MANILA, Philippines – The trademark owner and distributor of “Met Tathione,” a glutathione food supplement, have filed a P10 million libel suit against the distributor of a rival brand for coming out with advertisements they claimed made their product appear unsafe.

The complaint was filed by White Beauty Philippines Co., Met Tathione trademark owner, and White Beauty Corp., product distributor, last month at the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office.

The firms said United Shelter Health Products (USHP), distributor of Lucida-DS, a rival brand, paid for newspaper ads that came out on May 29 branding their product as unsafe.

The ads also claimed the two companies were deceiving the public by claiming that Met Tathione is made in Japan, they added.

Named as respondents in the libel complaint were USHP registered owners Ma. Isabel Galindez and Ronald Raguero.

In the ads, USHP accused Met Tathione of riding on the image of Japan-manufactured commodities as quality products and of deceiving the public in claiming that the product is made in Japan.

The advertisement also cited a certification issued by Japan-based AMS Life Science Co. Ltd. which stated: “It is the law/policy of the Japanese government not to allow all manufacturing companies in Japan to produce more than 100 mg of glutathione on food supplement,” and pointed out that Met Tathione is selling 250 mg of glutathione.

“The said advertisement makes it appear to its readers that the trademark Met Tathione is a deceptive brand in that while Met Tathione claims to originate from Japan, it is not manufactured in Japan,” the complaint-affidavit stated.

The complainants further claimed, “It is also made to appear in the said advertisement that the persons and institutions behind the trademark Met Tathione are engaged in criminal acts of public deception and in the peddling of lies and falsehoods by letting Met Tathione ride on the good image of Japanese products and commodities.”

The complainants stressed that the advertisement insinuated that they have been violating Japanese laws on the maximum glutathione content allowed in food supplements when Met Tathione is, in fact, manufactured in Japan, “under the strict supervision of the Japanese Health Ministry.”