The Natural Products Association (NPA) shared news of a victory for the industry: Legislative language that would have restricted— and in some cases prohibited — access to dietary supplements was stricken from legislation before the Colorado Health and Human Services Committee. SB 23-17 from Majority Leader Dominick Moreno called for prohibiting retailers "from selling, transferring, or otherwise furnishing dietary supplements for weight loss or over-the-counter diet pills to any individual under 18 years of age without a prescription." NPA reported that, after extensive collaboration with NPA and Natural Grocers, Moreno amended his bill and removed language that would have restricted supplements.
“This is a big victory for consumer access in Colorado, and we want to thank Majority Leader Moreno for his leadership and willingness to collaborate on a good solution. We wish more state lawmakers in other capitals would exercise the same approach to science, reason, and common sense,” said Kyle Turk, NPA Director of Government Affairs. “Far too often, legislators simply ignore science, data and the consequences of poorly-designed legislation that ends up hurting consumers, but this was not one of those instances. Our team immediately had the opportunity to share the impact language in the bill would have on consumers and industry stakeholders. We are grateful to the Majority Leader and other stakeholders in the eating disorder community who considered the facts and recognized that there is no data point connecting eating disorders and the use of dietary supplements.”
"Fighting at every turn" to protect access
As Turk has shared, “In the past few years, we have fought a number of radical proposals in California, New York, Massachusetts, and other states that unfairly and unnecessarily restrict access to healthy nutritional supplements based on claims that are not grounded in science or fact. From banning sales altogether to young people and athletes to requiring warning labels on natural products that are found on grocery store shelves, these proposals would hurt consumers and the businesses that serve them."
NPA has been leading efforts to combat efforts to restrict access to supplements. “We may have won this battle in Colorado, but if you really want to know what’s going on, you only need to know this: There is an all-out war against the dietary supplement industry, and this is why industry stakeholders join organizations like the NPA," Turk said. "No other organization has consistently fought back against government overreach directed towards our community. The growing number of dangerous proposals by state legislatures and actions by the FDA are a two-front war against our industry and one that the NPA is committed to fighting at every turn. This victory demonstrates the influence of our grassroots operation and how effective we can be when the entire supply chain of retailers, manufacturers and suppliers comes together.” Access NPA latest grassroots efforts here.
