I’ve discussed regulatory issues briefly before, although I might as well put my own feelings out here, for the record:<\/p>\n
This is why I often groan and roll my eyes when various self-appointed consumer advocates whinge about how DSHEA should be repealed and the FDA unshackled.\u00a0\u00a0And it’s also why I\u00a0wave my pom-pons and cheer wildly when the\u00a0Feds finally crack down on companies like Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n It’s\u00a0pretty\u00a0simple, really…I like having choices and\u00a0can’t stand\u00a0con artists.\u00a0\u00a0There are a lot of interesting supps out there, and I’m perfectly capable of evaluating the evidence.\u00a0 Thus, it’s only natural that –\u00a0for all its faults\u00a0– I’m a strong supporter of the supplement industry, in principle.<\/p>\n Nonetheless,\u00a0the industry often drives me up the wall…\u00a0it’s like it\u00a0has\u00a0a death wish…the powers-that-be\u00a0piously look the other way while bad actors (like Berkeley) make outlandish claims and rip off consumers, then act shocked – SHOCKED, I tell you\u00a0–\u00a0when the\u00a0fallout inevitably lands on the industry as a whole.<\/p>\n Thus, my spirits were buoyed…at least briefly, by this industry news item…<\/a><\/p>\n NAD \u2018NARC\u2019s out FucoPure to FTC<\/strong><\/p>\n 04\/07\/2009 Claims at issue for FucoPure concerned its positioning as a clinically substantiated weight loss ingredient, as well as superiority and exclusivity claims for the fucoxanthin extract. NAD sought additional substantiation for disease claims related to combating obesity, hyperlipidemia and type II diabetes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nNEW YORK\u2014The National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (BBB) is referring advertising for the nutritional ingredient FucoPure, from Elmwood Park, N.J.-based Nutraceuticals International, to FTC for review. Under its National Advertising Review Council (NARC) terms, NAD had asked the company for substantiation of certain claims for its product following a challenge to its advertising filed by Morristown, N.J.-based P.L. Thomas. Nutraceuticals International responded to NAD and received an extension to submit its substantiation, but did not submit by that deadline and has not participated further in the review process.<\/p>\n