Source: LOHAS Weekly Newsletter
Published: Thursday, November 01, 2001

Finally, a surprising but welcome word from the highest levels of government to two key players in the ongoing debate about the safety and efficacy of dietary supplements. It’s an odd couple, but both FDA and the unscrupulous companies that tarnish the already battered image of the dietary supplements industry were put on notice that it’s time for regulators and producers alike to get serious about enforcement of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA).

On Oct. 25, the industry’s top allies in Congress, Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, stunned the industry with their introduction of Amendment No. 2013 to the Senate’s version of the farm bill. The amendment provides $1 million to FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition to ensure that supplements products are accurately labeled and that claims are truthful, nonmisleading and substantiated, as required by DSHEA.

In Harkin’s own words, the amendment seeks to help make enforcement of DSHEA “a top priority” at FDA. “For the few bad actors who are giving the industry a bad name, who are taking advantage of a trusting public, I say, ‘It is time to get tough.’”

In their remarks, both senators also called, once again, for FDA to implement the long-overdue good manufacturing practices mandated by DSHEA nearly seven years ago.

It’s open for debate whether $1 million will be enough to turn around an agency that has been clearly dragging its feet in regard to DSHEA, but it’s the first tangible effort at specifically funding the effort.

“The FDA simply has to get serious about enforcing this law,” Hatch said.

The amendment must now survive reconciliation with the House version of the farm bill before becoming law. But whether or not it survives, FDA will have difficulty hiding behind its well-worn argument that it lacks the resources to fully implement DSHEA while hostile members of Congress and a suspicious media continue to bash away at one of the foundations of the complementary medicine movement in the U.S.

The opportunity for industry is obvious. As we’ve reported in these pages, the very real threat of an overturning or significant watering down of DSHEA would substantially impact the viability to sell (and possibly use) these products.

It’s time for reputable supplements companies to look beyond the current market slowdown and get serious about providing sustained financial support to the groups that work in the shadows to advance the sale of these products and keep this industry viable in the eyes of its regulators. Through this new legislation, the work of NNFA, CRN, AHPA and others have been given a big assist, but their continued viability is crucial to the effort that will be needed to turn critics into supporters.

Financial support is also needed by the Dietary Supplement Education Alliance (DSEA), which has already accomplished quite a bit with very limited resources.

Amendment 2013 is our big—and perhaps final—opportunity to proactively finish the work started by those individuals and groups that conceived DSHEA and who continue to work hard to protect it. It’s time to get tough.

Frank Lampe is the editorial director of

Natural Business.