Competing Standards
January 1999

Competition among products gives manufacturers incentive to develop cheaper, better quality products. Likewise, competition among standards gives the developers of the standards incentive to ensure that they are reasonable and provide more benefit than they cost.

Competing standards can serve different levels of demand in the marketplace. For example, one standard may serve to signal adequate quality where another may serve a higher-end market that demands very high quality. Both can co-exist and give consumers a choice while providing the benefits of a standard.

Because of the different types of standards that apply to dietary supplements as well as possible demand for competing standards, a number of standards now exist and quite a few more may evolve over time to serve the needs of the market.