NY State dietary supplements safety committee proposed
at both levels of the New York State legislature, signifying
political efforts to change current regulations are in fact
serious.
Bringing a bill simultaneously to both houses signifies it is well backed. This latest bill calls for the establishment of a dietary supplements safety committee, comprised of 18 members, for the state. In January, two bills concerning dietary supplement labeling were introduced to both the New York state assembly and senate.
The bill raises the debate of whether or not the dietary supplement industry is sufficiently regulated and if not, who is best equipped to fulfill this task.
All bills were introduced by assemblyman Felix Ortiz to both the New York state assembly and the New York state senate. Critics of the dietary supplement industry accuse it of being unregulated, but the industry has repeatedly insisted that the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act (DSHEA) is a sufficient regulatory safeguard across all 50 states.
By dubbing the proposed committee a "safety" committee, the bill draws attention to the very integrity of dietary supplement and has the potential to affect nutraceutical marketing and distribution in New York State.
"There are roughly 29,000 varieties of dietary supplements for sale across the country," reads the text of the assembly bill 3357 and senate bill 1670. "Adequate standards and enforcement for manufacturing, safety and effectiveness are necessary to protect the health and well-being of the residents of New York State."
According to the bill, the proposed committee would establish a system of reporting adverse events, make specific recommendations for banning the sale of dietary supplements deemed harmful, as well as establish a public health education campaign on dietary supplements with variations specifically directed to target different groups.
The bill outlines a method for selecting the committee:
-three members would be appointed by the temporary president of the senate;
-two by the minority senate leader;
-three by the speaker of the assembly;
-two by the minority leader of the assembly
-eight by the governor, who also would also be responsible for designating the chairperson.
The members of the committee would be drawn from the public field - such as dieticians and nutritionists.
In January, companion bills calling for dietary supplements to be explicitly labeled as not having been tested by the US Food & Drug Administration were also introduced at both levels of the New York legislature.
Bills S. 938 and A. 2068 read:
"…no person shall manufacture, sell or expose for sale any product which shall be termed as a dietary supplement or nutritional supplement without branding or labeling such product with a statement that the product has or has not been tested by the United States food and drug administration…"
