Natural Products Association Welcomes Senate Deal on S.3002

WASHINGTON, March 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Officials at the Natural Products Association (NPA), the leading U.S. trade organization for manufacturers, retailers and distributors of natural products, are "pleased" with the recent agreement between industry proponents Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Byron Dorgan (D- ND) regarding McCain and Dorgan's recently co-sponsored Dietary Safety Supplement Act (S.3002).

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100211/DC53621LOGO)

"The NPA is pleased that industry champions Hatch and Harkin have reached an agreement with McCain and Dorgan on reasonable measures to strengthen the regulation of dietary supplements without opening up DSHEA," said John Gay, NPA's CEO and executive director. "The original McCain-Dorgan bill would have radically altered the existing regulatory framework [in the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act], and threatened an entire industry in an ineffective attempt to combat a relatively few bad actors."

This week, McCain and Dorgan outlined key areas of "common ground" in a letter to Harkin, Hatch and Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY). The letter proposed incorporating the agreed-upon points into the FDA's Food Safety Modernization Bill. "NPA is eager to review the agreement's details," says Gay.

He cautions that the bill "was a wake-up call for the industry, and we had better not fall back asleep. Other members of Congress could pick up where McCain and Dorgan left off. We need to keep up the pressure on Congress, and let them know that S.3002 and bills like it are not acceptable."

"Industry advocates should continue to let their senators know their opposition to S.3002 in order to dissuade other senators or representatives from taking it up," says Gay. The NPA asks association members and industry advocates to send messages to legislators through its web site at www.NPAInfo.org/TakeAction. NPA also encourages advocates to attend its upcoming Natural Product Day, March 23, where participants discuss issues affecting the natural products industry with their members of Congress.

About the Natural Products Association  The Natural Products Association (http:///www.NPAinfo.org) is the nation's largest and oldest non-profit organization dedicated to the natural products industry. The association represents more than 10,000 retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors of natural products, including foods, dietary supplements, and health/beauty aids.

SOURCE Natural Products Association