Jareem Gunter, a college baseball player with dreams of making it big in the world of professional sports, told Congress this Tuesday that his dreams were shattered after he discovered that what was considered by him as a safe and legal dietary supplement resulted in liver failure.
From TimesUnion.com:
“A key principle of the (’94) law is that supplements were not subject to pre-market approval, since the cost and time alone required to see a product through FDA approval would sound the death knell for this industry,” Hatch said. As for products that contain steroids, he said, “Simply put, under current law, these products are not allowed to be marketed.”
Michael Levy, director of the FDA’s division of new drugs and labeling compliance, told the panel his agency has a limited ability to keep dietary supplements with steroids from being marketed.
“FDA generally cannot identify violative products before they enter the marketplace,” Levy said. “After products enter the market, we must undertake a painstaking investigative and analytical process” to show the products violate the law.
Daniel Fabricant, interim executive director and CEO of the Natural Products Association, which represents retailers, manufacturers, suppliers and distributors of health foods and dietary supplements, said, “The barriers to enforcement are simple: money, manpower and will.”
It is really sad to know about one more possibly new episode of steroidabuse. One thing that people tend to forget while using steroids or supplements is the fact that both of them need to be used as per qualified medical advice and as per the instructions. Steroid abuse can only lead to side effects like what Jareem faced.
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Tags: dietary supplement, legal dietary supplement, professional sports, steroid abuse, steroids, supplements
