Consumer groups back FDA on NDI draft guidance

For immediate release: February 3, 2021

Media contact: National Consumers League – Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org, (412) 945-3242 or Taun Sterling, tauns@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, DC—While the Biden Administration reviews late-hour regulations enacted by the Trump Administration, one important FDA guidance related to CBD deserves further consideration. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently withdrew its pending CBD guidance, which the agency had submitted last summer. These highly anticipated guidelines were meant to elaborate on FDA’s CBD enforcement policy as unregulated, untested CBD products continue to infiltrate the consumer market. The FDA has not yet shared a timeline for re-submitting the CBD guidance.

NCL launched Consumers for Safe CBD in 2019 to encourage the FDA to use its existing authority to curtail the proliferation of potentially dangerous, unapproved CBD products and to incentivize CBD research, clinical trials, and the creation of science-based CBD medicines.

NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg released the following statement in response to the FDA pulling its guidance:

The early weeks of 2021 have brought about many changes – with a new Administration, a new Congress, and continued progress in the fight against COVID-19,  there is hope for a safer, healthier future. NCL will continue to do its part to protect consumers and promote public health.

Unfortunately, CBD manufacturers continue to make unsubstantiated medical claims about their products, putting consumers at risk. We remain hopeful that the FDA and the Biden Administration will join us in our efforts to protect consumers from the potential dangers that exist in the current unregulated, wild west CBD marketplace.

NCL urges the FDA to re-circulate an updated proposal that encourages further research into CBD and the development of science-based CBD medicines and uses the FDA’s authority to regulate the CBD marketplace to protect consumers from CBD products that may put them at risk. Consumers deserve a safer, healthier future. We simply cannot abandon this work now.

To learn more about NCL’s Consumers for Safe CBD campaign, click here. To learn more about FDA’s recent efforts related to CBD, click here.

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About the National Consumers League (NCL)
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.