WASHINGTON – Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) president and CEO Scott Melville released the below statement Friday in response to a recent report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA):

“There can be no tolerance for illegal products masquerading as dietary supplements, especially after a manufacturer has already received an FDA warning letter. Yet, that is precisely what was found in a recent report published in JAMA. This troubling situation highlights the need for increased enforcement of current law by the FDA and the Department of Justice, and the need for more comprehensive reform of dietary supplement regulation.

“A single reform, such as mandatory product listing (MPL) by a supplement manufacturer – as proposed in the current user fee legislation under consideration by Congress – would not address the situation highlighted in JAMA. However, comprehensive dietary supplement regulatory reform would not only provide FDA with the tools it needs to stop criminals, but it would further improve FDA’s ability to regulate the rapidly growing dietary supplement industry through new tools like Mandatory Product Listing, increased cGMP inspections, and Remote Regulatory Assessments.

“As the House and Senate confer on FDA user fee reauthorizations, the need to balance consumer access to safe and beneficial dietary supplements with FDA’s ability to swiftly remove dangerous and illegal products from the marketplace should be recognized to ensure that any agreed-to reforms are meaningful and not reform in name only.”