Washington, D.C., February 11, 2014—In response to today’s introduction of the Designer Anabolic Steroid Control Act (DASCA) of 2014 by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), the Natural Products Association (NPA) and the United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA) together issued the following statement:
The trade associations of the dietary supplement industry strongly support DASCA, a bill that protects consumers by empowering the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) with new tools to identify and quickly respond when new designer anabolic steroids—illegal drugs—are falsely marketed as dietary supplements. Among the improvements brought about by DASCA will be new guidelines for DEA to address products that are “substantially similar” to anabolic steroids and that have been illegally marketed to promote muscle growth. In addition, DASCA will place new anabolic steroids on the DEA Controlled Substance List, and will change the criteria for placing additional anabolic steroids on the list going forward. This will make it easier for DEA to identify and catalog new chemicals. DASCA will also allow DEA to respond faster to stop those criminals who create new anabolic substances closely resembling listed ones, but tweaked just enough that they are not identical to their flagged counterparts.
Misbranded products that contain designer anabolic steroids present serious health risks to consumers. Unapproved steroids illegally sold as dietary supplements are not only dangerous for consumers, but also unfairly damage the reputation of responsible dietary supplement companies that provide consumers with legitimate, high-quality and beneficial supplements for sports nutrition and performance. These illegal products put athletes at risk, pose safety problems and jeopardize the careers of athletes who could unknowingly test positive for these banned substances under their athletic associations’ rules of conduct.
Responsible dietary supplement industry stakeholders have consistently supported congressional and regulatory efforts to enact and enforce laws that help eliminate illegal products that masquerade as dietary supplements, and to prosecute the criminals who manufacture and sell them. The industry lobbied Congress to pass the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004, and our trade associations are proud to work with Sens. Whitehouse and Hatch on this critical issue. We are committed to coming together to advance this important legislation and to see that it is enacted.