FDA ponders BSE risk in supplements

At a meeting last week of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to discuss threats to the US blood supply, the FDA announced that it will be considering the view that some dietary supplements may contain imported extracts from brains, testicles and other organs from cattle potentially exposed to mad cow disease. Advisory committee members are concerned that bovine ingredients from countries where bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) exists could find their way into the United States inside bottles of such supplements, which are not regulated as tightly as drugs. Companies are not required to list on labels the country of origin for bovine or other ingredients. Since 1991, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has prohibited importation of tissues and organs from ruminants, including cattle, from countries that have BSE, but these regulations do not specifically apply to cosmetics or products used in dietary supplements. The human form of mad cow disease, new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob (vCJD) disease is thought to be linked to the consumption of BSE-infected beef.