The New York State Assembly is advancing legislation (A2762) that would impose potentially onerous health claim substantiation requirements on retailers, according to the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), Silver Spring, MD. It would also require product labels or promotional materials to include, among other things, FDA’s toll-free telephone number and Internet website, and set civil penalties for violations. “This legislation is misguided in its intent and problematic for AHPA members who do business in New York,” said AHPA president Michael McGuffin. “AHPA is therefore organizing an opposition strategy.” The bill, originally introduced in January 2003, passed through the Assembly Consumer Affairs and Protection Committee on Wednesday, May 19th, and was referred to the Assembly Codes Committee, which is the last stop before reaching the floor. Given that this bill was passed out of committee this late in the session, it is likely to go further. The bill’s sponsors justify it by citing “the absence of adequate federal oversight and regulation” in the bill summary.

Dietary supplement legislation is also being prepared in the state of California. According to the bill summary, the legislation “requires manufactuers and distributors of dietary supplements to send to the Department of Health Services (DHS), on a quarterly basis, copies of all adverse event reports relating to their products.” Specifically this billauthorizes DHS to charge a fee to cover the cost of reviewing those reports, which in trun will create the Dietary Supplement Consumer Complaint Fund (DSCCF), into which fees will be deposited, and designated DSCCF as the main source of funding to implement this program. The bill, however, exempts dietary supplements that contain only vitamins.