The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), the dietary supplement industry’s leading trade association, commended Reps. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) and Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) for introducing legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that will help protect consumers from potentially dangerous anabolic steroids falsely marketed as dietary supplements. The “Designer Anabolic Steroid Control Act (DASCA) of 2014” serves as a companion bill to S. 2012, legislation introduced in the Senate in February.

“The introduction of the House bill is the next step toward full passage of a much-needed law that will further empower the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) with new tools to identify and quickly respond when new designer anabolic steroids are introduced and falsely marketed as dietary supplements,” said Mike Greene, vice president of government relations at CRN.

CRN is actively leading the charge for the dietary supplement industry, canvassing legislative offices on Capitol Hill in support of DASCA, emphasizing its importance to consumers as well as to responsible dietary supplement companies. The association has a strong history of engagement on this important issue. CRN lobbied Congress to pass the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004, and is committed to seeing this most recent piece of legislation enacted.

“More than 150 million Americans take dietary supplements and they deserve convenient and affordable access to a wide array of these beneficial products, but anabolic steroids have no business being sold as supplements,” Steve Mister, president and CEO of CRN, said. “Responsible stakeholders within the dietary supplement industry consistently encourage congressional and regulatory action to rid the marketplace of illegal products that masquerade as dietary supplements.  Anabolic steroids are not dietary supplements.”