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The Alliance for Natural Health USA (ANH-USA) reported that it has submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate concerns that the FTC’s recent guidance will have the effect of limiting consumer access to scientific information about the benefits of dietary supplements and other natural products.
According to ANH-USA, in a revision to its Health Products Compliance Guidance issued in December 2022, the FTC aims to impose drug standards on supplements, requiring expensive randomized controlled human clinical testing for supplement companies to make most health claims. The agency then sent letters to 670 companies, including those selling dietary supplements, homeopathic products and functional foods, warning them that if they make claims without scientific substantiation to the level required by the FTC’s new guidance, they will face large civil penalties—up to $50,120 per violation, the alliance stated.
“We’re facing a government-led campaign to conceal the remarkable truth about the healing and disease-preventing powers of foods and nutrients, ultimately misleading the public so that they spend their money on drugs rather than natural supplements,” said Robert Verkerk, PhD, executive director of ANH-USA.
ANH-USA’s FOIA seeks to understand how this updated guidance was developed and how the FTC justified its new requirement for clinical trials to substantiate health claims—until now, a standard reserved for drugs, the alliance stated.
“This is really a backdoor ban on supplement health claims,” continued Verkerk. “Clinical trials are incredibly expensive but pharma companies can afford them because drugs are patentable and the costs can be recouped after the drug is licensed and sold for exorbitant prices. Nutrients generally can’t be strongly patented, so the costs of clinical trials can’t be recouped. Government has a revolving door with Big Pharma which doesn’t want us learning that we can stay healthy without drugs.”
For more information, visit www.anh-usa.org.
The Alliance for Natural Health USA (ANH-USA) reported that it has submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate concerns that the FTC’s recent guidance will have the effect of limiting consumer access to scientific information about the benefits of dietary supplements and other natural products.
According to ANH-USA, in a revision to its Health Products Compliance Guidance issued in December 2022, the FTC aims to impose drug standards on supplements, requiring expensive randomized controlled human clinical testing for supplement companies to make most health claims. The agency then sent letters to 670 companies, including those selling dietary supplements, homeopathic products and functional foods, warning them that if they make claims without scientific substantiation to the level required by the FTC’s new guidance, they will face large civil penalties—up to $50,120 per violation, the alliance stated.
“We’re facing a government-led campaign to conceal the remarkable truth about the healing and disease-preventing powers of foods and nutrients, ultimately misleading the public so that they spend their money on drugs rather than natural supplements,” said Robert Verkerk, PhD, executive director of ANH-USA.
ANH-USA’s FOIA seeks to understand how this updated guidance was developed and how the FTC justified its new requirement for clinical trials to substantiate health claims—until now, a standard reserved for drugs, the alliance stated.
“This is really a backdoor ban on supplement health claims,” continued Verkerk. “Clinical trials are incredibly expensive but pharma companies can afford them because drugs are patentable and the costs can be recouped after the drug is licensed and sold for exorbitant prices. Nutrients generally can’t be strongly patented, so the costs of clinical trials can’t be recouped. Government has a revolving door with Big Pharma which doesn’t want us learning that we can stay healthy without drugs.”
For more information, visit www.anh-usa.org.
