NutraCast: 'Uniting for a higher purpose': The story behind DSHEA
From Dr. John Christopher's herbal school in the hills of Springville, Utah, to fierce competitors uniting for a common cause, the natural products industry fought against what Israelsen described as increasingly aggressive behavior from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Working alongside Senator Orrin Hatch, industry leaders crafted DSHEA, forever changing the dietary supplement landscape.
“I was a former staff member for Senator Hatch, and he was a longtime friend of the industry," Israel's said."He said if you need help at some point along the way, let me know, and that day came.
"This is when I left Nature's Way, and about a year later, after trying to think through and talk to a lot of these lead companies and their owners and executives, what are we going to do? And we had a series of meetings with FDA. [They] didn't go anywhere. All they did was confirm in our mind that we're going to be roadkill.
“And so we worked up a little model bill, one page. I called the Senator's staff, made an appointment, flew back to Washington, sat down and explained our problem. And I handed him this one-pager, and he kind of glanced at it and said, 'I'm good. Let's go. Get yourself a Democrat in the House.' And that was it. End of conversation. And he said, I'm ready to go as soon as you are, so that was in part the genesis.”
And the rest is a 30-year history, often filled with unanticipated challenges such as AI, along with global supply chain complexities and the ongoing battle for health freedom.
To hear more on the behind-the-scenes making of DSHEA and the crucial need to educate younger generations in this digital age, listen to the NutraCast.
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