SILVER SPRING, Md. (November 2, 2012) -- Citizens for Health (CFH), a leading consumer advocacy group, is urging its 100,000 members to visit the American Herbal Products Association's (AHPA) KeepSupplementsClean.org website as an educational resource for consumers to educate them and help them avoid consuming tainted products being sold as dietary supplements.
CFH encouraged its members to visit the website via a press release on November 1 and marks the first time that the website has been endorsed by a consumer health organization.
Launched in August 2011, KeepSupplementsClean.org was created by AHPA to support heightened efforts by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the dietary supplements industry to address significant public health problems posed by products that are illegally marketed as dietary supplements but contain ingredients that do not qualify as dietary ingredients.
"Although we do not always see eye-to-eye with FDA on where the exact boundary for allowable dietary ingredients lies, we agree with the agency that neither pharmaceutical drugs nor steroids are allowed in lawfully marketed supplement products," the CFH press release says.
The website offers current information on illegal tainted products and identifies the product categories that are most susceptible to adulteration, such as weight loss, sexual enhancement and body building, categories in which consumers may be looking for immediate or dramatic results.
Although targeted primarily to the trade, the site includes a section for consumer education that provides specific guidance about how to avoid purchasing tainted products, warnings about tainted dietary supplements, and a link to the FDA Consumer Update.
"Consumers should have confidence that the dietary supplement products they purchase contain only legal ingredients that are properly disclosed on the label," said AHPA President Michael McGuffin. "AHPA continues to support the efforts of FDA to remove illegal products, and we are pleased to provide CFH with a resource with our KeepSupplementsClean.org website."
KeepSupplementsClean.org also provides direct links to the communications that FDA has prepared for each of these categories and lists all related enforcement actions and recalls. These lists are updated each time FDA announces a new enforcement action or recall. In addition, information is provided for similar tainted products identified in other countries, as it is important to understand that this is an international problem for both the trade and consumers.
About the American Herbal Products Association
The American Herbal Products Association is the national trade association for and the voice of the herbal products industry. AHPA is comprised of domestic and foreign companies doing business as growers, processors, manufacturers, and marketers of herbs and botanical and herbal products, including foods, dietary supplements, cosmetics, and non-prescription drugs. Founded in 1982, AHPA's mission is to promote the responsible commerce of herbal products.
MEDIA CONTACT: Frank Lampe, Director of Communications, 720.398.8172,
flampe@ahpa.org.