NPA testifies against illegal steroids

WASHINGTON Daniel Fabricant, interim executive director and CEO of the Natural Products Association, testified Tuesday afternoon before the Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee during a hearing examining the illegal marketing of steroids as dietary supplements.

Titled "Body Building Products and Hidden Steroids: Enforcement Barriers," the hearing will also include testimony from the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Justice and the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

According to Fabricant’s testimony, NPA believes that “tougher enforcement and prosecution to the full extent of the law are the best ways to stop the criminals" responsible for selling steroids masquerading as dietary supplements. "The barriers to enforcement are simple: money, manpower and will," Fabricant said.

Fabricant also made the distinction between the “legal, safe and healthy dietary supplement industry” and the seedy, fly-by-night, and unsafe world of illegal steroids” and called on the FDA, DEA and other appropriate agencies to work together to enforce the law.

“We fully support the rules that already exist that ensure that what's on the label is what's in the bottle,” Fabricant said.