Hey Red Ryder,

Good question…  As a rule, I try not to push any one particular brand of vitamins or mineral supplements in my posts.  Having said that, I do favor the brands that are made here in the U.S.   The two brands of Omega 3 Fish Oil and vitamin D3 I use the most are Nature Made and Puritan's Pride.  They both claim to manufacture and formulate their pharmaceuticals here in the US.

I've also found the calcium citrate tablets formulated with vitamin D3, magnesium and zinc made by Kirkland, Nature Made, and Citracal (Bone Density Builder) all have similar formulations and work well for me.

My rationale for selecting U.S. manufactured Omega 3 Fish Oil products is simple…  I'm not a sino-phob and for sure not a xenophob.  Having said that, the vitamin and mineral pharmaceutical market is flooded with Chinese products.  Moreover, as Chinese manufacturers are not well known for quality control and I'm sure the FDA has it's hands full trying keep up with all the pharmaceuticals imported from China, I'd just as soon buy American when it comes to the vitamins and mineral supplements I take.

Out of curiosity I did some checking. Nature Made is owned by Pharmavite® LLC who actually manufactures Nature Made pharmaceutical products.  It in turn is owned by a parent company, Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Japan.  Although ultimately owned by a Japanese firm, Nature Made is one of the largest firms in this market segment. 

They've also had to defend the purity of one of their fish oil products in a recent law suit due to traces of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB) that exceeded the California Proposition 65 limits of 90 parts per billion (90 ppb).  In it's defense, Nature Made claimed their fish oils are well below the FDA’s tolerance limit for PCB in fish which is 2000 parts per billion (2000 ppb, 2 mcg/g or 2 mg/kg). 

When I tried to run this story to ground it appears the Nature Made Fish Oil product in question in the lawsuit was cod liver oil and not their Omega 3 Fish Oil.  It turns out that it's nearly impossible to remove all PCBs, dioxins and mercury from fish oil.  Moreover, most Omega 3 Fish Oils are purified with a process called molecular distillation that brings PCB, dioxin and mercury levels down to the point where they are difficult to detect and well below levels the FDA considers safe.  As a matter of fact, Nature Made also lists the PCB assay of their Omega 3 Fish Oil on the label at "less than 0.09 parts per million" (that’s less than 90 ppb) so it meets or is less than the more stringent California Proposition 65 limits of 90 ppb.  I'm still using them.

From what I can tell, Puritan's Pride is a home grown US firm from the get-go.

Most of the Omega 3 Fish Oil products in the market today are refined with molecular distillation from anchovies and sardines caught off the coast of Chile because these species are highest in the Omega 3 fatty acids EPA and DHA.  Fish that live longer, grow larger and that are higher up in the food chain tend to collect or bioaccumulate more fat soluble PCBs, dioxins and mercury.

Accordingly, I gladly take the Omega 3 Fish Oils, vitamin D3 and would eat three to four servings of wild salmon a week if I could afford them. I just think the wild salmon tastes much better.  The farmed salmon is also ok and in a pinch I'll eat it. 

My rationale on all this is simple.  Last August while salmon fishing in Ketchikan Alaska, I met with gent working on his Doctorate in Marine Biology at the University of Washington.   He was collecting samples of wild salmon for PCB, dioxin and mercury tests as a part of his doctoral thesis.  He indicated from the test results he's seen over the last few years, there is no significant difference between wild salmon and some of the farmed salmon with respect to levels of PCBs, dioxins, and mercury.

I'm a native of the Pacific Northwest so salmon fishing is a routine activity and seafood has always been a part of my diet.  To put this in perspective, I've no problem with the above brands of Omega 3 fish oils.  The benefits far outweigh any potential risks from PCBs, dioxins, or mercury.  So far, I've not found any deaths related to the regular consumption of salmon or Omega 3 Fish Oils… 

I'm sorry to say we can't say the same for verapamil. You'll see what I mean if you take a look at the following link that provides statistics on adverse reactions and side effects attributed to verapamil as reported to the FDA.

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

The links relating to death and verapamil are sobering:

Index of reports > Cases resulting in death (133)
         Completed Suicide (104),  Cardiac Arrest (12),  Drug Toxicity (10),  Poisoning (10),  Cardio-Respiratory Arrest (6),  Intentional Drug Misuse (5),  Poisoning Deliberate (5),  Medication Error (5),  Respiratory Arrest (5),  Intentional Overdose (4)

Try to find similar data on adverse reactions to Omega 3 Fish Oil or oxygen therapy...

Hope this helps.

Take care,

V/R, Batch