PI, why this is a minor issue.
Yes, people are selling B12 in the form of an oral lozenger release of cyanocobalamin. And yes, it's assumed one could take this. BUT...
1) Cobalt could go after a company that advertises it for this use.
2) Only Cobalt could claim it's FDA aproved for prevention of allergy reactions (probably the most important point).
3) It's quite possible that Cobalt could pressure the FDA to clamp down on these suppliers, because cyancobalamin absorded through the blood creates circulating cyanocobalamin that would not exists naturally, and therefore is not legitemately a natural supplement.
To elaborate on the third point, when taken as a standard vitamin B12, the cyanocobalamin is metablised into other forms of cobalamins that the body actually uses. It is also somewhat limited in that you can only absorb a few ugrams this way. The oral lozenger or similar approaches have the cyano- form itself in the system and also allow higher doeses.
All said, there will certainly be some of this (and you can forget any sales at all in the third world), but it's not a killer. The prescription drug NasCobalamin (or some such) is a nasal gel version of B12 that sales quite well despite the exact same issue.
