NASC Honored by Nutrition Business Journal for Efforts on Behalf of the Industry

Valley Center, Calif. (October 20, 2010) – The National Animal Supplement Council (NASC) received an award for Efforts on Behalf of the Industry from a leading research-based, nutrition industry publication, Nutrition Business Journal (NBJ), this year at the annual NBJ Summit in Dana Point, Calif.

Bill Bookout, president of NASC, accepted the award on behalf of his organization’s membership representing nearly 90 percent of all animal supplement companies in the United States. The award recognizes NASC for establishing a fair and consistent regulatory framework for animal supplements that, in the short-term, allows responsible companies to continue to keep products on the market, while working towards establishing a long-term legislative solution with U.S. regulators for the entire animal supplement industry to ensure safety and efficacy.

 

“NASC has accomplished a lot in our first eight years, but I’m most proud that we have brought together the majority of responsible industry participants in the animal supplement industry and engaged the regulatory agencies cooperatively to look at solutions to define and achieve an objective that is greater than any of us individually,” says Bill Bookout, president of NASC, the nonprofit industry trade association leading the charge for national regulation of supplements for companion animals and horses. “Our belief has always been that cooperation is better than confrontation.”

While the U.S. Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health Education Act (DSHEA) in 1994, creating a legal category for human dietary supplements, it did not include or mention animals. This omission put the animal supplement industry in regulatory limbo and was the catalyst for the formation of NASC. The organization was established in response to the uncertain future of animal health supplements and the threat that many of these products might be removed from the marketplace.

“NASC took it upon itself to address and solve a regulatory problem using one voice and a cooperative approach that the human supplement industry should pay close attention to,” says Tom Aarts, industry veteran and co-founder of NBJ. “When legislation is finally created for animal supplements, NASC will have had an influential voice in the process that will benefit both its members and the industry in general.”

NASC is the first organization to initiate a third-party quality assurance program for the animal health supplement industry with its NASC Quality Seal Program.

The Press Release is available through this LINK .

Bill Bookout was interviewed by NBJ’s Carlotta Mast during the NBJ Summit where he accepted the award on behalf of NASC. Check out the video to see Bill discuss the achievements of NASC and the benefits of regulatory cooperation.

 

Video link (http://newhope360.com/finance-amp-investment/nbj-summit-video-benefits-regulatory-cooperation)