Stringent Laws and Regulations for Dietary Supplements

Abstract

On December 22, 2006, the US Congress passed Public Law 109–462, Dietary Supplement and Nonprescription Drug Consumer Protection Act. On June 25, 2007, FDA published its long-anticipated final rule establishing regulations governing current good manufacturing practices for dietary supplements. This article considers whether or not such expanded support of rigorous, unbiased scientific research can be used effectively in dietary supplements. The authors conducted a review of selected dietary supplements to see if there is an effective system to ensure that dietary supplements are not marketed prior to safety and efficacy being established as for drugs and medical devices. We believe that this new act and the final rule are a step toward treating dietary supplements more like pharmaceuticals and not like food. Therefore we believe that we need these stringent laws and regulations for dietary supplements.