NPA: Consumer Reports story is 'an attack on dietary supplements'

WASHINGTON The Natural Products Association on Wednesday challenged a Consumer Reports report in the September 2010 issue around dietary supplements as “an attack on dietary supplements -- including a call for additional regulation of the industry -- that presents a far from balanced and accurate representation of the industry or the laws that regulate it.”

Many of the products mentioned in the report, the NPA added, aren’t even dietary supplements but adulterated drugs being sold in violation of standing regulation.

The NPA also questioned the data Consumer Reports cited to suggest the dietary supplement industry suffers from inadequate quality controls. “In actuality, evidence from the government suggests the contrary,” the association stated in a press release. “Earlier this year, the [U.S.] Government Accountability Office tested a number of products finding only trace amounts of contaminants, leading the FDA to testify before Congress that ‘we do not believe these levels represent a significant risk to health.’”