New Jersey takes first step to limit supplement sales to minors

The New Jersey General Assembly on Monday, Oct. 28, passed a bill that prohibits the sale to minors of certain dietary supplement products unless the minor is accompanied by a parent or guardian.

The bill, A-1848 governs the sale of OTC diet pills or dietary supplements for weight loss or muscle building, a category of products targeted by other state legislatures as well. The prohibitions in the bill do not apply to products prescribed by a licensed health care professional.

A-1848 passed the New Jersey General Assembly by a vote of 56 to 17, with four abstentions. There is no companion bill in the state Senate, according to industry sources.

Ahead of the vote, the president and CEO of the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), Steve Mister, wrote a letter to members of the New Jersey General Assembly. Mister, whose trade association represents dietary supplement and functional food manufacturers and ingredient suppliers, expressed concerns with A-1848.

The bill “would have far-reaching effects on the economy of New Jersey by placing new economic and compliance burdens on retail establishments,” Mister wrote. “If enacted, businesses across the state would be penalized and punished for selling legal products regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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“To comply, stores and online retailers, will be tasked with age verifying purchases for a broad and vague description of products under threat of penalization,” Mister continued. “This would indirectly limit access for all consumers and make it more difficult for customers to evaluate different supplements and determine which product might be right for them. Finally, the bill places an unattainable enforcement authority on the state to inspect thousands of retailers resulting in a large financial cost to taxpayers.”

CRN is challenging in federal court a similar bill that is now law in New York.

The bills introduced in the Northeast and elsewhere in the U.S. are backed by interests seeking to address eating disorders and the potential abuse or misuse of diet pills and certain dietary supplements.

The Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders (STRIPED) is based at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Boston Children’s Hospital. It described A-1848’s passage in the New Jersey General Assembly as a “big win” for its “Out of Kids’ Hands campaign.”

Among STRIPED’s talking points, the products targeted in the bill “serve as a gateway to eating disorders among girls and anabolic steroid abuse among boys.”

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However, during a hearing in September, the bill’s sponsor, Assembly Health Committee Chairman Herb Conaway Jr., rejected the idea that combatting eating disorders is the primary motivation of A-1848. He made those comments after CRN’s Mister, in testimony, cited a lack of data that dietary supplements targeted in the bill cause eating disorders.

If New Jersey enacts age-related limits on certain supplements, retailers would be responsible for verifying consumers' age before the purchase. Credit: Alamy

“The focus is on use and misuse of these products, which [causes] other functional problems in the body,” the lawmaker said in an exchange with Mister. “That’s the main driver of this bill. I won’t argue with you on whether or not these products are the main cause of eating disorders … but I think there is a relation there.”

In its talking points, STRIPED charactered dietary supplements as “under-regulated” by FDA with no screening for efficacy and safety before they are released into the U.S. market. The group also warned about weight loss and muscle building products being contaminated with dangerous chemicals and prescription drugs.

Trade associations have countered that dietary supplements are subject to comprehensive regulatory oversight under federal law—including, among other things, an FDA requirement to follow current good manufacturing practices (cGMPs)—and that weight loss and muscle building products laced with drugs, for example, are not legitimate or lawful supplements. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) just turned 30 years old on Oct 25.

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Daniel Fabricant, president and CEO of the Natural Products Association (NPA), encouraged people to go to npanational.org and, through a form letter to their state senator, oppose A-1848 to ensure there is no companion bill in the state Senate in the current legislative session. NPA Director of Government Affairs Kyle Turk testified in opposition to A-1848 in September.

Following the bill’s passage in the New Jersey General Assembly, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) described A-1848 as "overly broad."

“The bill’s overly broad language now captures numerous dietary supplement products that have nothing to do with weight loss, including safe and beneficial products many New Jerseyans rely on to support bone health, muscle recovery, and to promote cognitive function,” said Carlos Gutiérrez, vice president of State and Local Government Affairs for CHPA.

“CHPA has demonstrated a willingness to work collaboratively with the Assembly on crafting legislation that precisely targets weight loss products to avoid sweeping restrictions against supplements consumers use daily to support their wellness needs,” Gutiérrez added in a statement. “We plan to work with the New Jersey Senate to improve this legislation so that it achieves its intended goal of educating and protecting our youth against potential misuse without hindering access for the millions of New Jerseyans who rely on the daily use of these products."

This piece originally appeared on SupplySide Supplement Journal, a New Hope Network sister website. Visit the site for information on the nutrition industry—from supplements and functional foods to sports nutrition and manufacturing.