Wellness MLM’s Fulvic Acid Product Raises Red Flags

“The mudman” is back.

Marc Saint-Onge, the founder and former CEO of BlackOxygen Organics, which went out of business in late 2021 around the same time the FDA issued a public health alert warning consumers about the hazards of the company’s fulvic acid products, which the agency found contained elevated levels of lead and arsenic, has apparently found a new MLM to sell his “magic dirt.”

Wellness MLM Lovvare has partnered with Saint-Onge to sell a “fulvic mineral drink” called Fulvic Essentials+. According to the company, in addition to fulvic acid, the product also contains humic acid; both compounds are derived from decomposed plant material, aka dirt.

On a recent Zoom call attended by distributors, Lovvare’s CEO, John Altshuler (seen above, opposite Saint-Onge), introduced Saint-Onge as “the formulator of this flagship product,” which is expected to be released to the public this month. (Currently, only Lovvare distributors can purchase the product.)

“This is your life’s work,” Altshuler said.

During the 35-minute call, Altshuler lavished praise on Saint-Onge, while failing to mention any of the regulatory problems the former CEO encountered trying to market and sell his fulvic acid powders and tablets at BOO, as the MLM was known.

Federal health officials in Canada were able to get to BOO before it closed its doors, announcing a recall of the company’s fulvic acid products due to potential health risks in September 2021. Two months later, the FTC sent Saint-Onge a cease-and-desist letter over BOO distributors’ claims that the company’s products treat or prevent COVID-19, which violated FTC law. That same month, a class-action lawsuit was filed against BOO and Saint-Onge alleging the company and its former CEO failed to disclose that the MLM’s products contained unsafe levels of toxic heavy metals. The lawsuit is pending.

In fact, only after touting a “broad blanket of benefits” of the fulvic-humic acid blend, including increased energy and reduced fatigue, improved cognitive function and strengthened immunity, did Altshuler even bring up a safety issue (Saint-Onge also listed a number of purported health benefits, including that the product removes toxins from the body and reduces oxidative stress, which the FDA has established are drug claims requiring its approval.) Altshuler said:

I think one of the other things I just want to address quickly is that when we’re talking about a product that is harvested from the earth, it’s a natural product and that’s the wonderful part about it, but how do we know we’re consuming something that’s safe?

Saint-Onge responded:

What we’re doing now is we’re doing some analysis on the content of the fulvic and humic and we make sure that there’s standard levels of all the minerals. … There’s organic and inorganic arsenic, and there’s lead and there’s certain levels you can’t shy away from that because it’s earth. Those elements are in all natural products and it’s just to be able to manage it to create a dosage that actually has the standard levels and the lower levels. And that’s what we’re able to do now.

So, is this sufficient to ensure that the product is safe for consumption? And if so, was Saint-Onge not able to do this when he was at his previous MLM? In other words, what’s changed?

Deceptive income claims

Also of note, Altshuler said on the call that the Lovvare business opportunity has distributors’ “financial freedom interests at heart.” On the sign-up page, the MLM claims it offers consumers the chance to earn “a little extra income to help pay [their] bills” or to make Lovvare their “next full-time gig.” The reality? Most people who join legitimate MLMs make little or no money and some even lose money, according to the FTC. (Saint-Onge’s former company was among those that received a notice of penalty offenses concerning deceptive income claims from the FTC in October 2021.)

The bottom line

This appears to be just the latest attempt to pick up where BOO left off. In February 2022, Youngevity International, a California-based MLM that sells a variety of products, sent an email to former BOO distributors offering them not just the chance to claw back commissions owed by their previous company, but also the opportunity to sell a fulvic acid product that BOO-turned-Youngevity distributors said privately was “the same thing” as BOO.

In short, any consumer considering Lovvare’s fulvic acid products or business opportunity may want to think twice, or at the very least, do their research before they decide to jump in.

TINA.org reached out to Lovvare for comment. Check back for updates.

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