Nano in Your Flintstones?

January 15, 2009

You may not know this, but nanotechnology is making its way into your vitamins and supplements and the FDA may not be able to effectively regulate it. A new report from the Project on Emerging Nanotechnology states that "The ability of the FDA to regulate the safety of dietary supplements using nanomaterials is severely limited by lack of information, lack of resources and the agency’s lack of statutory authority in certain critical areas."

Currently there are about 40 dietary supplements on the market that claim to use nanoscale ingredients, such as calcium, magnesium and silver. You can search PEN's inventory of nanotechnology-based consumer products on the word supplement and see what those products are.

The report, called "A Hard Pill To Swallow: Barriers to Effective FDA Regulation of Nanotechnology-Based Dietary Supplements," offers the following:

• comprehensive history of FDA’s evolving role with dietary supplements
• highlights key changes in laws, legislation and resources that have significantly affected the agency’s ability to provide oversight of the burgeoning supplements market
• provides recommendations to Congress and the FDA for what steps should be taken

The report is free and written in language that is easily digested (perhaps unlike some nanotechnology-laced supplements!)

Comments

[x-ray fluorescence]

Hi,
Very nice post.The ability of the FDA to regulate the safety of dietary supplements using nanomaterials is severely limited by lack of information, lack of resources and the agency’s lack of statutory authority in certain critical areas...