Violators will be charged with unfair or deceptive practices
Holistic Pugilists
Massachusetts House of Representatives member Kay Khan is stirring up an angry response to her new bill limiting sales of diet supplements.
Her opponent? The Natural Products Association (NPA), which is trying to muster up a grassroots response to the bill.
"Representative Kay Khan is once again trying to destroy the Natural Products Industry by unnecessarily banning and restricting access to dietary supplements and muscle-building products throughout the State of Massachusetts," the association's website reads. "And we know that if they pass this, states all over the country will start to follow in their path."
Debbie Downer
Here are the particulars: Khan's bill bans sales of "over-the-counter diet pills or dietary supplements" to anyone under 18 years old. The bill also restricts general access to the products in retail outlets by sectioning them off behind managerial lock and key; any purchase of the products must go through "a manager, assistant manager, acting manager or other supervisory personnel" or pharmacy personnel.
Finally, it requires the retailer to post "at each purchase counter" a notice informing consumers that the products "are known to cause gastrointestinal impairment, tachycardia, hypertension, myocardial infarction, stroke, severe liver injury sometimes requiring transplant or leading to death, organ failure, other serious injury, and death."
The bill will charge violations as unfair competition or unfair or deceptive acts, each carrying a $2,000 fine.
The Takeaway
NPA President Dan Fabricant seems especially upset by a section of the new bill that establishes wide-ranging oversight regarding which supplements will be restricted from sale.
The bill reads, "The Department of Public Health, in consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and...stakeholders including...the eating disorders community, will determine which over-the-counter diet pills or dietary supplements for weight loss or muscle building shall have limited accessibility."
"I don't know why the eating disorder community is weighing in," Fabricant said in an interview. "The whole thing is just bananas."
Khan proposed an essentially identical law in last year's legislative session, but it was defeated, according to the NPA, by the efforts of its membership. The association is gearing up for another legislative battle, stating on its website that Khan's bill "would set a dangerous precedent that has never been considered in the United States."
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