G.Onishchenko: once again to the question of dietary supplements

Unreliable advertising of dietary supplements misleads consumers
Tamara Panfilova, FarmvestnikSpeaking in the State Duma on January 28 as part of the "Government Hour", the head of Rospotrebnadzor, Chief Sanitary Doctor of Russia Gennady Onishchenko pointed out that one of the most pressing problems is still the quality and safety of biologically active food additives.

In accordance with the Agreement of the Customs Union on Sanitary Measures and the documents adopted in its development, dietary supplements are subject to state registration. The safety assessment of dietary supplements is carried out according to the unified sanitary and epidemiological rules that currently apply in the territory of the Customs Union.

According to G. Onishchenko, the greatest number of violations is allowed by the manufacturer, in particular, by applying information on the label that misleads consumers of dietary supplements regarding their properties: "We see this from advertising when a food product, which by law is a dietary supplement, is issued today as a kind of miraculous remedy that cures all diseases, although on all our dietary supplements should be written that they are not a medicine."

One of the systemic problems in the turnover of dietary supplements, Gennady Onishchenko believes, is their remote sale. By a departmental act (Resolution of the Chief Sanitary Doctor of Russia), such a sale is prohibited, dietary supplements can only be sold through pharmacies or specialty stores. However, unfortunately, the remote sale of dietary supplements continues to be carried out, and often according to a criminal scheme, as a result of which socially unprotected groups of the population and, above all, pensioners suffer. According to G. Onishchenko, the implementation of the Law on Advertising should play a serious role here: "Rospotrebnadzor is working on this issue together with the FAS of Russia, but this is not enough, and therefore we are ready to make proposals for further tightening regulation of this area."

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01.02.2011