AHPA Alerts

AHPA has released updates via the online Botanical Safety Handbook 2nd ed. to nine additional botanicals.

In this issue of the IADSA Newsflash:  France alerts consumers about food supplements with claims of curing or preventing COVID-19; Israel notifies WTO about revised limits for polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in food supplements; Brazil's new resolution mandating a label when food supplements have a new formulation; Ecuador issues rules for cannabis (hemp seed) supplements; and Peru has established a basic regulation governing health claims applicable to supplement products.

the four leading dietary supplement industry associations applaud Representative Kurt Schrader (D-OR) and Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA), for introducing bipartisan legislation that would protect public health by providing legal clarity in the cannabidiol (CBD) product marketplace. The Hemp and Hemp derived CBD Consumer Protection and Market Stabilization Act of 2020 directs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to use its authority and resources to set a clear regulatory framework for hemp and hemp derived CBD and assure consumer protection.

AHPA's second, annual Hemp-CBD Supplement Congress was presented on August 27, 2020 and provides companies with an understanding of federal and state legal and regulatory obligations and current issues and opportunities in the hemp-CBD market. This event delivers the latest information to you on-demand.

AHPA presented the inaugural Virtual Sports Nutrition Congress to on Oct. 21 to showcase industry and sports nutrition experts who covered key sport nutrition industry issues by providing the most up-to-date information, resources and practical tools and guidelines to help ensure the long-term success of your business. This event is now available on-demand.

AHPA continues to expand and update the online Botanical Safety Handbook 2nd ed. to provide the herbal industry with comprehensive safety information on over 500 species of herbs from clinical trials, pharmacological and toxicological studies, medical case reports, and historical texts. New safety information has been added to entries on 11 botanicals.

AHPA joined 16 other trade associations in a Aug. 21 letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to request more time for small businesses to understand and comply with the Agency’s new, wide-ranging nutrition labeling regulations.

Over the last few days, the potential use of oleandrin for treatment of COVID-19 has received significant media attention. The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) strongly discourages sales or marketing of dietary supplements that contain any part of the oleander plant (Nerium oleander) or its constituent, oleandrin. AHPA also urges physical and online retailers to refrain from offering any such products for sale, and AHPA cautions consumers to avoid oral consumption of oleander or oleandrin.

This issue of the IADSA Newsflash covers Australia TGA reclassifies certain sports supplements to be regulated as medicines, South Africa down scheduled CBD to a category of complementary medicine, Korea has updated its functional food code to include ginseng as helpful to bone health and the European Commission (EC) acknowledges the potential to consider traditional use of botanicals in the efficacy assessment of health claims when traditional medicine products exist for botanicals used in foods.

Webinar presenters will address different approaches to sustainability self-assessment, discuss various sustainability standards, and how to create realistic science based targets, and present examples that will help companies of all sizes plan and execute meaningful self-assessments.