Legal & Regulatory Briefs

In a widening U.S. Justice Dept. probe into whether large chemical makers have conspired to set prices in the global wholesale vitamins market, Rhone-Poulenc SA (RHON), Roche Holding Ltd. (ROCZ), BASF AG, DeGussa AG and others have received subpoenas from U.S. Justice Dept. investigators seeking documents and information. The $3 billion per year global bulk vitamins market is dominated by Roche with 40% of the market.

Serge Lavoie, executive director since March 1997 of the Canadian Health Foods Association, resigned his post effective March 1999, after the association’s board voted at its October meeting to refocus its efforts away from promoting natural products in general and toward representing the interests of traditional health food retailers in Canada. The board as part of the refocus also will redefine how it classifies suppliers of natural foods. Lavoie says the move was in synch with the desires of the retail membership.

The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) also is looking for a new executive director. Jeff Morrison resigned his position as executive director effective Oct. 23 to join Botanicals International of Long Beach, CA, as Northeast regional sales manager. Greg Gray is serving as acting executive director of AHPA while a committee searches for a new executive director.

The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) has hired the Washington, DC-based firm McGuiness & Holch to represent it on Capitol Hill and to help with lobbying efforts. The company formerly represented the National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA) in a similar capacity.

In other news, CRN submitted comments agreeing that FDA was justified in denying nine health claims proposed by Weider Nutrition Intl. (WNI) but at the same time strongly disagreed with some of FDA’s reasons for the negative rulings. CRN said FDA expanded the requirements beyond those specified in the FDA Modernization Act of 1997.

The National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA) has hired Paine and Associates of Costa Mesa, CA, for media relations, media training and to help the association be more proactive with media stories about the industry and its products. The association’s board also recently approved what it calls the Model Bill initiative in an attempt to begin introducing DSHEA-style legislation at the state level to align state regulatory actions to DSHEA. The group has targeted Ohio as its test state and has hired a local lobbyist in Ohio to assist with the effort to introduce suitable legislation.

Legislation promoting the “Office” of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health to a “Center” passed Congress in October. With an initial appropriation of $50 million, the new Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine will be able to make grants, among other new freedoms.