Nutritional Outlook announced that AHPA President Michael McGuffin is one of 10 new members of the publication's editorial advisory board.

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.

The September 2020 AHPA Report includes: Inaugural Sports Nutrition Congress; Hemp-CBD Supplement Congress now on-demand; 9th Annual Botanical Congress; AHPA seeks more time for small firms to comply with new labeling rules; Statement on oleandrin; Senator hoping for sensible guidance on CBD; Hemp-CBD market growth; and more.

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.

The August 2020 AHPA Report includes: FDA announces resumption of domestic inspections; Daily consumption of certain cranberry products reduces risk of recurrent UTIs; Final guidance on BE labeling; Virtual Hemp-CBD Supplement Congress on Aug. 27; and more.

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.