Science Fair Project Exposes GlaxoSmithKline Lies 253
shadowspar writes "Despite claims made by GlaxoSmithKline that their Ribena soft drinks are high in Vitamin C, two New Zealand high school students found in their science fair research project that at least some formulations of the drink contained no detectable levels of the vitamin. As a result, GSK has been fined over $200,000 by the NZ Commerce Commission and ordered to run newspaper ads admitting that some of their drinks contain no Vitamin C."
Re:HAHAHAHAHA (Score:3, Insightful)
Only a numpty (most consumers) buy their products (Score:1, Insightful)
sugar (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Only a numpty (most consumers) buy their produc (Score:5, Insightful)
This is just stupid (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:sugar (Score:1, Insightful)
Sugar does not cause or increase the risk of diabetes. That is a common myth. Failure of the pancreas encourages diabetes.
We need more (Score:5, Insightful)
They should have fined them more. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Only a numpty (most consumers) buy their produc (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Old news ... Mod parent back up. (Score:3, Insightful)
It's not trolling to point out that this was news at least 10 days ago. The Age in Melbourne last updated their story [theage.com.au] on May 21, though Google indexed it there [google.com.au] on the 20th.
Mod parent +2 Apology.
Testing for vitamin C (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I like their style (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Old news ... Mod parent back up. (Score:5, Insightful)
commenting about the article is on-topic EVEN when it's not commentary that you personally like. Anyone should be able to figure this out. It is so obvious I can't believe it has to be explained to anyone with mod points.
Mods also need to figure out that anyone who vehemently disagrees is not "Flamebait" unless their primary purpose is to insult. But if they are using something resembling facts and logic, even if they're not G-rated nice, it's not flamebait.
For this reason I am almost harsh when meta-moderating, which I do anytime the opportunity comes up. I am tired of this shit; shitty moderation is how you ruin a site like this and because it doesn't happen all at once and in-your-face but happens gradually over time, people don't see it this way.
I fully expect to be modded Offtopic or Troll or Flamebait for "daring" to (again) call bullshit when I see it. My Karma is sitting at "Excellent" so do your worst and prove me right.
Stabilty of ascorbic acid in solution. (Score:2, Insightful)
So the question is, how long were these kids Ribena samples on the shelf before they purchased them? They might very well have had the advertised level of vitamin C when the left the plant. Note that the advertised ascorbic acid content is relatively low; 70 ppm. I can almost guarantee that levels this low will not survive more than a few months on the shelf, particularly in a carbonated solution. This could be the fault of the retailer or distributor, not the manufacturer.
The other salient questions are: What was their sample size? Did they test only one bottle of each flavour? What analytical method did they use? Were the samples protected from elevated temperatures? The standard iodometric titration for ascorbic acid is not so easy, usually classes of second year university analytical chemistry students only have about a 60% success rate in the determination of ascorbic acid in solution, at levels considerably higher than 70 ppm.
I doubt this story a great deal, it may be true, but too many questions are unanswered. I certainly hope that the regulatory agencies concerned performed their own study with a proper sample size and experienced analysts. Even professional and certified laboratories can be unreliable in their results, let alone a pair of high school students. I have participated in enough round-robin certifications, and developed enough FDA approved methods to know.
IF, they are indeed correct, these girls have a future in analytical chemistry, not law.
Re:Stabilty of ascorbic acid in solution. (Score:3, Insightful)
Innocent Company: *grabs a few bottles from random stores* "Here, test these and fuck off."
Re:the ill effects of aspartame (Score:2, Insightful)
I should have been more precise. My problem is with the mindless masses accepting without examination that Coke Zero is superior in terms of health benefit to regular Coke. Without delving into the Aspertame v. Sugar debate again, the overarching issue was of more importance to me.
And, while I did read your post (twice), I am not a hysterical nitwit, though your approbation does not concern me. I am, however, genuinely disgusted my the degree to which people are now affected by groupthink, and the related suceptibility to advertising. If we see it, we believe it. Perhaps not you, perhaps not me, but collectively, we as a nation.
I think describing my post as a diatribe is a little harsh. Keep in mind that posts aren't usually aimed at the parent, but at the issue.
Re:Stabilty of ascorbic acid in solution. (Score:5, Insightful)
While it's true that the initial tip-off came from two high-schoolers, their results were confirmed by Commerce Commision testing. One can safely assume that the confirmatory tests were conducted under controlled conditions in an accredited laboratory. Which is why GSK copped the fine & has been trying to limit damage ever since.
RTFA.
No wait. This is slashdot...
Why did they do it? (Score:3, Insightful)
Sounds like a bureaucracy at it's finest.
Re:Stabilty of ascorbic acid in solution. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Advertisers lie? (Score:3, Insightful)
FWIW, GSK probably could've gotten off the hook if there had been *some* vitamin C in the drink, too - "high in vitamin C" is also a rather ephemeral claim insofar as that it's not clear what "high" means. However, there also is a factual claim in there: namely, the claim that the drink contains at least *some* vitamin C, and that's what GSK apparently got in trouble for.
In other words: if I sell you a computer "with a big hard disk", you can't complain if it's only a 40 GB drive, since I can reasonably argue that that's "big" (how can 40 *billion* bytes not be big?). But if the computer doesn't have any HD, you do have a case, since "a big hard disk" implies that there *is* a hard disk to begin with.
Re:Stabilty of ascorbic acid in solution. (Score:3, Insightful)
How the hell is a consumer meant to survive in this era of corporate lies, when the governments of the day do absolutely nothing to ensure the products on the shelves actually adhere to the claims of the manufacturers.
It is becoming abundantly clear that governments must institute an accurate system of verification and validation to ensure that product labelling is accurate and factual or are they going to so blatantly and corruptly ignore a growing problem, just so their corporate benefactors can rake in a few more percentage points of profit that the electorate has to die for.