Minors barred from getting weight-loss, bodybuilding drugs with new NY law

Minors will no longer be able to buy diet pills or supplements intended for muscle building or weight loss when a new state law takes effect Monday.

The legislation, which is intended to help prevent eating disorders, bans the sale of over-the-counter dietary supplements to people under age 18, though it includes exemptions for some protein powders, protein drinks and foods.

“This bill is an important measure in combating diet culture and ensuring the safety of young consumers,” Assemblymember Nily Rozic, one of the bill’s sponsors, said in a press release. Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the act into law in October.

Violations will be met with civil penalties of up to $500, and Attorney General Letitia James has the authority to request a warning in court if she believes there has been a violation, the trade publication Natural Products Insider reported.

Industry groups tried to thwart enforcement of the law, but received a setback Friday as a federal judge denied the Council for Responsible Nutrition’s motion for a preliminary injunction while two lawsuits challenging the law work their way through the courts, the outlet reported.

“We are in the process of reviewing the decision,” the council said in a statement provided to The Post.

The nonprofit trade group, whose members are dietary supplement manufacturers and distributors, took issue with the bill for being ambiguous; targeting marketing rather than consumption; and providing no “meaningful guidelines for compliance,” according to the complaint the council filed against James. In addition, the group says, there is no causal link between dietary supplements and eating disorders.

The law “was pushed by social advocates relying on an unscientific and meritless argument that dietary supplements somehow cause eating disorders in young people, when the research shows they do not,” council CEO Steve Mister said in a release when it sought the injunction. “If we stand by and allow this law to go into effect, it won’t help young people with eating disorders, but it will stop families in the Empire State from purchasing the trusted nutrition products they use to keep their families healthy.”

Rozic and fellow bill sponsor Senator Shelley Mayer said they intended for their bill to focus on the marketing and advertising to minors “by establishing age verification guidelines for retailers and delivery sellers.”

Meanwhile, on Wednesday another federal court stayed court proceedings in a separate lawsuit filed by Natural Products Association, a nonprofit representing manufacturers and retailers of natural products, pending the outcome in the Council for Responsible Nutrition’s case.