Source: LOHAS Weekly Newsletter
Published: Monday, October 01, 2001

Since passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) in 1994, confrontations have ensued between supporters of DSHEA and those who seek to amend, severely restrict or even repeal this landmark legislation. Efforts to address product safety and quality and ensure excellence must be continued and increased if we are to survive in the long term as a viable industry.

On Sept. 10, Sen. John Breaux, D-La., chairman of the Senate’s Special Committee on Aging, held hearings that alleged our industry was perpetrating fraud on elderly Americans.

Needless to say, the Breaux hearings echoed the negative press that has colored our industry for too many years. (see related story, pg. 8.)

Our industry’s response, so far, has been to point the finger elsewhere—we blame the media, we blame FDA, and we blame industry “outliers” for our problems.

Industry champion and co-author of DSHEA, Bill Richardson, now Secretary of Energy, was invited to speak at the Council for Responsible Nutrition’s (CRN) Annual Conference, originally scheduled for late September. Unfortunately, our conference was canceled after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, but Secretary Richardson’s prepared text is available from CRN upon request. We join Richardson in suggesting that the industry must be more objective in assessing its problems. He noted that the dietary supplements industry must distinguish between “negative media attacks” and media reporting of accurate negative information we may not wish to hear.

So what do we do now? Let’s be honest about our problems and accept that we are a key part of the problem. Then, let’s take the kind of aggressive corrective actions that are needed. I urge the industry to embark on an intense program over the next 12 months in which we focus on safety and quality standards for our products, thereby placing ourselves in a position to withstand third-party testing challenges.

CRN has identified specific initiatives that are critical to establishing product safety. For example, CRN is undertaking a review of various approaches to safety assessments that address the major challenges facing our industry. It is essential that we clarify the 75-day DSHEA new-ingredient notification provision, which can be done by developing industry guidelines for a decision-making system and process. Further, the industry must become fully engaged in the activities of the Food and Nutrition Board safety-evaluation framework for dietary supplements. FDA is funding this two-year effort.

It is critical that we understand the usefulness of the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) approach and assess the feasibility of this mechanism to assert such status for dietary supplements ingredients.

It goes without saying that the bottom line is to provide consumers with the health benefits they expect from our products. Formulations must be based on good science, and labels must accurately describe the benefits that can be expected. With a strong focus on safety, quality and benefits, we can earn the consumer’s confidence and provide legislators with a basis for continuing to support DSHEA. These elements are essential to our success.

John Cordaro is president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based Council for Responsible Nutrition.