An Invercargill businessman has claimed his nosebleed-inducing experiments with his deer-velvet supplement were scientific.
Silberhorn (now Gateway Solutions Ltd) and sole director Ian Carline are currently before the Dunedin District Court after the company admitted 24 charges of misleading conduct under the Fair Trading Act and one of failing to supply documents or information to investigators.
Carline - who stood as the Act party candidate for Invercargill in the 2011 election - also pleaded guilty to the latter charge.
The charges came after a Commerce Commission investigation revealed the supplements did not contain the amount of deer velvet noted on the label.
Carline spent yesterday in the witness box where he said the reduction in the active ingredient came about because a new manufacturing process made the product more potent.
Prosecutor John Dixon QC slammed the man's testing regime, which involved him simply consuming it himself or giving it to people like the late Sir Colin and seeing how they felt.
“I suggest it was woefully inadequate and utterly unscientific,” Mr Dixon said.
Carline said he got some unexpected results after a week of ingestion.
“It wasn't serious, just when you blew your nose you saw blood, which is a concern,” he said.
Under cross-examination, Carline refused to accept his methods were unscientific.
“When you're leading in what you do, there's no one to follow,” he said.
He compared the product to his mother's shortbread recipe: “I can't tell you what made it so good.”
Carline was adamant his new product was twice as effective as it had previously been, so he lowered the dosage.
However, that was not reflected on the label.
Sportsvel, as endorsed by Sir Bob Charles, was advertised as containing 250mg but sometimes contained as little as 180mg, the court heard.
The prosecution argues that deception was deliberate.
“You saw this as an opportunity to reduce your costs and increase your profits,” Mr Dixon said.
“I wouldn't say that at all,” Carline said. “There's not a great deal of profit in deer velvet anyway.”
Defence counsel Judith Ablett-Kerr QC called the mislabelling “corporate negligence”.
It is one of a raft of issues Judge Kevin Phillips will have to determine.
Despite the guilty pleas on the eve of an eight-week trial last year, the case has been before the court for more than a week for a disputed-facts hearing.
Judge Phillips is expected to reveal his findings this week and sentence both parties.
This morning, Carline, who is currently in the witness box, spoke about the origins of his legal woes in early 2014, which began with an anonymous tip-off.
“Sir Colin Meads had received a couple of phone calls from people unknown,” he said.
“That was when I realised I was on the Commerce Commission's radar.”
Carline – who was repeatedly warned by Judge Phillips not to digress - spoke about the history behind the business.
The specific processes behind creating the products were suppressed by the judge because of commercial sensitivity.
Ms Ablett-Kerr drew Carline's attention to a description he wrote about South Island deer velvet as “the best of the best”.
“It's probably puffery and marketing but there's nothing inaccurate in there,” he said.
Carline is convinced the original complaint against him was driven by a competitor's desire to gain a business advantage and repeatedly stressed that viewpoint.
Defence counsel Judith Ablett-Kerr QC drew Carline's attention to a
description he wrote about South Island deer velvet as “the best of the
best”.
“It's probably puffery and marketing but there's nothing inaccurate in
there,” he said.
The Commerce Commission says Carline deliberately deceived the public in
relation to the labelling of the supplements.
The defence case is that it was simply “corporate negligence” and that
the new product, despite being incorrectly labelled, was superior to its
predecessor.
Carline said his assessment of the efficacy came not from scientific
studies but from using himself and others, such as Sir Colin Meads, as
guinea pigs.
After one such experiment, he told the court he experienced nosebleeds
due to his deer-velvet consumption.
The hearing is expected to be completed this week, after which the
defendants will be sentenced.
Ms Ablett-Kerr has indicated Carline will be seeking a discharge without
conviction.
