Naturals industry officials are praising new legislation that would beef up enforcement of dietary supplement laws.

The Dietary Supplement Full Implementation and Enforcement Act of 2010, co-sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, gives the Food and Drug Administration additional resources to enforce industry regulations already on the books. The bill requires food inspectors to work more closely with the Drug Enforcement Agency when anabolic steroids are found in dietary supplements. It would provide the FDA with additional resources to assure that manufacturing facilities comply with good manufacturing practices, requires the release of New Dietary Ingredient guidance and annual registration for supplement manufacturers, packers and distributors.

Loren Israelsen, executive director of the United Natural Products Alliance, said the bill “completes the unfinished business of full implementation of (the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act). We support this 100 percent.”

He called the bill “common sense” and urged Congress to “move this bill forward. The government should be spending the appropriate amount of funding to help consumers use supplements safely and confidently.”

Israelsen and others applauded provisions of the bill that specifically increase enforcement and increase funding.

“The way to get bad actors out of the industry is by putting more cops on the street, plain and simple,” said Natural Products Association CEO John Gay in a press release.

The Council for Responsible Nutrition added its voice to support for the legislation. “CRN and its member companies have long advocated for more resources to help the FDA better enforcemtn industry regulation and this bill is a step in the right direction to making that happen,” Steve Mister, CRN president and CEO, said in a statement.