Federal lawsuit filed against company that sold wellness mud product with toxic heavy metals

ATLANTA — A local attorney is calling on the Food and Drug Administration to recall a popular wellness product made of mud.

Channel 2 Action News first brought you the story a few weeks ago of people who felt duped by Black Oxygen Organics, which has since gone out of business.

Channel 2′s Michael Seiden was outside the federal courthouse where a lawsuit was filed Thursday.

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Customers and former sales reps are claiming they are owed tens of thousands of dollars in commissions and refunds.

Lauren Sulkis, a 37-year-old mother from Kennesaw, said she tried Black Oxygen Organics, or BOO, earlier this year. She drank it. She ate it. She even bathed in it.

“I was told by a lot of friends and people I knew in the health world that I trusted their opinion that this was a good product,” Sulkis said.

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Sulkis said the product, which is marketed as Fulvic acid, a compound derived from decayed plants that was dug up from a Canadian bog, made her feel good and gave her extra energy. Other users claimed that it cured pain, improved brain function and got rid of toxins.

Sulkis eventually joined the multilevel marketing company and began selling the mud to her friends. But when the company failed to pay her a commission, she stopped selling it.

Then, last month, she found out about the federal lawsuit accusing BOO of selling products with elevated levels of lead and arsenic.

“I’m just not okay with corruption in any form, especially in the natural health world,” Sulkis said.

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Matt Wetherington, the attorney who filed the lawsuit, said after BOO shut down, American distributors went online and claimed fluvic acid does have toxic heavy metals, but they’re not dangerous.

“The American distributors go online and they say, ‘Actually, it does have toxic heavy metals, but they’re good for you. They’re organic toxic heavy metals and they’re super safe and you should take it, especially if you have COVID!’” Wetherington said.

On Thursday, Wetherington showed Seiden how some sales reps are still pushing the products on the secondary market. He’s now calling on the FDA to issue a recall after hearing from customers who claim the product is making them sick.

“This is about profiting off of people’s desire to get healthier,” Wetherington said.

Channel 2 has emailed, called, texted and sent messages on social media, but the company has ignored repeated attempts to get its side of the story. The FDA has also declined to comment.

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