The sponsor of a bill meant to clarify supplement regulations spoke on its behalf during a congressional hearing yesterday. The purpose of the legislation is to end the ongoing drift toward state-level rules when it comes to supplements.
Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-N.Y.) testified on behalf of a bill he introduced in February. The bill, titled the Dietary Supplement Regulatory Uniformity Act (H.R. 7366), is meant to forestall the rising tide of state level bills that govern the dietary supplement industry.
Langworthy offered his testimony as part of a hearing led by Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Virginia), chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, titled “Healthier America: Legislative Proposals on the Regulation and Oversight of Food.” The lengthy agenda included many bills specific to the regulation of foods. Langworthy’s bill was the one that affects the dietary supplement industry most directly.
State laws have proliferated
Distrust at the state level of FDA’s oversight of dietary supplements and similar products could perhaps be traced to the early years of the CBD boom following the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill. Language in that omnibus piece of legislation removed cannabis from the Schedule I list of controlled substances and opened the door for CBD products.
Despite several directives from Congress, though, FDA declined to create a federal regulatory framework for CBD in the wake of the bill’s passage. In the absence of federal action, state lawmakers have taken matters into their own hands, creating dozens of state regulatory frameworks for CBD products.
In a similar way, state-based bills have been introduced and advanced that sought to restrict the sale of weight-loss and muscle-building supplements to minors. Proponents of the bills claim these products can exacerbate eating disorders among minors.
Advocates for these bills apparently saw there was little hope of getting a federal bill passed or getting FDA to institute a rule on the matter, so they took their case to the states, much in the way CBD advocates had done before them.
Sales-restrictions bills have been introduced in several states, most recently in Hawaii and Alaska. One such bill has been signed into law in New York and remains in effect, even as a legal challenge makes its way through the courts.
Support from trade organizations
At the time of the introduction of Langworthy’s bill, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), Natural Products Association (NPA), American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) and Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) issued a joint statement supporting the bill.
Daniel Fabricant, Ph.D., president and CEO of NPA, issued a statement on Langworthy’s testimony that called his bill “a timely and necessary measure to restore clarity, consistency and scientific integrity to the marketplace. At its core, this legislation reaffirms the authority of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to administer and enforce a uniform, national framework for dietary supplement regulation. This framework has safeguarded public health and supported innovation for decades.”