Senator John McCain (R-AZ) introduced “The Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010” today, intending to curb the practice of spiking supplements with dangerous drugs such as designer steroids.

“The McCain bill is a fair and balanced approach that provides significant protections for all consumers of dietary supplements, while at the same time avoids placing unreasonable burdens on legitimate companies in the industry,” said Travis Tygart, CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). “We are grateful to Sen. McCain for his strong leadership on this public health issue and urge other members of Congress to support this bill.”

According to a media advisory from USADA, the legislation would require manufacturers of dietary supplements to list the ingredients contained in any supplement, and provide FDA with the authority to identify and act upon safety concerns related to dietary supplements, including the ability to recall products from the marketplace.

John Gay, executive director and CEO of the Natural Products Association (NPA), Washington, D.C., responded to the announcement, saying the legislation could threaten DSHEA. “Our industry has long supported efforts to remove the relatively few bad actors who market adulterated products. We have advocated for additional enforcement funds for regulators, and for giving regulators additional authority to act. What we cannot support is wholesale changes to a regulatory structure that is working, and could work better if the measures we have supported were adopted. A series of new laws for criminals to ignore is not the answer.

“Some seek to paint with an awfully broad brush,’ he continued. “For example, the idea that the 150 million Americans who use dietary supplements are gambling with their health by shopping at mainstream stores just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Hyperbole does not lead to sound policy.”

Steve Mister, president and CEO, the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), Washington, D.C., said CRN does not believe that requiring manufacturers to report all adverse events—not just serious adverse events—would do anything to protect consumers. “Instead, it could do the opposite by stretching the agency beyond its limits. FDA itself has stated that this would overburden the agency and would not help protect consumers. The best way to help consumers is through collaborative efforts with industry, government and other stakeholders, such as USADA, to implement the current laws, to provide more resources and funding to FDA and to pass the food safety bill, which already includes many of these provisions.”

“CRN looks forward to the opportunity to study the legislation and find common ground with the sponsors and supporters of this legislation,” Mr. Mister added. “Where specific provisions are extensions of positions we have already supported and lobbied for, we applaud more voices joining with ours. But where the legislation would deter retailers from offering a wide variety of legitimate supplements to consumers or would overburden manufacturers, we will seek alternate solutions.