A consortium of American sports entities, including the NFL, NBA, NHL and the U.S. Olympic Committee, have joined forces with the United States Anti-Doping Agency to create Supplement Safety Now, a program created to put an end to "the dangerous and unscrupulous practices of rogue manufacturers within the nutritional supplement industry."

The timing of this rollout isn't surprising, in the wake of recent media reports about a second FDA recall connected to traces of steroids found in supplements produced by Florida-based IDS Sports.

Reactions to the Supplement Safety Now initiative among various industry groups have been mixed. Michigan-based NSF International applauded the program, calling products that contain steroids "illegal drugs masquerading as dietary supplements," says NSF's senior VP Dr. Lori Bestervelt. "These dangerous and illegal products pose a significant public health risk and more stringent enforcement and independent surveillance is needed to better safeguard consumers."

On the other hand, the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) and Natural Products Association (NPA) have expressed concerns about the initiative being more heavy-handed than useful or effective. For one, the CRN believes an FDA registry of products proposed in the Supplement Safety Now initiative wouldn't be effective. "We do not believe that companies that are illegally contaminating products would bother to register," says Steve Mister, CRN president and CEO.

And, CRN and NPA also agree with beefing up enforcement of existing laws on the books. "Boosting enforcement also proves a quicker way to get rogue companies out of the marketplace versus the much longer process of trying to pass new legislation and write new regulations that still may not be enforced," says John Gay, NPA's CEO and executive director.

NPI Center December 2, 2009