House Passes Designer Anabolic Steroid Control Act

The bill would enhance DEA's ability to enforce against supplement spikers by expanding the list of controlled substances.

The Designer Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2014 (DASCA), which would enhance the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) authority to identify and respond to new designer anabolic steroids falsely marketed as dietary supplements, has made it through the U.S. House of Representatives and now moves to a Senate vote.

Dietary supplement association the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN; Washington, DC) commended the House for passing the bill and urged the Senate to follow suit.

“If DASCA is passed by Congress and signed into law by the president, DEA’s enhanced authority would help protect consumers from illegal products that could present safety concerns and will give them greater confidence that the products brought to market and sold as dietary supplements are legal,” said Mike Greene, CRN’s vice president, government relations, in a press statement.

CRN says it has been engaged in bipartisan discussions with legislators in both the House of Representatives and the Senate to underline the importance of DASCA to the supplements industry as well as to consumers.

The Designer Anabolic Steroid Act of 2014 (HR. 4771), a companion bill to S. 2012, would enhance DEA's ability to enforce against supplement spikers by expanding the list of controlled substances. Reps. Joe Pitts (R-PA) and Frank Pallone (D-NJ) introduced the bill in the Senate in early 2014.

Jennifer Grebow
Editor-in-Chief
Nutritional Outlook magazine jennifer.grebow@ubm.com

Photo © iStockphoto.com/Mike Rodriguez