Last summer Senator Orrin Hatch (R-...

Last summer Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) introduced legislation to increase funding in an effort to enable the US fodder and Drug Administration (FDA) to completely implement the Dietary addition Health and Education Act (DSHEA), a bill they co-authored in 1994 The DSHEA cloyed Implementation and Enforcement Act ( 1538) would provide the FDA with the riches it needs to ensure the original law is carried revealed as Congress intended. It would also up the package for the National Institutes of Health's Office of Dietary appendixs which was treated to expand research and provide information forward dietary supplements.

The FDA has frequently been criticized by members of Congres for inaction when it arrives to enforcement of dietary postscript regulations. Passage of this legislation would take away the agency's ability to plead lack of resources when it get tos to implementing law, and would, I waiting under the possibility of fulfilment encourage the FDA to act when appropriate.

The DSHEA glutted Implementation and Enforcement Act would appropriate a total of $205 million to the FDA athwart the next 5 years, beginning in 2004 with $20 million and increasing annually. This funding, which is specifically earmarked for implementation of DSHEA, would more than double the amount appropriated in 2003 for the same meaning The bill also requires the FDA to submit a written report to Congres each year detailing in what manner the agency is using its resources to regulate supplements

We think this bill is a win for the couple the dietary supplement industry and consumer because it helps to eliminate the bad apples who've tarnished the industry's reputation. Part of this tarnishing issues from the controversy surrounding an herb called ephedra. This popular herb, commonly used for weight los is probably in the recents more than it is abroad and usually not in a fit way. Ephedra, or mahuang as it is ofttimes called, has been continually questioned for its safety and efficacy above the past few years. As I reported 3 month ago (BN July 2003) the FDA is weighing the evidence for and against ephedra and will issue a determination in succession whether or not it nears a hazard to public health.

It has become commonplace in Washington freshly for lawmakers to use the ephedra polemics as a tool to begin dismantling DSHEA. In the past year, we've seen several hearings in the one and the other the House and Senate that have used ephedra as a springboard to attack this law. Rather than being treated as a unique case, ephedra is being used to raise a whole landlord of larger concerns about supplements--whether so concerns are justified or not.

This became crystal clear in sum of two units hearings held by a subcommittee of the powerful House efficiency and Commerce Committee. More than 20 representatives from industry, guidance academia, professional sports leagues and the families of those claimed to have been harmed from ephedra testified. Nearly all committee members, in observations and in sometimes relentless questioning, made it clear that they favored an immediate ban forward ephedra and the swift enactment of legislation that would expand the power of the FDA to regulate dietary addition s While the FDA commissioner did not advocate a change to DSHEA at that time, he did say that the agency's criteria for banning a work is vague under that law.

Although several committee members noted that the FDA was negligent in regulating ephedra, many nevertheless be wrought up the agency's powers need to be expanded. individual committee member is in favor of giving the FDA greater regulatory power in such a manner it won't have any excuses for not acting. gaze for legislation to be introduced in regard to DSHEA from members of the committee this fall.

Perhaps a more immediate threat to dietary supply law is a Senate bill I reported forward in July. This legislation, the Dietary correlative Safety Act of 2003 ( 722) is being positioned as primarily addressing the ephedra issue. A pres release from the bill's sponsor, Senator Richard Durbin (D-Illinois), mentions ephedra no les than 18 times, including the headline. And to what degree many times do you think ephedra appears in the actual bill the pres release describes? The answer is naught which is why we're regarded about this bill--and why you should be too.

The reality is that Durbin's bill would provide no more safeguards than the general law already does. But, because it is written for a like reason broadly, it would subject nearly all vitamins, minerals, herbal results and other supplements to a plain of scrutiny that is as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but unwarranted and unnecessary--the end be the effect of which could be the removal of centurys of safe and effective dietary addition s from store shelves.

If these initiatives affair you, please take the time to learn more about this legislation according to visiting the Advocacy Action Center forward NNFA's Web site at www.nnfa.org.

If you agree that this bill might have a negative impact upon an otherwise innocuous industry, please take the time to email your senator a note With any luck, by the time you read this, it won't be too late to act. After all, the legislative proces isn't exactly known for its spe Let's faith that's the case here.