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FDA issues new rule for dietary supplements

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 23, 2007

WASHINGTON

For the first time, manufacturers of vitamins, herbal pills and other dietary supplements will have to test all of their products' ingredients. The Food and Drug Administration said Friday it is phasing in a rule that is designed to address concerns that existing rules allowed supplements on the market that were contaminated or didn't contain ingredients claimed on the label. Consumer advocates hailed the rule but chided the FDA for not requiring supplements to be tested for safety or effectiveness before they hit store shelves.

Also Friday

- Sen. Barack Obama said that if elected president, he would impose new lobbying restrictions on members of his administration and seek to end a system of no-bid contracts that he says is riddled by abuse.

- Republican John Barrasso, a surgeon and conservative Wyoming legislator, was named as a U.S. senator to replace Republican Craig Thomas, who died June 4.

- The Justice Department's third-in-command, William Mercer, announced his resignation, becoming the sixth aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to leave amid the political uproar over the firings of nine U.S. attorneys last year.

- The White House defended Vice President Dick Cheney in a dispute over his office's refusal to comply with an executive order regulating the handling of classified information. Spokeswoman Dana Perino said Cheney was not obligated to submit to oversight by an office that safeguards such information, as other parts of the executive branch are.

[Last modified June 23, 2007, 00:02:47]