dropped its lawsuit as CRN was about to ask the Court to require ConsumerLab.com to produce additional information and documents about its business practices.

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The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), founded in 1973, is a Washington, D.C.-based trade association representing dietary supplement industry ingredient suppliers and manufacturers. CRN members voluntarily adhere to a strong code of ethics, comply with dosage limits and manufacture dietary supplements to high quality standards under good manufacturing practices.