The Los Angeles Times reported, “The push to get Hydroxycut products off the market is the first test of legislation and federal regulations that have given the Food and Drug Administration some new regulatory powers over the herbal supplements industry.” Dietary supplement makers are required to adhere to “specific manufacturing standards,” and “to notify the FDA when they receive reports of serious adverse health effects suffered by consumers taking their products.” Currently, the agency “has no power to approve or deny the introduction of a new dietary supplement to the open market,” but regulators can “move to ban” the sale of a supplement if they “have gathered enough evidence to claim that” it “poses serious risks to consumers.” The agency’s “crackdown on Hydroxycut,” therefore, “presses the limits of the agency’s power to regulate weight-loss products when they meet the definition of a dietary supplement: they contain only minerals, vitamins, and herbal extracts, and make no claim to treat disease.”
From the American Association for Justice news release
