Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch was honored by United Natural Products Alliance at a special luncheon event in Salt Lake City Thursday. The Utah-based UNPA has members in the worldwide food supplement industry. The compounded sales growth of the dietary supplements industry in Utah is reported to be nearly 11% per year since 1992. Senator Hatch sponsored the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, or DSHEA, that officials say transformed the industry. Then President Bill Clinton signed it into law on October 25th, 1994. Loren Israelsen is president of UNPA. He says his organization worked very closely with Senator Hatch in the early 90’s forming the legislation.
“And this is a very important and appropriate moment to pause and celebrate a remarkable landmark…well, it’s been not amended in 20 years, that itself is remarkable,” says Israelsen.
Senator Hatch says the law was about fairness and about allowing access to what has been tremendous growth in the variety of products.
“A bill that really protects the industry but also protects the public and so everybody knows what they gotta do to provide decent, honorable, workable, and health dietary supplements,” the senior Senator says.
Hatch says for decades the Food and Drug Administration had been heavy-handed with the industry by trying repeatedly to create restrictions. He used the example of folic acid supplements which were recommended by the CDC to prevent birth defects while the FDA refused to allow supplement manufacturers to use that information. Hatch says he and nearly everyone he knows takes daily dietary supplements and he plans to continue his work to keep regulations on the industry at bay.
NOTE: This article was edited from the original posting to correct inaccuracies about the type of event held and the reported growth of the food supplement industry, making it more specific to Utah compounded growth.
