Any of you out there who have looked at some of the postings on this little blog would have noticed that among the recurring themes buried within the postings is a common criticism of the trade associations that represent the Natural Products industry.  I have been admittedly critical of some of the non-positions and inactivity in the past and on more than one occasion have chastised them for some of the things they do.  The intent of these criticisms was to get YOU the reader involved in your trade associations more actively to make sure they perform on your behalf.  They can only do this if you have a stated position and have stated it loudly and often with your participation in your trade associations.
Trade associations do their best work when they have specific input and direction from their member companies.  They have a responsibility to assist their member companies in understanding the complexities of getting these positions in place and to help shape opinion, but make no mistake – they are supposed to make YOUR life better in the realm of business by representing you with the power of multiple voices from numerous companies in the same industry rather than having a cacophony of voices from individual companies. 
However, I digress.  The point of this little posting is to shine a little light of praise at a couple of our trade associations for recent actions.  (sotto voce:  The fact that we have so damn many trade associations for one industry is always a troubling issue).
I shall offer the praise in alphabetical order of trade association name.
First then is the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) and its recent stance concerning Economically Motivated Adulteration.  This little topic is one of the dirty little secrets of the industry.  Spiking or “enhancing” materials so that they either look better on the chromatographic presentation or in the extreme case do more than the real stuff could ever do – well it happens daily and has for a long time.  AHPA took the position that FDA should broaden its scope of EMA to include a broader set of real-world applications of such adulteration.  The original “definition” of EMA stemmed from the unfortunate practice of including one of the “fils” in with the supposed herbal sexual enhancement product.  You know:  sildenafil (Viagra); vardenafil (Levitra) etc.  However, the practice of including substances with the botanical goods to provide a profile that looks like the real deal (ginkgo comes to mind as one example) does not enhance the industry at all.  Instead it continues to exist and ultimately will undermine the whole of the industry.  Knowing how AHPA works, I suspect this position was derived with significant member-company input – which neatly supports my request for same in the earlier part of this posting.
The second instance and tip of the cap goes to the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN).  They have identified May as National Sleep Month and, through contributions of their VP of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs, have insured that this month recognizes the inclusion of dietary supplements containing specific “safe and effective” nutrients (yes I know these are massive terms in FDA’s eyes but a trade association can say them when a single company may not).  The stance is positive, specific and generic enough to benefit a wide range of supplement manufacturers.  Nice work.  I trust the support of the member companies was behind this effort.
This is rare, actually too rare, an occurrence but when they do come up with good ideas and execute them, our trade associations demonstrate their worth and begin to fulfill the promise that their existence dictates.
I trust we can find more of this “Good News” in the future.  I for one will still be watching.