Nutraceutical Wrangling

On January 1, 2004, Health Canada regulations governing the labeling, manufacturing and health claims of natural health products for human consumption came into effect.

In the United States, the battle is heating up over the use of supplements for pets and other animals – a trend that needs to be watched in Canada. Given the BSE problems, the use of any unlicensed products – particularly those such as glucosamine or chondrotin that contain animal protein, could also become regulated

Iowa’s Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship announced in late 2003 that it was banning the sale of all non-FDA-approved nutraceuticals and joint formulas for pets. These include the supplements or foods containing purified salts of glucosamine, chondrotin sulfate, MSM, hyaluronic acid, and shark cartilage because none have been proven to be safe.

A public outcry from manufacturers, retailers and consumers ensued. The National Animal Supplement Council (NASC) managed to negotiate a compromise that allows pet supplements to be sold in Iowa with labelling revisions. New labels cannot use terms such as “dietary” or “nutritional supplement”, or make guarantees. Pet supplement suppliers (including horse feeds) have one year to comply with label changes.

The state of Texas already had similar regulations in place and currently no equine supplements with any sort of label claims can be sold. One or two manufacturers have found a loophole and have relabelled their products to list the precursors of the active ingredients, rather than the active ingredients themselves.

NASC president and co-founder Bill Bookout said, “The regulatory environment is still very inconsistent. These products aren’t feeds and they’re not drugs, and the laws that currently govern them were written before these products existed”.

The enforcement of regulations in Canada is still up in the air. No word from the Veterinary Drugs Directorate has been received to date. According to VDD staff, the “VDD is preparing a letter to the trade to clarify the position.” For updates on the negotiations between NASC and the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine in the United States, visit www.nasc.cc