Congress Increasingly Active on Herbs and Dietary Supplements: Durbin's Bill Intends to Clamp Down on Supplement Safety while Hatch and Harkin Propose More Funding for FDA Enforcement of DSHEA

摘要

The year 2003 witnessed an increasing level of involvement by the U.S. Congress in matters dealing with the regulation, quality, safety and claims for herbs and other dietary supplements. In March 2003, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) introduced the Dietary Supplement Safety Act (S. 722) into the U.S. Senate proposing significant changes to the regulation of herb and dietary supplements. In July, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a two-day hearing on safety issues related to the controversial herb ephedra (Ephedra sinica Stapf, Ephcdraceae). In July, Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) introduced the DSHEA Full Implementation and Enforcement Act of 2003 (S. 1538), to promote full enforcement of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA). Then, in October Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA) introduced the Dietary Supplement Access and Awareness Act (HR 3377) which proposes to prohibit "high-risk" supplements to minors and other restrictions on supplements. In November, an amendment was attached to the Agriculture Bill that would grant the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Si million in additional funding to enforce existing provisions of DSHEA, including $500,000 for enforcement of provisions related to ephedra. Four other bills have implications for herbs and other supplements (Table 1).