The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) submitted comments to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to withdraw its draft of “Guidance for Industry on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and Their Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration.”

AHPA’s stated the FDA should “inform the public that the draft guidance has been withdrawn,” and that “no further effort should be made by FDA to develop any final guidance on this subject matter.”

One of the primary reasons FDA gave for issuing this draft was to respond to an

“increased confusion” about products used by practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine.

In the event FDA proceeds with the draft, AHPA suggested clarifications on terminology used within the document, such as to identify what “industry” it attempts to address and to refrain from using the term “CAM products” to refer to products used by practitioners in the CAM field.

Source: American Herbal Products Association, www.ahpa.org