McCain Letter Outlines Supplement Goal

WASHINGTON Dietary Safety Supplement Act (S.3002) co-sponsors Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND) sent a letter to Sen. Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Tom Harkin (D-IA), outlining key areas of common ground over dietary supplement legislation. Also sent to the committee's top republican, Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming, and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), the letter supports incorporating the common ground legislative ideas into the FDA Food Safety Modernization Bill. This correspondence follows a recent reassessment by McCain of his support for S.3002, which resulted in a reported partnership with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) on regulatory ways to improve the regulatory situation for supplements, including encouraging better oversight of existing regulations.

In the most recent letter, McCain and Dorgan highlight four areas of common ground, such as requiring all dietary supplement manufacturing, processing and holding facilities to register with the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Also, the group wants provide broader recall authority to FDA for cases in which a supplement is found to be adulterated or misbranded, especially where the products pose a serious health threat. However, FDA is not totally on the receiving end, as the letter suggests the agency be required to publish new dietary ingredient (NDI) guidelines as soon as possible, and to notify the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) when a new supplement contains a synthetic anabolic steroid.

McCain noted his goal is to protect athletes, from pros and Olympians to weekend warriors and youth.

USADA chief executive officer Travis Tygart, who championed S.3002, said this latest development fills regulatory holes while allowing the public free access to legitimate supplements. "These are obviously needed improvements, and the agreement provides additional consumer protections which are certainly important to all athletes and why the pro sports and the Olympic sports came together to push for better regulation," Tygart said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. . It's a fair balance, and this step in the process has resulted in a quick and beneficial agreement."

The Natural Products Association (NPA) reacted positively to the cooperation the senators are undertaking. "The NPA is pleased that industry champions Hatch and Harkin have reached an agreement with McCain and Dorgan on reasonable measures to strengthen the regulation of dietary supplements without opening up DSHEA, said John Gay, CEO and executive director of NPA. The original McCain-Dorgan bill would have radically altered the existing regulatory framework [in the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act], and threatened an entire industry in an ineffective attempt to combat a relatively few bad actors.

However, Gray cautioned this should still serve as a wake-up call to the supplement industry, as it is not unrealistic t that another senator would pick up where McCain and Dorgan left off. We need to keep up the pressure on Congress, and let them know that S.3002 and bills like it are not acceptable.