Approximately 29,000 herbal extracts, vitamins, and other dietary supplements are currently available to the American consumer, and about 1,000 more reach the market each year. By law, dietary supplements are assumed to be safe until proven otherwise, meaning that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration must determine whether a product on the market poses risks to users. Agency officials must do so in the absence of any requirements for safety testing by manufacturers or mandatory reporting of health problems related to supplement use. In DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS: A FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING SAFETY, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council of the National Academies describe a science-based approach by which FDA can use publicly available data to better evaluate the safety of supplement ingredients. The report will be released at a one-hour public briefing.

DETAILS:
11 a.m. EST, Thursday, April 1, in the auditorium of the National Academies building, 2100 C St., N.W., Washington, D.C. Reporters who cannot attend may listen to a live audio webcast of the briefing and submit questions using an e-mail form at http://national-academies.org. (The webcast requires RealPlayer software, available free at http://www.real.com/player. For more information on setup and hardware requirements, see the Real.com Web site.)

REPORTERS: OBTAIN A COPY OR REGISTER TO ATTEND by contacting the Office of News and Public Information at tel. 202-334-2138 or e-mail news@nas.edu. Advance copies of the report will be available to reporters only beginning at noon EST on Wednesday, March 31. THE REPORT IS EMBARGOED AND NOT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE BEFORE 11 A.M. EST ON THURSDAY, APRIL 1.

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Contact: Christine Stencel
news@nas.edu
202-334-2138
The National Academies
1-Apr-2004

Page: 1
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