Council for Responsible Nutrition

This article is part of the Foodspin project of Spinwatch.

A lobby group (trade association) representing ingredient suppliers and manufacturers in the dietary supplement industry. CRN members claim to adhere to a 'strong code of ethics, comply with dosage limits and manufacture dietary supplements to high quality standards under good manufacturing practices'. According to CRN's website its mission is to 'improve the environment for member companies to responsibly market dietary supplements by enhancing confidence among media, healthcare professionals, decision makers and consumers.'^[1]

Among the lobbying accompishments that CRN boast of on their website are the key role it played in all major dietary supplement legislation passed since the Rogers/Proxmire Vitamin Bill of 1976, including the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA), the Dietary Supplement Act of 1992 (DSA), the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997 (FDAMA).Additionally, CRN has led the industry in the regulatory arena with aggressive promotion of self-regulation while aggressively and consistently challenging FDA's over-reaching efforts to restrict dietary supplement sales.^[2]

CRN participates in the actions of Codex Alimentarius, the Food Industry Codex Coalition, the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue (TABD), the World Health Organization (WHO), regulatory agencies of numerous countries, and the international policies of U.S. government agencies.

In 2007 CRN used the services of the Alpine Group Inc. to lobby the federal government^[3] It also co-funded together with GNC, Inc. the survey on dietary supplements consumption conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs.^[4]