The nutritional supplement manufacturer being sued by J.C. Romero said the suspended Phillies reliever should have done more homework – including checking the warning label – before using the product that led to him testing positive for a substance banned by Major League Baseball.
Romero filed suit in Superior Court in Camden, N.J., on Monday against Proviant and Ergopharm, the makers of 6-OXO and 6-OXO Extreme, arguing they misrepresented their products and ingredients and should bear blame for his being suspended by MLB for the first 50 games this season.
In an e-mail sent to media outlets on Tuesday, Patrick Arnold of Illinois-based Proviant Technologies disputed Romero’s allegations, and added the pitcher should take responsibility for his own actions. The manufacturer noted that each bottle of 6-OXO Extreme carries a warning label that reads: “Use of this product may be banned by some athletic or government associations (including military).”
Romero said he first purchased the supplement in July 2008.
the warning was placed on the label, Arnold said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that it was “on every single bottle of 6-OXO Extreme ever produced. And we started selling it in 2007.”
Proviant also said Romero could have easily determined he shouldn’t use 6-OXO had he called a league hotline that lists those supplements certified as acceptable by Major League Baseball. The company noted that 6-OXO Extreme is not on baseball’s certified list.
Rob Manfred, executive vice president of labor relations in the commissioner’s office, has previously said Romero that did not use the hotline.
“If an athlete chooses to ignore an explicit warning on the label of a dietary supplement product, fails to conduct reasonable inquiry, and thereafter tests positive for a banned substance, the athlete should take responsibility for their actions,” Proviant’s two-page unsigned statement said.
Romero, who earned two wins in Philadelphia’s World Series victory over Tampa Bay last year, was suspended after testing positive for androstenedione, a substance that Mark McGwire used in the 1990s that was later banned by baseball.
Romero said a lab test of the contents of one of the 6-OXO Extreme bottles he purchased detected the presence of androstenedione, though it’s not listed on the product’s ingredients.
Romero’s test. Arnold, who is one of the owners of Proviant and director of its research and development, declined comment when asked about the presence of androstenedione, because he has not seen the test.
Arnold is a former BALCO chemist who served three months in prison after pleading guilty in 2006 for making two undetectable steroids.
David Cornwell, one of Romero’s three attorneys, was in court and not immediately available for comment.
Romero is seeking compensatory damages, including being repaid the $1.246 million of his $4 million salary he lost as a result of the suspension. Romero is also seeking undisclosed punitive damages because he said his reputation has been tarnished as a result of the positive test.
Also named in the suit are Vitamin Shoppe and General Nutrition Centers, stores where Romero said he purchased the over-the-counter supplements in July. He said employees at both stores recommended the supplements and assured him that using them would not lead to a failed drug test.
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