Durbin Cites Institute of Medicine Report as Evidence Dietary Supplement Law Needs to be Changed
DURBIN CITES INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE REPORT AS EVIDENCE DIETARY SUPPLEMENT LAW NEEDS TO BE CHANGED
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
[WASHINGTON, DC] - One of Congress' leading voices in the fight to reform the dietary supplement industry, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), today cited a report issued by the Institute of Medicine as strong evidence that the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) needs to be changed.
"The report released today by the Institute of Medicine calls on Congress to take steps to require improved quality control of supplements and to ensure claims regarding efficacy of the products can be substantiated," said Durbin. "This is welcome news to those of us who have been pushing Congress and the Administration to act. It is now clear that the law should be changed in several key areas - we should require supplement makers to notify the FDA of any serious health consequences resulting from these products; some products should be reviewed for safety before being sold; and when evaluating whether sales of a problematic product should be suspended, the FDA should adopt the science-based standard of 'unreasonable risk' rather than the standard of legal certainty that is currently being used."
Last Congress, Durbin introduced legislation, the Dietary Supplement Safety Act, which would make several important changes to the laws governing dietary supplements - most of which are directly supported by the Institute of Medicine report. Durbin's bill requires manufacturers to report serious adverse health events such as heart attack, seizure, stroke or death, to the FDA in a timely fashion, and the bill requires manufacturers of the most dangerous types of dietary supplements, stimulants, to submit proof that their product is safe prior to bringing it to market.
"It is impossible for anyone to calculate exactly how many people have lost their lives or had their health ruined by dangerous supplements since I first began working on this issue more than three years ago, but whether it was 500 or 5, it was too many," Durbin said. "The Institute of Medicine report and the other evidence that is now coming to light should convince everyone the law should be changed in order to protect the American consumer. Congress can make those changes, and I will work to pass this important measure."
http://durbin.senate.gov/releases.cfm