Proposed Increased Regulation of Supplements Destroyed!
Words on a page blur together, at least when it comes to the FDA and supplements. Reading through their regulation list will make you dizzy. Add the regulation list from the Dick Durbin amendment last week, and you’ll be picking yourself up off the floor!
In late May, Senator Durbin of Illinois and Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut asked to add their supplement regulation bill to the Federal Drug Administration’s Safety and Innovation Act, which the U.S. House of Representatives will review next week.
The Durbin amendment would increase the regulation of supplements and add red tape, which would drive up costs and back-step the progress made in recent years. The Durbin amendment would undo the existing FDA’s dietary ingredient notification process, in lieu of a new one which would erase years of work on the subject, and force a reset to plan A.
The Durbin amendment would also ask for two registrations, since this is already required, as per Title III of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002. This double registration would increase costs and take the focus away from what supplement companies do best: work to improve the health of the public, with supplements that reduce metabolic syndrome, and help with ADHD, heart disease, bone health and more.
The Durbin amendment would also make supplement registration need to occur into a short time frame, forcing many supplements off the market. This would not only hurt the supplement industry, but also the economy at large, since supplement companies would have to stop production or shut down their shops. This is not Durbin’s first try to impede the supplement industry. In 2011, he worked to pass the Dietary Supplement Labeling Act, which still seems to be up in the air.
Here’s the great news: people came together to help the U.S. Senate shoot down this attempted regulation of supplements 77-20 in a short time. It’s off the table! For now, it seems we’ve kept the focus exactly where it need be: on health and happiness.
Resources:
1.) http://www.fda.gov/RegulatoryInformation/Legislation/ucm155769.htm
2.) http://www.naturalnews.com/035976_Dick_Durbin_supplements_Senate.html
3.) http://www.fda.gov/Food/DietarySupplements/ucm109764.htm
4.) http://www.anh-usa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/wholefoodsdurbin.pdf
5.) http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s1310
Rob K., Santa Monica CA
