The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) is pleased to announce the winners of its 2015 AHPA Awards for individuals and companies making substantive, positive contributions to the herbal products industry. The 2015 AHPA Awards will be presented during AHPA's annual Member Meeting and Breakfast on March 5 at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, Calif.

This year's AHPA Award winners are:

"AHPA is pleased to recognize the hard work of these individuals and organizations and greatly appreciates their contributions to the herbal products industry," said AHPA President Michael McGuffin.

Dick Griffin, former owner of Grifcon Enterprises, was awarded the AHPA Herbal Hero Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the industry.

A commercial lines insurance broker with more than 46 years of experience specializing in products liability insurance, Griffin formed the national Products Liability Insurance Program for the U.S. dietary supplement and natural products industry in 1996 and has been credited for "the tremendous benefits that his programs generated for the dietary supplement industry."

Mountain Rose Herbs was awarded the AHPA Herbal Industry Leader Award for taking steps above and beyond normal business practices to advance the herbal products industry. Mountain Rose Herbs revealed the only certified organic tea line on the market packaged with 100% post-consumer waste materterials including recycled newspaper and compostable plant cellulose. In 2013, the company launched the Free Herbalism Project as an ongoing series of free community events featuring visiting herbalists.

Tieraona Low Dog, MD, was awarded the AHPA Herbal Insight Award in recognition of her efforts to significantly increase and further knowledge and understanding of botanicals and their uses.

Dr. Low Dog is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of dietary supplements, herbal medicine, women's health and natural medicine. She has spoken at more than 550 scientific/medical conferences, published 40 peer-reviewed articles, and written 20 chapters for medical textbooks.

Dr. Low Dog's extensive career spans more than 35 years. In addition to her work as a clinician and educator, Dr. Low Dog has been involved in national health policy and regulatory issues for more than a decade. In 2000, she was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve on the White House Commission of Complementary and Alternative Medicine and she recently completed her three-year term as a member of the Advisory Council for the National Institutes of Health National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). Dr. Low Dog served as the elected Chair of the United States Pharmacopeia Dietary Supplements and Botanicals Expert Committee from 2000 to 2010. And now serves as the elected Chair of the United States Pharmacopeia Dietary Supplements Admission Evaluation Committee.

NutraIngredients-USA Senior Editor Stephen Daniells and Senior Correspondent Hank Schultz were awarded the Special AHPA Award for Journalistic Excellence for their outstanding journalistic reporting of the New York State Attorney General's flawed DNA testing of herbal supplement products.