Leading trade organizations urge the Senate Committee on Appropriations to increase ODSP budget

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Four leading trade organizations have sent a letter to Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and John Hoeven (R-ND), ranking members of the Senate Committee on Appropriations’ subcommittee on agriculture, rural development, food and drug administration, and related agencies, to advocate for more funding for the FDA’s Office of Dietary Supplement Programs (ODSP). In the letter, the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA; Silver Spring, MD), the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA; Washington, D.C.), the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN; Washington, D.C.), and the United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA; Salt Lake City, UT), urged Baldwin and Hoeven to provide a $5 million increase in funding for ODSP as part of the committee’s Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations for FDA.

Because the dietary supplement industry has grown from $6 billion in annual sales to $55 billion since the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), FDA faces increasing regulatory responsibilities to effectively monitor the marketplace, explains the letter. As a result, the industry’s growth and consumers’ interest in it may be outpacing FDA’s ability to enforce regulations and therefore protect consumer safety.

“We very much appreciate that the Committee has provided increased funding for this purpose over the past several years. Responsible industry sees adequate funding for the agency as an important step for increasing consumer safety and industry adherence to the law, but also as a demonstration of the government’s commitment to eliminating illegal activity and leveling the playing field for the majority of companies already following the law,” the letter states. “While we fully understand and appreciate the budget pressures the Committee faces, we believe such an increase is warranted given the substantial growth in, and size of, the marketplace and the need to make up for the lapse in inspections and related ODSP activities caused by the pandemic.”