React, Don't Panic to Durbin Legislation

  The big news this week was Senator Richard Durbin (D. IL) introducing legislation targeting dietary supplements. By now, we've all read his press release and the trade association reactions that quickly followed, starting with AHPA’s that came out something like five minutes later. Every online trade publication has already covered this in varying degrees of depth, and if you have not read those, you should. 

Durbin’s track record with our industry has us conditioned to panic: the boogieman strikes again! I agree with CRN’s Steven Mister that vilifying Durbin is unproductive, and I don’t want to do that. I’d like to hope he’s not the boogieman, but it’s difficult to reconcile the language in his news release and his actions with his occasional attempts to appear open to hearing our side. 

Just this year, my brave client, NOW Foods, hosted the Senator on a tour of its stellar manufacturing facility in Bloomingdale, Illinois. He really did go! They have photos! Company executives showed him in depth how GMPs work, and the extreme care they put into making dietary supplements. Durbin seemed surprised at the detail involved. We all hoped that experience might make a difference.

Then came NPA lobby day. One of Durbin’s staffers we met with seemed open to our information, but the other one? The one who didn’t give out cards and actually turned out to be the staffer who handles our issues? If there is anything to the whole body language thing, she hates us.

The industry has had a long, complicated relationship with Durbin. He can be a reasonable man (he willingly visited "enemy territory"), but the emotional pitch he is making for this legislation is “melatonin brownies and energy drinks can harm children.” I’m not blaming our industry for this situation, but I think these are stupid products. I think energy drinks are as problematic as ephedra in terms of harm that can be done.

But Durbin has to know that those brownies aren’t dietary supplements, right?  And he can’t possibly think FDA can handle the workload his bill would dump on them, can he?  

So we can only infer that he’s still trying to slowly dismantle DSHEA, and we have to stop that. Get involved now. Support the trade associations’ efforts. Contact your Senators to explain why the bill is misguided. Contribute to our members of Congress who know our industry and support what we do.

Even though I'm an Illinois resident and staunchly liberal political junkie, I don't give a dime to Durbin's campaign. But I do open my checkbook for Senator Orrin Hatch (R. UT). Now is not the time for panic, but to call upon our allies—the ones who respond to logic and research, not emotions.