CSPI praises NAS report on dietary supplement safety

WASHINGTON— The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) praised a report released today by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) which establishes a framework for evaluating the safety of dietary supplement ingredients.

“This is the first systematic attempt in the United States to apply modern science, set priorities, and asses the safety of herbal medicines, hormones, animal products, and other supplement ingredients,” CSPI director of legal affairs Bruce Silverglade said. “The FDA should greatly increase its support of that project so that consumers can learn in a timely fashion which dietary supplement are safe and which should be avoided. The report should also be expanded to cover effectiveness, as well as safety of ingredients.”