CRN celebrates 50th anniversary culminating with gala at October annual conference

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The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN; Washington, DC) is celebrating its 50^th anniversary in 2023. To commemorate, the leading trade association for the dietary supplement and functional food industry will host a gala at its annual conference taking place on October 3-6, 2023, at the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, in Dana Point, CA.

CRN will also spotlight the association’s historical memories and milestones in a series called “Throwback Thursday,” which will be featured on LinkedIn, Twitter, and in CRN’s Daily Supplement member newsletter and carry the hashtag #50yearsofCRN. A CRN press release states:

“Founded in 1973, CRN has played an instrumental role in the growth and success of the dietary supplement industry for half a century. Since the very beginning, advancing what would become the Rogers-Proxmire amendment of 1976, CRN has been a zealous advocate for the dietary supplement industry and its consumers while maintaining science-backed positions and a healthy respect for reasonable regulations. CRN has also led the way in industry self-regulation with a robust library of voluntary guidelines, best practices, and recommendations for industry developed over the years, along with a record of initiatives that have elevated the industry, such as CRN’s advertising review program with the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus spanning from 2006 to 2019, and the Supplement OWL to elevate transparency of the industry.”

Among the association’s key industry roles, CRN was instrumental in building support for the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) governing the U.S. dietary supplements industry today. In a paper detailing the association’s history, Annette Dickinson, PhD, former CRN president and original founding staff member, wrote that “In the final midnight hours of tough negotiations among key staffers in the House, CRN’s legal counsel Daniel Marcus of the firm of Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering was the only industry representative allowed by the Congressional staff to participate directly in the process.”

CRN’s press release adds: “True to that legacy, CRN’s government relations team again in 2022 was the sole representative of the dietary supplement industry remaining at the Congressional negotiation table, obtaining key concessions with respect to the proposed Dietary Supplement Listing Act.”

CRN’s immediate past chair Barry Ritz, PhD, vice president and head of regulatory, scientific, and medical affairs for Nestlé Health Science, stated in the press release, “As a longtime CRN board member, I’ve had a consistent view of the association’s achievements demonstrating unmatched association expertise in regulatory, scientific, and governmental affairs, and an impressive history of communicating the value of dietary supplements and functional foods. CRN has played an integral role in this industry’s growth and in achieving the mainstream status dietary supplements hold today.”