House Members Join Senator Burr in Opposing Controversial Add-ons
Washington – In a sign of growing opposition to controversial dietary supplement provisions that were added to FDA User Fee reauthorization in the Senate, a bipartisan group of members from the House Energy and Commerce committee today said the provisions should be dropped in conference. Representative Jeff Duncan (R-SC) was a leader in the effort, which resulted in a letter that was sent to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy asking that the FDA user fee reauthorization agreement not include dietary supplement provisions. Last month, Senate HELP Committee Ranking Member Richard Burr (R-NC), introduced FDA user fee legislation that also excludes the risky provisions.
The influential members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the chief negotiating committee for the FDA user fees, express significant concerns with including provisions from the Dietary Supplement Listing Act, including mandatory product listing. They also note that the provisions were not debated under regular order, that no hearings were held, and that no formal committee consideration of the provisions was conducted. The letter can be found here.
The members write, “the bill would make it a new ‘prohibited act’ to introduce into interstate commerce ‘any product marketed as a dietary supplement that does not meet the definition of a dietary supplement under Section 201(ff).’ This provision has nothing to do with the ostensible purposes of the bill. What it would do is give FDA an administrative excuse to reject ingredients like CBD (cannabidiol) and NAC (N-acetyl-L-cysteine) from being marketed as dietary supplements, regardless of the science or history involved.”
“We are pleased with the growing bipartisan opposition to this sneak attack on the dietary supplement industry and that Members of Congress want these costly and controversial add-ons to be shelved. Mr. Duncan has been a long-time champion for the dietary supplement industry and we are tremendously grateful for his support and to all those who signed this letter. This is the latest clear message that including dietary supplements in the final user fee agreement without any consideration under regular order is bad government, bad politics and a bad idea, ” said Daniel Fabricant, Ph.D. president and CEO of the Natural Products Association.
