N.Y. General Business Law § 831: Sale or promotional distribution of dietary supplements containing ephedra

§ 831. Sale or promotional distribution of dietary supplements

containing ephedra. 1. No person, firm, corporation, partnership,

association, limited liability company, or other entity shall sell or

offer to sell or give away, as either a retail or wholesale promotion, a

dietary supplement containing any quantity of ephedra within New York

state, except as authorized by subdivision three of this section.

2. For purposes of this section, the following terms have the

following meanings:

(a) "dietary supplement" means (1) a product (other than tobacco) that

is intended to supplement the diet and that bears or contains one or

more of the following dietary ingredients: a vitamin, a mineral, an herb

or other botanical, an amino acid, a dietary substance for the use by a

person to supplement the diet by increasing the total daily intake, or a

concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract, or combinations of these

ingredients; (2) intended for ingestion in pill, capsule, tablet, or

liquid form; and (3) labeled as a "dietary supplement" pursuant to the

federal Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, 21 U.S.C. 321, as

amended.

(b) "ephedra" means any natural or synthetic form of ephedrine and

ephedrine alkaloids.

3. (a) Nothing in this section shall apply to nonprescription

over-the-counter drugs approved or regulated by the Food and Drug

Administration.

(b) This section shall not apply to ma huang (ephedra sinica) sold or

dispensed by any practitioner of oriental medicine, whose qualification

to use ma huang and other herbs is explicitly established via evidence

of an active certification issued to such individual from an entity

accredited by the National Commission of Certifying Agencies (NCCA) and

who is not otherwise required to be licensed by the state of New York,

or any physician or any practitioner of acupuncture licensed by the

state of New York as long as it is not sold or dispensed as a dietary

supplement for weight loss, for body building, or as an "energy food".

4. Any person, firm, corporation, partnership, association, limited

liability company, or other entity that violates the provisions of this

section by selling, offering to sell, or giving away as either a retail

or wholesale promotion, a dietary supplement containing any quantity of

ephedrine alkaloids shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than

five hundred dollars per violation, recoverable in an action by any

enforcement authority designated by any municipality or political

subdivision.

5. It shall be a defense that any person, firm, corporation,

partnership, association, limited liability company, or other entity

that sold, offered for sale, or gave away as either a retail or

wholesale promotion a dietary supplement, did not have knowledge that

the supplement contained any quantity of ephedrine alkaloids, if such

knowledge was not reasonably discoverable.