In the Business section of the Los Angeles Times today (September 3, 2008) yet another article concerning the negative aspects of the dietary supplement industry published. I started to write a comment to the article via the LA Times website but found the 650 character limit to be very challenging given the nature of the presentation. Thus, here are the take-away messages weas an industry need to pay attention to and why. A separate letter sent directly to the author of the article is under development just now. This little tome is for US as an industry to consider. The article was written by Mr. David Lazarus under the Consumer Confidential column. Beginning with the opening lines the tenor and disinformation begin. Mr. Lazarus characterizes the industry as unregulated – I know we have heard this before. Sadly, he next cites examples of regulatory action that has occurred as proving his point. This oxymoronic presentation is the least of the challenges I have with Mr. Lazarus’ presentation. For this audience let’s consider the things we need to be aware of: Mr. Lazarus points to the recent “Berkeley Nutraceuticals” prosecution (you know – Smiling Bob gets 25) as the latest example of how horribly wrong the industry is. Mr. Lazarus’ rightful challenge is that FDA only acts after the fact. What we need to insist upon is that FDA act swiftly. Not as selectively as in the past and certainly not as a pre-approval process. In order for this to work two things must occur: 1. FDA (and FTC for that matter) must act aggressively and swiftly in enforcing the regulations already in place. Yeah – same old mantra but it really needs to happen. 2. Even before FDA or FTC act, we as an industry have to make legitimate efforts to clean house and solicit the assistance of the regulatory agencies. This too is old news but the louder the drumbeat of “the only way to stop them is to insist on pre-approval” message – the more urgent honest action in a self-regulatory fashion is required. Mr. Lazarus also cites the Airborne FTC fine as an example of the wild nature of the claims that exist. He’s right. FTC did in fact (ummmmm) enforce regulations. Hmm – for an unregulated industry – that’s quite a feat. Regardless, the claims made are outrageous in some instances and should be stopped. That is up to the regulatory agencies to perform but it is up to us the shout the mantra of insistence on enforcement. Not just the token enforcement examples that crop up ala Berkeley or Airborne. Mr. Lazarus takes a swipe at ephedra as an example of what can go wrong. He attributes 7 deaths to the consumption of ephedra. Even if this number were accurate (I must have missed this affirmation in the formal notification of the ban on ephedra alkaloids by FDA) the example again is one of regulatory action having occurred. The message of concern is that the truth of the ban and the basis for it are beginning to get fogged in history and lack of interest by industry. This sort of misinformation cannot go unchallenged. Mr. Lazarus plays a little fast and loose with the facts and quotations in his article as well which is essentially a reaffirmation of past practice by the lay press. Setting that aside, the quote that he doesn’t quote comes from an old mantra of our industry: “The supplement industry says a handful of bad apples . . . unfairly tarnish the reputations of trustworthy companies.” This is troubling. The cited presentation is antiquated. The FACT is that the because of the lack of enforcement by the regulatory agencies the atmosphere surrounding the industry has changed. It is far more than just a handful of bad apples. The REAL magnitude of the problem needs acknowledgement by our oft-ostrich-headed industry members. Until we remove our heads from beneath our wings, we will continue to appear (as an industry) like we have our heads planted firmly south of our upper appendages. We need to own the facts and use them to advantage. Use these facts to demonstrate what happens when regulatory agencies do not do their jobs. The last pieces of the article Mr. Lazarus puts forward are telling indeed. He offers up the solution of a pre-market approval process. He contends that this would address an industry that is “awash in snake oil” and put only beneficial products into the mouths of consumers. Yeah, kind of like the pre-market approval that exists for drugs that account for thousands of deaths annually and that are frequently of late pulled from the market as a result of discovery of some euphemistically titled “side effect” having been hidden in previously submitted data. Instead of swimming along in the snake oil that does flow through this industry we should use the reality of the situation to our advantage. Specifically: 1. Own up to the fact that it is more than a handful of miscreants in this industry. 2. Point the finger of shame at the root cause of the bad apples – not continue to deny their existence. That root cause is lack of enforcement. 3. Challenge each faulty fact in each and every article that comes out negatively characterizing the industry. 4. LEARN TO SELF-REGULATE IN A MEANINGFUL FASHION. We can do it but it does involve ego-abatement on our part. As for Mr. Lazarus – I’ll be sending him a reply in this afternoon’s mail. We all should.