Now is the time to make your voice heard! Congress is seeking input from YOU on how to provide a legal pathway for CBD food products and dietary supplements! This is a unique opportunity you do not want to miss.
On July 27th, 2023, U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), chair of the Senate HELP Committee, along with U.S. Representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Frank Pallone (D-NJ), ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released a Request for Information (RFI) to the public, seeking input on how Congress should move forward with regulating CBD products in food and dietary supplements.
This letter follows the January 2023 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcement in which the agency “announced it would like to work with Congress to craft a legislative approach to the regulation of CBD products.” Previously, the FDA has remained steadfast in its refusal to allow CBD products in the marketplace as food additives or dietary supplements due to CBD’s use in the drug Epidiolex. Moreover, “FDA has indicated that CBD would not meet the relevant statutory requirements for food or dietary supplement[s] due to safety concerns.” Read more about FDA’s announcement here. The request for input follows the reintroduction of the Hemp Access and Consumer Safety Act, which directed the FDA to regulate CBD as a food or dietary supplement under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Read more about the bill here.
In response to FDA’s request, Congress is taking steps toward a regulatory pathway by seeking the public’s input on various factors related to CBD production, marketing, and more. The full list of questions may be found here. Questions include requests on information regarding:
Current market dynamics, such as changes in the market since the 2018 Farm Bill, current products on the market, and the effect of absent national standards
Pathways and the scope of regulations, such as hemp product definitions, the adequacy of FDA’s current regulations and how it relates to CBD, non-ingestible products, and the rise of synthetic-produced cannabinoids
Federal-State relationships, including how current states are regulating CBD products and how federal law should or should not preempt those regulations
Safety and quality concerns of allowing CBD food products or dietary supplements on the market, such as interactions with other substances, inherent risks, consumer safety, and amount/concentration limits
Packaging and labeling issues, such as the potential for standardized label panels, claims allowed on packaging, symbols, and other possible restrictions
Members request responses to the RFI be submitted to CBD@mail.house.gov and CBD@help.senate.gov by August 18, 2023. A better regulatory system for CBD food and dietary supplements is needed, and the FDA’s failure to act has greatly limited the development of this market. As Johnathan Miller of US Hemp Roundtable described during the “Hemp in the Modern World: The Yearslong Wait for FDA Action” hearing held by the Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services,
[FDA’s] lack of action has cast a shadow over the industry. It’s kept a lot of big box stores from carrying products that they otherwise would. It’s kept a lot of big food and beverage companies from adding CBD to their mixes. As a result, there was a decrease in demand when the supply went way up. As you’ve seen by the chart I shared earlier, the price has collapsed, and farmers are bearing the burden.
The RFI is a real opportunity for the industry to have an impact! Now is the chance for stakeholders like yourself to help develop national policy and to define what YOU want to see – we encourage all stakeholders to ENGAGE IN THE PROCESS! Give Congress the information it needs to push the FDA to act!
AgHS is here to help bring your voice to Congress. We are available to help draft and submit your comments and further represent your business to achieve your federal and state hemp policy goals! Contact us to learn more by email at admin@agriculturalhempsolutions.com, or by phone at 888-388-4367.