Congress Revisits DSHEA

Congress Revisits DSHEA

WASHINGTONRep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), chairman of the House GovernmentReform Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness, held a hearing March 24 toexamine the governments research analysis and implementation of the DietarySupplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994. The oversight hearingentitled Ten Years After the Implementation of DSHEA: The Status of DietarySupplements in the United States heard testimony from a range of sources,including Robert Brackett, director of the Center for Food Safety and AppliedNutrition (CFSAN); David Seckman, executive director of the National NaturalFoods Association (NNFA); and Annette Dickinson, Ph.D., president of the Councilfor Responsible Nutrition (CRN).

The enactment of DSHEA was a significant step in addressing the safetyconcerns of consumers and manufacturers alike, Burton said in a statement,and its provisions help ensure that appropriately labeled products remainreadily available to those who utilize them.

Seckman testified that when evaluating the effectiveness of any law, thereare two critical steps that must follow its enactment: implementation andenforcement. Laws only work if their provisions are put into practice and thefailure to abide by them is monitored and punished, he said. In regard toDSHEA specifically, and for a number of reasons, this law has never been fullyimplemented or adequately enforced.

In Dickinsons testimony, she reported DSHEAs goals have been fulfilledin the 10 years it has existed. Namely, consumers continue to have access to awide variety of safe supplements and to be provided with more information aboutthe supplements they purchase. One serious remaining challenge for theindustry and FDA is to put a stop to the marketing of street-drug knockoffsmasquerading as dietary supplements, she said. It is to be ardently hopedthat the industrys second decade under DSHEA will be more peaceful than thefirst.

For more on the hearing, visit www.reform.house.gov/WHR/Hearings/
EventSingle.aspx?EventID=877.