Durbin: Consumers need more information on dietary supplements

Senator Dick Durbin is trying to tame the wild world of dietary supplements and energy drinks.

Durbin says the compounds in these products that are supposed to give you energy or help you sleep are unknown to the public, and product labels offer no help.

“The average person may understand the impact of vitamin C or vitamin D, vitamin B, whatever it might be,” Durbin said at a press conference at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. “But when you get into new versions of dietary supplements, you cannot possibly as a lay person understand what the impact of that combination might be on your body.”

Durbin has introduced federal legislation, the Dietary Supplement Labeling Act, which would improve the information available to consumers on the product labels, require supplement manufacturers to register their products with the Food and Drug Administration, and provide a list of the ingredients and a copy of the label.

The proposal also would clearly distinguish between conventional foods and dietary supplements, which are governed by different laws. Under current law, the manufacturer decides into which category the product falls.