(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Consumer Healthcare Products Association President and CEO Scott Melville released the below statement today in response to a letter from U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) calling for modernization of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) following the recent death of an Ohio man who ingested tianeptine, which is not an over-the-counter (OTC) medicine nor a dietary supplement, but an adulterant used by bad actors falsely marketing products as dietary supplements:
“CHPA commends Senator Durbin for recognizing the need for a modernized regulatory structure for dietary supplements that will further protect public health. Recent reports about the presence of tianeptine in products fraudulently marketed by unscrupulous companies as dietary supplements underscore the need for key regulatory modernizations to protect public health. Priorities such as mandatory product listing, increasing inspection capacity, and clarifying FDA’s authority to better facilitate enforcement against unlawfully marketed products would enhance the Agency's ability to identify and more quickly remove illegitimate products from the market.
“DSHEA turns 30 in October, and since 1994 when this law was originally enacted, industry has grown from $4 billion to more than $50 billion today. Without modernization, bad actors will continue to prey on the fact that regulations have not kept pace with growth. DSHEA should protect the 21st century consumer who has access to an ever-expanding dietary supplement marketplace, and CHPA looks forward to continuing to work with FDA and Congress on the shared goal of regulatory modernization.”
