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HerbalEGram: Volume 6, Number 12, December 2009
Blumenthal's Letter to the Editor of The New York Times Corrects Errors on Supplement Regulation
November 14, 2009
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To the Editor
The New York Times
Sent via email: letters@NYTimes.com
Regarding the article titled “Path to Alternative Therapies Is Littered With Obstacles” by Walecia Konrad, which appeared in the Patient Money column on November 13, 2009.
Dear Sir or Madam:
This article erroneously states that herbal and vitamin supplements are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.
As Times editors and staff should know, dietary supplements are regulated by both the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as foods, not drugs.
Examples of FDA regulation abound: (1) implementation of Good Manufacturing Practices for supplements, now in effect for all but the smallest supplement manufacturers (those under 20 employees have to comply by June 25, 2010); (2) removal of the controversial herb ephedra from the market due to safety concerns; (3) implementation of mandatory reporting of serious adverse events related to supplements; and others.
While many critics and even some responsible members of the supplement industry agree that in many areas dietary supplements may be “underregulated”, and that FDA has not adequately enforced existing regulations in the past, to write that they are “unregulated” is contrary to fact and misleads Times’ readers.
Respectfully,
Mark Blumenthal
Founder & Executive Director
American Botanical Council
Austin, Texas
Editor, HerbalGram
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