CHPA addresses economy, OTC abuse at annual conference

NAPLES, Fl. The big issue addressed by the Consumer Healthcare Products Association Friday at its 2009 Annual Executive Conference was, without surprise, the economy.

“Much has changed since we met last year in Washington, D.C.,” said Linda Suydam, CHPA president, in her annual state of the association address.

But as challenging as the economy may be, Suydam said that “American consumers are counting on this industry. We are certain that millions of consumers look to us” for continued access to safe, effective and affordable healthcare.

To that end, CHPA has significantly stepped up its consumer education efforts in the past year, from outlining a plan to address the safety and efficacy questions raised around pediatric cough/cold medicines, which is “by far the biggest education initiative ever undertaken by this association,” Suydam said, referring to the abuse of over-the-counter medicines like dextromethorphan.

Incidentally, thanks in part to the association’s outreach to 24 million parents through its Five Moms campaign, the abuse of DXM is in fact down and awareness around the dangers of abusing DXM is up.

Going forward, CHPA plans to make consumer education around the proper use of OTC medicines one of its hallmarks, especially across the association’s consumer education web site.

“We are positioning OTCsafety.org as the preeminent home of OTC information … period,” Suydam said.

The association is also looking to step up its lobbying activity, both on the national and state levels, Suydam added. For example, CHPA is strongly supportive of increased regulatory control over the distribution of raw ingredient dextromethorphan, and plans to support a national age limit on the sale of products containing dextromethorphan.