Codex: Safe Upper Limits Based on Science, Not RDAs

BONN, GermanyMembers of the U.S. natural products industry attending the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) announced a major victory for supplement makers recommended daily allowances (RDAs) will not be used to establish safe upper limits (ULs) for dietary supplements. Codex is a joint venture between the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) that promotes consumer health, food standards and fair trade between nations.

According to John Hathcock, Ph.D., vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs for the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), The big news here is that we finally persuaded enough governments to drop the RDA-based ULs and go for pure safety-based limits.

Besides agreeing on removing RDAs as the measuring stick for safe ULs, the group addressed other labeling issues affecting the industry. A provision was stricken that would have required all dietary supplements to carry a statement that the products should only be taken on the advice of a nutritionist, dietitian or doctor. Also, the European Unions (EU) delegation introduced a proposal that packages carry a statement cautioning adults to keep supplements out of childrens reach.

Byron Johnson, CRN chairman, was also at the meeting. The Codex meeting was a great leap forward for the dietary supplement industry, he said. The proposal of following 100-percent RDAs as the safe ULs is no longer a possibility, which means supplement makers will have some room to market their products. He added it has been a long and arduous road to accomplish this goal.

Why has it taken so long for the Codex guidelines to move as far as they have? According to Hathcock, the Codex is an eight-step process, and it was stuck on step threeas a draftfor approximately a decade. Now its at step five, with a prospect of going to step eightgaining Codex Commission approvalby 2004. Based on current momentum, the guidelines could be implemented as early as two years from now. Its still a little ways off, but the guidelines had been stalemated for eight years and hadnt moved anywhere, Hathcock said. This is suddenly movement, and movement in the right direction.

Johnson said that through a lot of work by CRN, IADSA (International Alliance of Dietary Supplement Associations) and the EU, the process is now moving forward. Part of it was educating some of the delegates what some of the criteria should be for setting safe ULs, he stated. RDAs have nothing to do with that and everything to do with daily nutrition.

Another U.S. delegate at the meetingJim Roza, director of quality assurance, NOW Foodsstated, Compared to last years proceedings, this session was managed much more effectively by the chair. This is very encouraging in terms of preserving our industrys interests and developing new alliances.

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