On Tuesday, the manufacturers of the pre-workout supplement “Craze,” Driven Sports, said that they have suspended all production and sales of the product, after recent testing has revealed amphetamine-like ingredients inside.
Driven Sports has declined all interview requests they have received. Driven Sports has posted a statement on its website which said that it had suspending production “several months ago while it investigated the reports in the media regarding the safety of Craze.”
Driven Sports claims that studies they performed continue to prove that Craze is safe “when used responsibly” and that the testing of its product “have consistently indicated that Craze does not contain amphetamines or controlled substances.” Additionally, they added, “the confidence of our retailers to sell the product and our consumers to buy the product is our primary concern so we will continue the suspension of the production and sale of Craze for the foreseeable future until these issues are resolved.”
However, an article was published on Monday in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Drug Testing and Analysis stating otherwise. The study was conducted by a team of scientists from the United States as well as the Netherlands, and it found an analog, or chemical with similar make-up, to methamphetamine in the Craze samples. They accompanied their findings with the warning that the chemical has never been tested on humans, and that there are unknown health risks associated with methamphetamine which are not disclosed on the label of Craze.
Additionally, an investigation conducted by USA TODAY back in July contained news that a high-level Driven Sports official, Matt Cahill, is a convicted felon who has a history of putting risky products on the market. The investigation also revealed that tests of Craze by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, as well as a lab in Sweden, had found amphetamine-like compounds in the finished product.
Stores like Bodybuilding.com and Walmart.com have discontinued the sale of Craze from their stores since earlier this summer, but there are still many different places online and in stores such as GNC where Craze may still be purchased.
GNC officials declined any interviews, but released a statement which said, “with third party products, GNC is simply the retailer and, like all retailers, relies upon the representations and contractual warranties made by the vendor that the products are safe and complaint with all applicable laws and regulations.” It sounds as though GNC has consulted with their legal team to avoid any potential liability, in the instance that Craze actually does contain amphetamine.
Driven Sports is attempting to blame the findings on the fact that the independent lab that conducted these studies and reported these findings, along with their scientists, may have incorrectly detected the amphetamine. It added that, according to it’s label, Craze contains dendrobium orchid extract, which has naturally occurring phenylethylamine compounds, and that these other scientists may have made the mistake of confusing a natural compound for amphetamine.
Driven Sports continued to make excuses, claiming that its own lab tests revealed the presence of “n-beta DEPEA”, and that this compound is “a related but very different substance” from n-alpha DEPEA. They said that it would be “very difficult to distinguish these two substances unless you know precisely what you are looking for and are using the proper test methodology.”
Scientists claim that this argument “holds no merit” and that they are “just throwing out new chemical names to try to confuse” people, and that n-beta DEPEA is “a completely different molecule” that would have led to different results on two of the three tests conducted.
Similarly, NSF International announced that in a separate testing, they found the same meth-like compounds in the weight-loss supplement Detonate, manufactured by Gaspari Nutrition.
Although Gaspari officials did not respond to interview requests, they have removed Detonate from their website’s list of products available for purchase. However, the product was on their website to purchase as late as October 10, 2013.
Another team of scientists based in South Korea also found the same meth-like substance when they tested other Craze samples.
Because of the federal government “shutdown,” the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as well as the Drug Enforcement Agency, were not available for comment.
According to a special advisor on supplements at the United States Anti-Doping Agency, Craze and Detonate have both been listed on it’s “high-risk supplement” list.
Now that the federal government has ended it’s “shutdown,” both agencies should be able to be reached for comment. We will continue to bring you up-to-date news breaks on this article.
Will you continue to buy Craze if you already use it? Would you throw your Craze away if you knew it had methamphetamine in it, or would you continue to use it?
Feel free to comment on this blog post, or contact a Gacovino Lake at 1-800-246-HURT (4878).
