On Monday, April 26, attendees at the SupplySide East show heard firsthand from the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) during a presentation by the USADA’s Dr. Amy Eichner titled “Dietary Supplements From an Anti-Doping Perspective.” Eichner discussed the organization’s “Supplement Safety Now” campaign to increase the regulation of supplements, as well as the Dietary Supplement Safety Act that was introduced by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Since introducing the bill, McCain has backed down on many provisions following discussions with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT).

During the presentation, though, Eichner said USADA still supports all components of the original bill, though it is pleased with the current compromise. Parts of the original bill that are not part of the compromise include mandatory reporting of all adverse events, registration of all products including labels and master formulas, and the requirement that retailers and distributors verify that products are in compliance. According to USADA, these are necessary to ensure that supplements are safe.

“We would love to say ‘yes you can take that supplement,’” Eichner said. “We would love a way to segregate out good players from bad players.”

Eichner also announced a new initiative called “Framework for the Informed Athlete” through which USADA will list supplements known to contain prohibited substances, as well as those having actions similar to banned substances. This new program will be introduced around the end of the summer.