The President’s Desk

Long after the May newsletter went to print, we found out about legislation that could restrict your access to nutritional supplements. This legislation was buried as an amendment introduced by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) in the House of Representatives’ version of the recently passed Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 4173). Currently, the Senate’s version of the bill, the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 (S. 3217), also includes a similar amendment proposed by Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.).

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulate supplements under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA). If the new bill becomes law, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) would have the authority to require nutritional supplement companies to perform at least two human studies before making any claims for their products. Human trials are time-consuming and beyond the financial means of most supplement companies. Once the companies funded these studies, the FTC could then require more and more costly versions of these initial trials or even mandate that more studies be conducted. The result? Many supplements currently available would be taken off the market and those that are available would rise in price.

This means that decisions about your health would be in the hands of five unelected FTC commissioners whose heavy-handed regulations could put many nutritional supplement companies out of business.

Currently, both DSHEA and Good Manufacturing Practices govern our industry and ensure that consumers are receiving safe supplements. Furthermore, in many instances, human trials already exist on ingredients of various supplements, and these trials already are reported upon in the medical literature. Incorporating the wording giving the FTC increased authority is simply a sneak attack that ultimately will deprive consumers of their health freedom.