The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), a well-known trade association for the dietary supplement and functional food industry, has recently announced new guidelines that set an 18 to 24-month timeframe for melatonin supplement producers to incorporate child-deterrent packaging voluntarily.
The new guidelines have a specific focus on gummy supplements, with an emphasis on labeling clarity, preventing unsupervised access by children, addressing potential choking hazards, and ensuring proper product usage.
According to Dr. Pieter Cohen, an associate professor of medicine at the Cambridge Health Alliance who authored a 2023 study on the dangers of melatonin gummies, the industry’s recognition of the serious risks posed by melatonin supplements, particularly to children, is significant. He added that the industry needs to do a much better job of ensuring the products are safe and well-manufactured.
The guidelines stress the importance of manufacturers utilizing child-safe bottles for gummies and chewable tablets, as more than half of accidental ingestions involve children aged 3 to 5. Approximately three-quarters of these incidents are attributed to bottles being easily opened or improperly closed.
A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in March 2024 revealed that over 11,000 children were treated in emergency rooms between 2019 and 2022 for unsupervised ingestion of melatonin.
Given the alarming statistics, CRN has called upon its members and the broader industry to adopt these guidelines as soon as possible. These guidelines are expected to help ensure that melatonin supplements, particularly gummies, are not easily accessible to children and that the industry takes the necessary steps to prevent accidents and protect consumers.
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