First Annual Botanical Safety Consortium

The Botanical Safety Consortium (BSC), a forum established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), and the Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI), will hold its first annual meeting on May 29, 2020. Objectives of the meeting include recruiting new members and soliciting input into current scientific challenges and opportunities related to botanical ingredient safety. The meeting will be held from 9:00 a.m. EDT to 12:45 p.m. EDT via webcast and will also be recorded.

The BSC was announced in the FDA’s February 2019 statement when the agency highlighted new steps it was taking to modernize dietary supplement regulation. It was officially convened in November 2019 through a memorandum of understanding between the FDA, NIEHS, and HESI. The Consortium hopes to draw scientists from government, academia, consumer health groups, industry, and nonprofit organizations from around the world. Its mission is to provide a forum to generate a sound scientific basis for integrating existing safety data and the latest toxicology tools to evaluate safety in botanical dietary supplements.

For additional information about the Botanical Safety Consortium, including how to join, contact HESI at botanicalsafety@hesiglobal.org.