AHPA Updates

Since the first week of March, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have been issuing warning letters alleging that marketers promoted a wide variety of products with claims to prevent, treat, mitigate, diagnose or cure COVID-19. AHPA has analyzed 135 COVID-19 related warning letters issued by either FDA or FTC or by the agencies jointly between March 6, 2020, and May 11, 2020, and made available in each agency’s coronavirus information center as of May 15, 2020.

Dear AHPA members and friends in the herbal community,

I am reaching out today to let you know that all AHPA activities normally held as in-person meetings will instead be produced as virtual events, webinars or teleconferences for the balance of 2020.

This free webinar provides practical information on how best to resume post-quarantine business operations while protecting your workforce. Learn what personal protective equipment and workspace adaptations should be implemented and how to manage ongoing business risks and liabilities. Additionally, hear from experts about how to be proactive and search for, and then correct, workplace conditions that could increase risk of COVID-19 infections.

The June 2020 AHPA Report includes snapshots of global COVID-19 responses that impact the international supplement industry, FDA & FTC COVID-19 warning letters target social media and intravenous therapies, RFP for slippery elm  sustainable wild harvest study, updated Hemp-CBD Status Report, and more.

Updated in May 2020, this free primer helps members and the herbal products industry understand the processes and practices that must be followed to comply with CITES requirements when importing and exporting species listed on CITES appendices

The AHPA Foundation for Education and Research on Botanicals (AHPA ERB Foundation) is issuing a request for proposals to award grant funding to eligible applicants in order to enhance and promote knowledge and understanding of sustainable harvest of slippery elm (Ulmus rubra).  The grant supports research effects of varying rates of wild slippery elm bark harvest on tree population health and recovery across multiple harvest sites in order to inform sustainable harvest and management decisions for the species. The anticipated amount of funding available for a sustainable wild slippery elm bark harvest research project is up to $10,000 annually for up to 5 years.

This webinar provides guidance and practical tips on how to successfully market your hemp-derived products consistent with the requirements of the FDA and FTC. An FTC representative provides FTC’s perspective, summarizes recent enforcement actions, and discusses the level of substantiation respondents in those actions possessed or did not possess. Industry attorneys address legal standards, today’s ever-evolving regulatory environment, and the lawsuit risks and liabilities marketers of hemp products face.

The May 2020 AHPA Report includes the 2019 AHPA Annual Report, the 2020 AHPA Awards, AOAC Official Method of Analysis for cannabinoids in hemp, free cGMP webinars, AHPA advocacy in Oregon, supply chain issues, and more.

To help the herbal products industry understand the evolving regulatory landscape for hemp and hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) products, AHPA has updated its free Hemp-CBD Status Report to include recent actions taken by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The new validation and approval will allow laboratories to evaluate hemp for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on a dry-weight basis, as described by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Interim Final Rule governing the production of hemp under the 2018 Agriculture Improvement Act, known as the Farm Bill.