STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10138
IN ASSEMBLY
March 12, 2020
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ROZIC -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Consumer Affairs and Protection
AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to establishing
restrictions on the sale of over-the-counter diet pills and dietary
supplements for weight loss or muscle building and increasing civil
penalties for the sale or promotional distribution of dietary supple-
ments containing ephedra
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new section
2 391-oo to read as follows:
3 § 391-oo. Sale of over-the-counter diet pills and dietary supplements
4 for weight loss or muscle building. 1. No person, firm, corporation,
5 partnership, association, limited liability company, or other entity
6 shall sell or offer to sell or give away, as either a retail or whole-
7 sale promotion, an over-the-counter diet pill or dietary supplement for
8 weight loss or muscle building within New York state to any person under
9 eighteen years of age.
10 2. For purposes of this section the following terms shall have the
11 following meanings:
12 (a) "dietary supplements for weight loss or muscle building" means a
13 class of dietary supplement as defined in section three hundred ninety-
14 one-o of this article sold for or used with the intent to achieve weight
15 loss or build muscle;
16 (b) "over-the-counter diet pills" means a class of drugs, sold for or
17 used with the intent to achieve weight loss or build muscle that are
18 lawfully sold, transferred, or furnished over-the-counter with or with-
19 out a prescription pursuant to the federal food, drug, and cosmetic act,
20 21 U.S.C. section 301 et. seq., or regulations adopted thereunder; and
21 (c) "dietary supplements for weight loss or muscle building" and
22 "over-the-counter diet pills" may include, but are not limited to, ther-
23 mogens, which are substances that produce heat in the body and promote
24 more calorie burning, lipotropics, which are compounds that help break
25 down fat during body metabolism, hormones, including hormone modulators
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15229-04-0
A. 10138 2
1 and hormone mimetics, appetite suppressants, or ingredients deemed adul-
2 terated under 21 U.S.C.A § 342.
3 3. Any person, firm, corporation, partnership, association, limited
4 liability company, or other entity that that violates the provisions of
5 this section by selling, offering to sell, or giving away as either a
6 retail or wholesale promotion, an over-the-counter diet pill or dietary
7 supplement for weight loss or muscle building to a person under eighteen
8 years of age shall be subject to a civil penalty or not more than two
9 thousand dollars per violation, recoverable in an action by any enforce-
10 ment authority designated by any municipality or political subdivision.
11 4. Any violation of this section shall constitute a deceptive act or
12 practice pursuant to article twenty-two-A of this chapter.
13 § 2. Subdivision 4 of section 391-o of the general business law, as
14 added by chapter 385 of the laws of 2003, is amended to read as follows:
15 4. Any person, firm, corporation, partnership, association, limited
16 liability company, or other entity that violates the provisions of this
17 section by selling, offering to sell, or giving away as either a retail
18 or wholesale promotion, a dietary supplement containing any quantity of
19 ephedrine alkaloids shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than
20 [five hundred] two thousand dollars per violation, recoverable in an
21 action by any enforcement authority designated by any municipality or
22 political subdivision.
23 § 3. The department of health, in consultation with other state and
24 federal agencies, as appropriate, and relevant stakeholders including,
25 but not limited to, the eating disorders community, shall determine what
26 products constitute over-the-counter diet pills, or dietary supplements
27 for weight loss or muscle building shall have limited accessibility.
28 § 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
29 it shall have become a law.