California assembly bill banning the sale of weight management supplements to minors fails to progress through state's Senate

Photo © iStockphoto.com/ Kuzma

A California assembly bill (AB-82) that would ban the sale of weight management supplements to minors has failed to advance in the Senate. The bill initially passed Assembly and made it to the Senate floor at the end of January but was sent to the Senate’s committees on Health and Judiciary to be amended. The bill passed these committees and sent to the Senate Committee on Appropriations where is being held under submission, effectively killing its progress for the remainder for the legislative session.

A previous version of the bill (AB1341) made it to the governor’s desk where it was vetoed. Similar efforts to restrict the sale of weight management supplements have made throughout the country. New York State was the first to pass its own legislation banning the sale of weight management and muscle building products to minors. That legislation has been the subject of two lawsuits by industry trade groups: The Natural Products Association (NPA; Washington, D.C.) and The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN; Washington, D.C.).

Industry aggressively opposes the proposed legislation and rejects the premise behind the bills that dietary supplements for weight loss may promote eating disorders in minors.

“The fact that AB 82 is not advancing further this legislative session is a win for consumers in California,” said CRN’s president and CEO, Steve Mister, in a statement. “CRN 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.”

NPA too has actively opposed the legislation and has been promoting a grassroots effort for industry to push back on California's efforts to restrict access to this class of supplements. In a statement, NPA's president and CEO, Daniel Fabricant, PhD, celebrated the bill's failure, but noted that more work needed to be done.

“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,” said Daniel Fabricant, PhD, president and CEO of NPA, in a statement. “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. 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."

Updated on August 16, 2024 at 12:35PM

Updated on August 16, 2024 at 1:36PM