News from Washington, D.C.
This was a relatively busy week in D.C. for dietary supplement legislation. First, a bill was introduced that would enable the FDA to better enforce the DSHEA, and second, a special Senate committee held a hearing on dietary supplement safety. Read more about each after the jump:
On Tuesday, Senators Orin Hatch (R-UT) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced the "Dietary Supplement Full Implementation and Enforcement Act of 2010". This act, which is a re-introduction of a 2003 bill, would boost the FDA's ability to enforce the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 ("DSHEA").
The Act would allocate more funds to the FDA and would create additional requirements for the FDA and for dietary supplement companies. If this bill were the become law, the FDA would be required to:
- provide an estimate to Congress of the cost over the next five years of fully implementing the DSHEA
- conduct inspections of all facilities in which a dietary supplement is manufactured
- implement the recommendations from the January 2009 report from the Government Accountability Office
- notify the DEA if the FDA determines that t anew supplement contains an anabolic steroid
The act requires Dietary supplement manufactures, distributors, and retailers to:
- comply fully with the DSHEA and the Dietary Supplement and Non-prescription Drug Consumer Protection Act
- cooperate fully with the FDA in implementing all relevant federal laws and regulations
- blow the whistle on suspected violations of federal laws and regulations
The act would also allocate additional funds through 2014 to the FDA for enforcement of dietary supplement safety.
On Wednesday the Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing regarding dietary supplements. The hearing was mostly devoted to concerns about maintaining and ensuring the safety of dietary supplements sold in the United States. Senator Herb Cole (D-WI), the chairman of the committee opened the hearing, with testimony from Greg Kutz of the Government Accountability Office, Tod Cooperman from ConsumerLab.com, Charles Bell from Consumers Union, Steve Mister from CRN, and Joshua Sharfstein from the FDA. Senator Hatch made a formal statement regarding the Dietary Supplement Full Implementation and Enforcement Act. You can watch the recorded version of the hearing and read the statements from each witness here.
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