Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) withdrew his amendment to the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would require supplements sold on military bases to be verified by a third-party amid strong opposition by the supplement industry.
Enacted on an annual basis by Congress, NDAA legislation establishes budget and policy parameters for the Department of Defense. Sen. Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, stated his intention to offer a dietary supplement related amendment to the Senate version of the FY 2017 NDAA during the Committee’s consideration of the bill. The Senate Armed Services Committee is marking up the FY 2017 NDAA bill in a closed session.
The Natural Products Association (NPA) was the first industry trade association to report on the amendment through its Twitter account and swiftly enacted grassroots measures to defeat it via its Save Our Supplements site, NPA said.
“We strongly support the rights of our service men and women to have access to safe products that they feel support their fitness goals,” said Dan Fabricant, PhD, executive director and CEO of NPA. “Senator Blumenthal has repeatedly sought to deny access to these safe and healthy products from all Americans, and it is unfortunate that he appears to be targeting our men and women in service uniforms first.”
In addition the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) has been in active communication with other industry associations and the offices of senators who serve on the Armed Services Committee to voice opposition to the Blumenthal amendment. Because Sen. Blumenthal withdrew the amendment, U.S. military personnel won’t face unnecessary restrictions that limit their personal and informed choices to use safe dietary supplements.
Sen. Blumenthal and Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), who are both long-time critics of the federal regulatory structure for dietary supplements, introduced a similar amendment last year when the FY 2016 NDAA measure was being considered by the Senate. However, the Blumenthal-Durbin third-party verifier amendment was never allowed to come to a vote.
“AHPA and the regulated supplement industry appreciate Sen. Blumenthal withdrawing this amendment,” said AHPA President Michael McGuffin. “Dietary supplement companies are currently required to comply with a host of federal regulations including current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) requirements that ensure the safety and quality of supplements sold in the U.S. This amendment would have created a redundant and expensive burden for companies to sell products on military bases, effectively limiting service members’ access to high-quality supplements.”
McGuffin further stated, “AHPA and the other industry associations will remain vigilant as the FY 2017 NDAA measure is slated to be considered by the full Senate in the coming weeks. Senate floor action on the FY 2017 NDAA legislation will provide Sen. Blumenthal, along with Sen. Durbin, another opportunity to push this and possibly other proposals to unnecessarily restrict consumer access to supplements.”
NPA is preparing for the amendment or a similar version to be reintroduced when the legislation moves to the floor of the Senate for final passage. NPA enacted a nearly identical strategy to Senator Blumenthal’s backdoor ban of supplements on military bases last year. “If Senator Blumenthal wants to ban dietary supplements in our country, he should do so openly instead of through backdoor attempts that require our troops to go through more hoops and hurdles to get the products they desire,” continued Dr. Fabricant. “The fight is certainly not over and we will remain vigilant in our grassroots efforts to prevent this amendment from making its way into law.”
NPA is reaching out to associations representing service men and women and others to increase opposition to these attempts to restrict access to nutritional products.
For more information, visit www.ahpa.org or www.npainfo.org.
