This is a tale of two types of weight-loss products and how the Food and Drug Administration had different responses to similar problems with them. The separate, but not equivalent treatment raises questions about how the FDA operates.
If you have not visited the NutriSupLaw blog in a little while, you should. To celebrate the start of our fifth year, we gave the blog a makeover. Or as they say on the Web, a redesign. We think the new look does a better job of displaying blog entries and organizing our growing lists of resources, links and tags.
GUEST COLUMN by Judith L. Grubner, Esq., Arnstein & Lehr Partner and Intellectual Property Practice Group Leader
Some of us remember when parents would chase their children out to play in the sun, with no protection other than play clothes. Today, the Federal Trade Commission tells us
overexposure to the sun’s invisible rays – ultraviolet A [...]
Some dietary supplement companies are boosting their dosages now. The increases have implications not only for consumer health but for regulatory action. The agency might issue warning letters to companies selling Vitamin D products containing 2.5 times the current UL, telling those manufacturers that their products are potentially unsafe.
Following up on a post from June 30, the question of consumer confidence in nutritional supplements arises again. The Times-Herald reports that many supplements have quality problems. No one knows just how many of 40,000 products underdeliver on the goods listed their labels and over-deliver on unlisted, harmful ingredients and contaminants. “I believe that the problem is narrow, that the well-established and reputable brands deserve their reputations,” Michael McGuffin, president of the American Herbal Products Association, tells the paper that serves the Hudson Valley of New York.
Manufacturers beware. Your regulatory problems may not be over when you pull a product from the store shelves. Matrixx Initiatives Inc. recalled its Zicam products on June 16 and three days later the Securities & Exchange Commission sent a letter of inquiry. The company said that it did not know what the regulatory agency wanted, [...]
