Despite California Governor Gavin Newsom’s veto just months ago of a bill restricting and prohibiting access to dietary supplements, California lawmakers reintroduced identical legislation for the 2023-2024 legislative session.
“The ink is barely dry from Governor Newsom’s veto of this harmful legislation from last year but the same lawmakers are back at it again,” said Daniel Fabricant, PhD, president and CEO of the Natural Products Association (NPA). “This shows that that those pushing this misguided proposal are not interested in science, health or protecting consumers. As we have demonstrated repeatedly in public testimony and official correspondence to the Governor and to California public health officials, there is not a single data point connecting the use of eating disorders and dietary supplements. If there were, the FDA would be required to remove that product from the market.”
Last session, NPA was the sole trade that testified in opposition to the bill and asked Governor Newsom to veto the legislation. NPA’s letter to the Governor can be viewed here. Health and wellness advocates are encouraged to join the NPA grassroots campaign against AB 82 by writing to their Sacramento lawmakers here.
In September 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed AB1341 which would have restricted access to dietary supplements, and in some cases would have required a prescription to access these health products. The bill would also have required brick and mortar retailers to post warning signs at purchase counters saying that dietary supplements are known to cause serious adverse events, including stroke, organ failure, and even death, despite no scientific evidence supporting the claim. The bill had no such similar warning requirements for online sales. Failure to comply with the legislation would have brought fines of up to $1,000 for each infraction, and a legislative analysis suggested that ingredients including vitamin D and calcium were potentially harmful.
“Last year’s veto was a decisive victory for California consumers, the natural products industry, and science. Supporters of this bill like STRIPED used a range of completely false claims and zero science to jam this through with no evidence, but to his credit Governor Newsom and his team looked at the facts and made the right call. NPA members had a big hand in persuading him by sending thousands of messages that made their opposition clear,” said Fabricant.
For more information, visit www.npanational.org.
