Blumenthal, Durbin Statement on FDA Creation of Dietary Supplement Program

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) released the following statement today on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) announcement that it has created the Office of Dietary Supplement Programs to increase focus on and regulation of the growing dietary supplement industry:

“Just as dietary supplements have outgrown their current spot in FDA’s organizational chart, dietary supplements have also outgrown the two-decades old law that was supposed to oversee this industry and protect consumers. Comprehensive new legislation is needed to provide the necessary oversight of this $35 billion industry, and we intend to introduce legislation in the new year. As the FDA seeks to establish permanent leadership for this new office, we urge the agency to identify a strong leader that will aggressively pursue wrongdoing, vigorously enforce the law, and use all the tools at its disposal to protect consumers and push for increased transparency by the industry on the purity, quality, and identity of the products they manufacture.”

###