(WASHINGTON, DC) — Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) President and CEO Scott Melville released the following statement in response to FDA concluding that existing regulatory frameworks for foods and supplements are not appropriate for cannabidiol (CBD) and that the agency intends to work with Congress on a new regulatory pathway:
“FDA indecision has been the decision on CBD for far too long, and a confused marketplace of unregulated CBD products has emerged that does not serve the public health. In this respect, CHPA welcomes today’s action on the Citizen’s Petition we filed in 2019. However, FDA cannot – via a citizen petition response – undermine the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act’s direction and authority to initiate rulemaking to address the exclusory provisions and to let the New Dietary Ingredients (NDI) notification pathway serve its essential function, which is to require sponsors to demonstrate the safety of new ingredients before going to market. Therefore, we have concerns about FDA’s sweeping action today and the precedent it sets for future NDI submissions.
“There is a legal process to evaluate the safety of new dietary ingredients, and this is not it. We look forward to working with Congress to explore modernization of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) and to ensure that the NDI process works as was originally intended.”
