WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Natural Products Association (NPA) in a webinar for its membership today outlined the current political and policy outlook for the natural products industry and stressed the importance of promoting and protecting access to nutritional supplements. Dr. Daniel Fabricant, Ph.D., President and CEO of NPA, and Kyle Turk, Director of Government Relations for NPA, were joined by NPA’s government affairs team Steve Northrup and Stacey Rampy of Rampy Northrup and Matt Keelen of TKG.
NPA renewed its effort to expand access to nutritional supplements for all communities through the tax code and assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). NPA’s effort comes as states including Massachusetts, New York and California prepare legislation that would restrict certain popular nutritional supplements. NPA is also playing offense in states that currently tax supplements by advocating for a consumer health product tax holiday.
Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, and California have all previously introduced legislation that would ban certain dietary supplements to people under 18. NPA has successfully defeated these proposals during previous state legislative sessions.
“As we prepare for a more focused effort to expand access to nutritional supplements during the pandemic, we are keeping a watchful eye on proposals across the country that would do just the opposite,” said Dr. Fabricant. “We are also gearing up to play offense in states that can do more to ensure that consumers can access supplements affordably.”
NPA also stressed the importance of vitamin D to support immune systems during the pandemic and talked about how the industry will be impacted by President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief package.
NPA also reinforced the need to regulate CBD products and set a safe level of daily consumption. If FDA inaction continues, NPA will push Congress to support state regulatory efforts that include developing dosage recommendations and official methods of analysis to ensure intrastate consistency.
Kyle Turk touted the 2019-2020 cycle as the NPA PAC’s “most successful cycle ever” and urged members to continue their support. “We have another busy year ahead of us and we are going to rely on the strength of our members to accomplish our goals,” said Turk.
