Furor Eases Over McCain Bill

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The supplement industry has made a little peace with Sen. John McCain, it would appear, over his on-again, off-again support of a piece of legislation that could easily have made it difficult for most everyone to obtain dietary supplements.

However, the uproar the so-called Dietary Supplement Safety Act caused among the industry and the public brought about intervention by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Tom Harkin (D-IA), whose influence apparently caused McCain to remove support from his own bill. 

Outrage over the original announcement ran high in the industry, and among those in the public who heard about the move. The original bill, S.3002, was announced in February, co-sponsored by McCain and Sen. Byron Dorgan, with McCain flanked by lobbyists from the sports world. Ostensibly, the bill was in reaction to major sports figures who were accused of doping and blaming it on the supplements they took that were tainted with steroids. 

At the Natural Products Expo West show, March 12-14, one vendor displayed a toilet with Sen. McCain's photo in the upraised lid, and the words, "Flush McCain and S. 3002." Petitions began showing up on the internet, including one at the Natural Product Association's website, www.NPAInfo.org/TakeAction.

Then some new provisions in the bill were announced, which industry insiders pronounced as more reasonable. The latest version of the bill would require the Food and Drug Administration to notify the Drug Enforcement Administration of synthetic anabolic steroids in products labeled as supplements, provide for mandatory recall (a provision already in the Senate's food safety provisions),  and registration of supplement manufacturing facilities.

The industry trade group the Natural Products Association announced on March 16 that it was "pleased" with a new agreement to strengthen the regulation of supplements, one that would not disembowel the Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act of 1994, which allowed the supplements industry to flourish, even though the details of the agreement are not clear.