House Committee To Investigate FDA Inaction On CBD Regulation, GOP Chair Warns About Dangers

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability chairman James Comer announced the investigation into the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) failure to regulate cannabidiol (CBD) products as dietary supplements.

What Happened: After organizing a high-level internal working group to examine potential regulatory pathways for CBD products, the FDA concluded earlier this year it would not regulate it as a food and dietary supplement ingredient.

FDA deputy commissioner, Janet Woodcock said at the time that the agency will work with Congress to create "safeguards and oversight to manage and minimize risks related to CBD products,” reiterating controversial warnings that CBD poses risks to animals and that people could therefore be unknowingly exposed to it. 

In a letter to FDA commissioner of food and drugs Dr. Robert M. Califf, Republican chair Comer warns that the agency’s decision could lead to having dangerous products on the market. 

What Now: Comer is requesting documents and information to enable oversight of the FDA’s failure to provide Americans with regulatory guidance.

“The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recent announcement regarding its authority to regulate CBD products as dietary supplements," Comer wrote. “The announcement states that the FDA does not believe its current regulatory framework allows for regulation of cannabidiols (CBD). The mission of the FDA is to advance[e] the public health by helping to ‘speed innovations that make medical products more effective, safer, and more affordable and by helping the public get the accurate, science-based information they need to use medical products and foods to maintain and improve their health.’ We seek documents and information to enable oversight of the FDA’s actions related to this announcement.”

In the letter, Comer also cited a recent report from the World Health Organization (WHO), which confirms that “across a number of controlled and open label trials of the potential therapeutic effects of CBD it is generally well tolerated, with a good safety profile.” 

By not allowing therapeutic CBD products to be regulated as dietary supplements like fish oils, or melatonin, the good guys in the industry can’t enter the market and offer consumers with helpful products, Comer says. They are not distinguished under the FDA from “intoxicating products containing Delta-8.” 

Photo: Benzinga edit with images by IRA_EVVA on Shutterstock and Zebulon Rogerson on Wikimedia Commons