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Commercial Jealousy and mud slinging !
With thousands of tons of MSM being produced per annum for a very lucrative, multi-million dollar world market, don't be surprised to see mud slinging between the major competitors as they all vie for market advantage.
Note: For simplicity, Methylsulfonylmethane commonly known as MSM, (True technical name: Dimethyl Sulfone) will be referred to as "MSM" throughout this article.
The three major MSM players are:
- Cardinal / Bergstrom (Opti™ MSM)
- Carolwood Corporation (Lignisul™ MSM, Lignisul DC™ and Alavis™ MSM)
- RAIN Nutrience (DistilPure™ MSM)
Common Misconceptions
The majority of mud slinging, negative press and law suits arise from three basic misconceptions regarding MSM:
- Patent rights
- Licensing
- Source
MSM Patent misconception
MSM itself is not patented, which means anyone is legally entitled to manufacture or sell MSM.
MSM does however, have some 11 "Use patents" which are held and licensed by Robert S Herschler's MSM Investments Company. Use Patents mean that in order for a manufacturer or supplier to make specific claims for the use or application of MSM for certain conditions, they need to have the patent holder's permission. However, with over 20 years of public availability and several million end users in the USA alone, most people are well aware of what MSM can be used for, so the vast majority of suppliers and manufacturers sell MSM legally without the need to state it's specific uses or applications.
Herschler's MSM Investments Company fought several legal battles in the past in an effort to hold / control the sale of MSM but often failed as some of his use patents were proven to be invalid.
Invalid Patent: August 9, 2001: The district court did not err in granting summary judgement that the claims of the ’878 patent are invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b).
Licensed MSM
Again, the vast majority of suppliers sell MSM legally without the need to state it's specific uses or applications and thus avoid the unnecessary costs and restrictions of being licensed.
The only companies who pay royalties to Herschler's MSM Investments Company and are currently licensed to sell MSM under the "use patents" are Cardinal Bergstrom (Opti™ MSM) and Chemiplus of Japan.
Formerly, Carolwood Corporation (Lignisul™
MSM) was also licensed, however, they failed to make royalties payments to Herschler
resulting in Herschler's MSM Investments Company, LLC being awarded $1.2 million
ref: MSM Investments Company, LLC Announces $1.2
Million in Damages Awarded Against Carolwood Corporation by Federal Court
2003-04-05 - Bennett, Hartman, Morris & Kaplan, LLP.
Again it should be noted that the vast majority of suppliers sell MSM legally without the need to state it's specific uses or applications and thus avoid the unnecessary costs and restrictions of being licensed.
Cheap MSM from the Far East:
The majority of problems experienced by Herschler's MSM Investments Company, Carolwood (Lignisul™ MSM) and Cardinal Bergstrom (Opti™ MSM) have occurred since the arrival of very cheap varieties of MSM from the Far East. Competition became particularly strong in the lucrative USA market, retail prices of MSM dropped dramatically promoting fierce competition and the inevitable mud slinging, negative press and law suits.
Carolwood Corporation - Lignisul MSM
Commonly known as Lignisul™ MSM, however, after the court battle above, Carolwood appear to have sold or transferred their original trademark for the USA and Canada to Fine Nutraceuticals, moved it's manufacturing unit to Beijing, China and launched an almost identical trademark - Lignisul DC™.
Fine Nutraceuticals filed for bankruptcy on December 2, 2004
Fine Nutraceuticals relaunched 9th January 2007:
Fine Nutraceuticals (FNI) emerged from the protection of Chapter 11 bankruptcy today. The newly reorganised company is now the sole source of Lignisul®MSM and Alavis®MSM, world-wide but doesn't appear to have a manufacturing plant in the USA or Canada - If you know any different please contact me and I'll update this entry (Contact Page)
Note: Many customers believe Lignisul™ is still manufactured in the USA from Pine tree source ! Although it's been suggested they still have a contract manufacturing agreement in the USA.
It's been suggested that the bulk of Carolwood's MSM - (Lignisul DC™ which stands for "Double Crystallised") has been manufactured in Beijing, China since approx 2005. They installed a pure water plant in their Beijing factory and produce crystallised MSM from DMSO. The DMSO is derived from Beijing from what's considered to be the World's second largest producer of DMSO who source from fossil fuels, sometimes known as petrochemical or synthetic source. Their MSM is 40 / 60 mesh, nice chunky, naturally free flowing crystals (No flow agents) at 99.9% pure, so as far as Chinese MSM is concerned, it's certainly one of the best.
Opti™ MSM
George Edwin Bergstrom III, a chemical engineer, Co-founded Cardinal Nutrition in Vancouver in 1988.
Opti™ MSM was the first MSM to be produced by a basic Distillation process, until that time all MSM was produced by crystallisation.
2002 - The Korean Affair:
It's been reported that Opti's efforts to establish MSM in South Korea in 2002 ran into major problems when their agent Mr. Steve Chang tried to bypass the KFDA (Korean FDA). Before his products received KFDA’s approval, he illegally imported Opti™ MSM under the false label of “Bath powder” only to sell it under the label “Drinking Powder”. An investigation resulted in the resigning of four related parties as well as the final collapse of Mr. Chang’s company. The KFDA punished 6 of its own members for unprofessional supervising and apparently Opti™ fell into disrepute with the Korean authorities.
2003 - Roma Bergstrom becomes new CEO of Cardinal:
George Edwin Bergstrom III, the chemical engineer, who Co-founded Cardinal Nutrition passed on in August 2003. His widow, Roma Bergstrom, became its new chief executive officer. Mrs. Bergstrom also serves as chairperson on Cardinal Nutrition's board of directors.
Formerly known as Cardinal Nutrition's Opti™ MSM, now known as Cardinal / Bergstrom's Opti™ MSM.
2004 - Arrival of RAIN Nutrience Ltd (DistilPure MSM)
RAIN Nutrience Ltd (DistilPure™ MSM) arrived on the MSM manufacturing scene in 2004 with an advanced continuous distillation process and knocked Cardinal (Opti™ MSM) off it's pedestal. Consequently Cardinal (Opti™) lost it's marketing advantage and claim of being the only producer of Distilled MSM (though often continues to make this claim)
October 2004 2005 - Opti's source of DMSO questioned:
Emails from former Opti™ customers who had phoned Opti™ to ask their source - Opti™ apparently replied that they couldn't always obtain DMSO from paper pulp source, so reserved the option to buy from "alternative sources" though wouldn't state the alternative source.
It has been suggested that Opti™, in an effort to compete with the cheap varieties of MSM being imported from China, may have chosen to purchase DMSO from petrochemical source which is far cheaper than DMSO from paper pulp source. This may have changed after the complaints - we're waiting for a definitive update on this.
October 21, 2005 - Opti™ Upgrade Porcessing:
Opti™ try to keep up with DistilPure™ by introducing a continuous distillation process (DistilPure™ developed and used this process since 2004)
"Cardinal Nutrition hopes that its continuously distilled premium MSM in larger lots will create efficiencies down through the purchasing and product analytical chain, ultimately saving its customers time and money".
“A stringent equivalency verification study protocol was employed, requiring dozens of consecutive lots to meet each of 24 individual quality specifications,” said Rod Benjamin, director of quality control. “We undertook this rigorous study to ensure that the high quality and consistency of Opti™ MSM would not be affected by the process change,” he said. (Reference)
17-Jul-2007 - Restructuring of Cardinal Bergstrom:
The restructuring has already seen president, David Lakey, and vice president of sales, Grant Bergstrom, leave the company. Press reported that Bergstrom confirmed the company's strategic direction and ownership had not changed.
February 2008: Opti explores option of DistilPure:
Opti™ recently explored the option of having their MSM contract manufactured by Rain Nutrience Ltd. (DistilPure™ MSM) at the rate of some 10,000 tons per year, Rain Nutrience Ltd declined as they have a much smaller but established quality market and didn't feel the need to mass produce for another manufacturer.
March 2008: Opti™ advocate challenges DistilPure™
Recent Canadian press reports attack RAIN Nutrience.
Although the Canadian Press attacked on many levels and questioned the source of DistilPure MSM, Rain Nutrience's only sin to date appears to be it's negligence to register the intentionally planned Canadian Company name (Rain Nutrience Canada Inc) which appeared on an American Label. Rupert O'Connell, UK M.D of Rain Nutrience Ltd. commented that this had been overlooked in the excitement of launching into the USA market place, Mr O'Connell explained, "We became absorbed in the launch and excitement of the many employment opportunities this would bring for the Canadian based manufacturing unit". Both Mr O'Connell (UK) and Alan Andreasen (Canada) have apologised for any misunderstanding this may have caused, however, the apology has not been published - apparently it wouldn't make good press!
The story of the MSM manufacturers will no doubt continue!
Mike Pritchard-Jones
See also:
MSM
/ DMSO - The great debate
Pine Tree v Fossil Fuel Source (petrochemical source)
A detailed insight into the manufacture of various types of MSM