Sacramento, CA—In January 2024, California's State Assembly Health Committee renewed its push to restrict access to certain supplements when it advanced AB 82. This action came despite the fact that California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed an age-restriction bill in 2022.
Now, AB 82 has failed to pass the CA state legislature and will not advance during this legislative session. Natural products trade associations played a role in defeating this latest bill, but they caution that the fight is not over.
“We are thrilled to have secured this major victory for the dietary supplement industry and appreciate all the support we generated on behalf of our membership,” said Daniel Fabricant, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Natural Products Association (NPA). "But we cannot rest easy, because this is now the third attempt at this misguided proposal, and we are convinced that it will not be the last."
Steve Mister, President and CEO of the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), said, “The fact that AB 82 is not advancing further this legislative session is a win for consumers in California. The Council for Responsible Nutrition has raised significant concerns with this bill and will continue to do the same with regard to any other similar legislation that attempts to impose age restrictions on dietary supplements. Such restrictions, also proposed in several other states, are unnecessary given the strong safety profile of these federally regulated products and the lack of scientific data connecting them to eating disorders in young people. Limiting access based on age also harms local retailers and reduces access to these products for everyone.”
Behind the Push for Age Restriction
Dietary supplements are under attack from the Harvard-based organization STRIPED (Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders), which claims that dietary supplements, especially those that they refer to as diet pills, cause eating disorders. As Susan J. Hewlings, Ph.D., RD, and Douglas S. Kalman, Ph.D., RD, have explained to WholeFoods Magazine readers: "Part of their efforts have been to propose age restricted legislation in various states, including New Jersey, Rhode Island, New York, California, Colorado, Missouri, Maryland, and Massachusetts...While the details of the proposed legislation vary from state to state, the main objective of all of them is to limit access of teens to specific dietary supplements that they refer to as 'weight loss' or 'diet' supplements," Drs. Hewlings and Kalman explained. "These include protein, creatine, branched chain amino acids, and diet pills, which are not clearly defined. The research they reference to support their platform is full of scientific holes, which are discussed in a recent review published in Nutrients."
In CA, STRIPED issued a letter thanking California Assemblymember Akilah Weber for "championing this bill to protect young people from dangerous weight loss dietary supplements and over-the-counter diet pills."
As Dr. Fabricant notes, "The sad fact is that these proposals don’t support science, health, or protecting consumers. As we have demonstrated repeatedly in public testimony and official correspondence to officials in California and elsewhere, there is not a single data point connecting the use of eating disorders and dietary supplements. If there were, the FDA would be required to remove that product from the market.”
"Stay involved and engaged"
“If you are a company involved in the manufacturing, distribution, or sales of dietary supplements and other healthy natural products our message is clear: Stay involved and engaged," Dr. Fabricant urged. "More states are considering copycat legislation that is a clear and present danger to our industry and the benefits our products provide. If these bills were to be enacted, the cost of doing business would soar and consumers would be negatively impacted. We need to stay united and defeat these growing efforts or we will find ourselves out of business altogether."
Read the latest on age restriction in NY.
