/News/Regulation-policy — This week the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) hosted its annual ‘Day on the Hill.’ The day—packed with carefully-crafted messages and meetings with congressional staffers—gave about 75 dietary supplement players the opportunity to influence the industry’s regulatory future.
“Today is CRN’s annual Day on the Hill, which means it’s the day that we bring our member company executives into Washington, D.C. to have them meet face-to-face with their members of Congress,” said Steve Mister, president and CEO at CRN.
“It’s an amazing day for our teams to come together. From manufacturers to brand marketers to ingredient suppliers and beyond—we’re all aligned on the same set of issues," added Bruce Brown, chairman of the CRN Board. “We come together, whether competitors or collaborators, with a unified message, and I think that’s really important for the industry.”
That unified message includes four distinct advocacy points: Increasing access by making all supplements FSA and HSA eligible, establishing a mandatory product listing, making members of Congress aware of the implications that tariffs have on the industry and modernizing the Drug Preclusion Act.
Being heard amid all the ‘noise’
“CRN staff that’s based here in Washington can make these arguments all the time, but when members hear from their real-life constituents, the people who create jobs in their district, the people who are responsible for the voters [and] livelihoods, the best way to cut through the clutter is to let them hear from the real members of the industry,” Mister said.
David Trosin, managing director for NSF International’s Health Sciences Certification Program, said as a D.C. resident, the environment can often feel chaotic, but staying focused is key.
“Among all that chaos, perhaps the best thing for people to do is live a healthy lifestyle—eat well, exercise and supplement to make sure you’re getting the micro and macro nutrients you need,” he said.
“That’ll go a long way to making you feel better in this chaos and to have an industry that is supporting healthy nutrition and healthy lifestyles. I think that if people know that we’re here for them and they can stay ahead of it, that they can retain their physical health, they can retain their mental health. That’s a good thing. And it’s a great industry to be a part of.”
Brown said that the bipartisan spirit from his day on the Hill left him feeling inspired.
“When I leave today, I actually leave inspired by the discussions we had on both sides of the aisle and a real willingness to listen and hear our needs as it relates to the industry of dietary supplements and improving access to important healthy nutrition products for American consumers,” he said. “Regardless of some of the division we see, public health is a priority across the aisle.”
