Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I strongly oppose this amendment. I will be voting to table it, and I encourage my colleagues to do the same. It would impose another layer of regulations on an industry that already has a workable regulatory framework. It is totally unnecessary, and it will only increase costs for those who use dietary supplements.

I wish to make a few points clear.

First, HHS already has authority to impose an immediate ban on any dietary supplement that poses imminent hazard to public health.

Second, four previous FDA Commissioners and a former Deputy Commissioner agree that DSHEA already provides sufficient oversight of this industry. This amendment would strap the FDA with a huge burden at a time when the agency is already struggling to perform its current core responsibilities.

Third, it unnecessarily expands registration requirements without adding any additional consumer protections.

All this amendment does is penalize good companies, while doing nothing to go after the bad.

In the end, as a result of this amendment, consumers will suffer by paying higher prices for their supplements.

This amendment is bad for the FDA and bad for consumers. The Senate should reject it.

We already have a regulatory framework under DSHEA that works. A new intrusive regulatory regime is totally unnecessary. I urge my colleagues to vote with me to table this amendment.

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