A lawsuit filed on Tuesday in California stated that some fish oil capsules had trace amounts of PCBs, and they were being sold as health supplements.

It was alleged by the Mateel Environmental Justice Foundation and two other plaintiffs that fish oil companies had violated California law by not displaying PCB levels on their labels.

Labeling to warn a customer about trace amounts of polychlorinated biphenyl compounds, a toxic, man-made chemical that has been banned from production in the U. S. since 1979, California is the only state following this.

It was found post test on 10 fish oils by the Mateel group 10 fish oils that all contained PCBs. Based on daily recommended dose on the labels the levels of PCB contained in these supplements were 12 nanograms a day to more than 852 nanograms a day.

The allegations have however not been proven in court. The oils came from fishes like cod, shark, and salmon.

Six international manufacturers of fish oil and two drugstore chains have been named in the lawsuit and these are CVS Pharmacy, Inc.; Omega Protein Inc.; General Nutrition Corp.; Now Health Group, Inc.; TwinLab Corp.; Pharmavite LLC (Nature Made brand); Rite Aid Corp.; Solgar Inc.

Lawyer and plaintiff David Roe said, “The people buying these fish oil products are not being told that the PCBs are there.”

It is believed that PCBs are carcinogens and have been shown to cause birth defects.