Horse Health
ANIMAL ENTHUSIASTS AND SUPPLEMENT INDUSTRY SHARE COMMON GOAL - All Stakeholders Can Join NASC to Ensure Availability of Quality, Standardized Animal Supplements
By Gina DePinto
Mar 22, 2005, 13:25

The National Animal Supplement Council is an industry group dedicated to protecting and enhancing the health of companion animals and horses throughout the United States. Approximately 65 percent of U.S. animal supplement manufacturers and suppliers are members of NASC, including some of the most recognizable names in the industry. Membership in NASC is available to all who share an interest in animals and believe access to animal supplements should not be limited or removed completely.

Membership in NASC is testimony to one’s commitment to ensuring the continued availability of animal supplements. Membership is available in varying degrees: Primary Supplier Member, Associate Member and Animal Friend. A primary supplier is a voting member and must be involved in supplying supplements as a manufacturer, bottler, labeler, re-packer or raw materials supplier. Associate members are non-voting professional participants in the industry, including distributors, dealers, retailers and veterinarians. Animal Friends are animal owners or enthusiasts who simply wish to support the efforts with cash or in-kind donations.

NASC members and animal friends have a stake in molding the future of the industry. Primary supplier members are an integral part of NASC, which puts quality, risk management and research first, bringing added credibility and responsibility to the animal supplement industry. Voting members benefit directly from the lobbying efforts that support the industry’s interests. The following are primary driving forces behind the need for NASC’s existence:

1. Frustration and lack of progress by other groups, such as the American Association of Feed Control Officials, Novel Ingredients Regulatory Framework Task Force (NIRFTF).

2. Inconsistency and the need for a fair, reasonable, responsible and nationally consistent approach to regulate the supplement industry.

3. Protect the Industry from any eminent threat of regulatory action focused on removing products from the marketplace simply because the current regulatory framework does not allow for proper recognition of these products.

4. In the Interest of the Animals: if animal products are no longer available, consumers may turn to human products that are not formulated for animal use nor provide proper administration guidelines or directions or to irresponsible suppliers, options that could result in harmful outcomes.

Despite time-consuming and pain-staking efforts by NASC over the past 36 months, the regulatory framework remains arbitrary and capricious due to differing interpretations of federal and state law by the feed control officials with little rhyme or reason to the enforcement actions that continue to impede interstate commerce on a state-by-state basis. The environment that exists today does not meet the objectives of any stakeholders, including the regulatory agencies.

The time has come for the balance of the animal supplement industry and all stakeholders to ban together to ensure the industry’s future. Every stakeholder can help, from joining NASC and helping improve industry standards, to contacting local and federal officials, and supporting quality supplements by buying products that carry the NASC Quality Seal.

For more information or to get involved, go to www.nasc.cc or call (760) 751-3360. NASC is committed to the production and distribution of high quality supplements for non-human food chain animals and holding voting member companies accountable for supplying only those supplements that are in compliance with NASC guidelines.


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