Petra’s Recap: Fly in Day 2025

Last month, I was very honored to participate in NPA’s Fly In Day in Washington DC.  This annual legislative advocacy event is an important way to educate elected representatives and their staffers about our industry, and to advocate for American consumers’ supplement access.  The event drew approximately 100 industry members, who began the day with a training session on how to approach legislative advocacy meetings and the issues to cover, before we were sent off to Capitol Hill. Our California cohort of seven had a very busy day meeting with the offices of both of our CA Senators as well as four CA Representatives.  

Tariffs, as you might have guessed, were the most urgent topic of every discussion.  With the landscape changing daily (while we were there, multiple tariff agreements were being negotiated and announced) it felt like a critical time to have these conversations.  The other topics we emphasized were expanding access to supplements through HSAs and FSAs, clarifying FDA authority over supplements and the disruption caused by state level authority, and modernizing the drug preclusion clause.

I want to sincerely thank Adel Villalobos, CEO of Lief Labs, for his leadership of our CA group and Jim Emme, CEO of NOW Health Group, for his mentorship and call to action. NPA Fly in Day helped me catch the vision for how we can and should all contact our legislators to help impact policy and that our obligations extend beyond our personal beliefs. Health, after all, should not be a partisan issue.

I encourage everyone to consider how they might contribute to industry advocacy efforts at local and federal levels.  Several industry trade groups have options.  In addition to the NPA event I attended, CRN has an annual Day on the Hill, AHPA has an excellent advocacy flier on botanicals, holds webinars, and lobbies on the Hill, and UNPA’s lobbyists provide members with regular updates and calls to action. And we can all contact our elected representatives at any time to advocate for positions we want them to take.

Being back in Washington DC for the first time in 25 years was inspiring and incredibly moving for me personally.  I was able to spend an extra day and a half as a tourist after the official agenda concluded:  Capitol Hill, the Lincoln monument, Washington monument, World War II memorial, and four Smithsonian Museums…  Twenty-five miles walked in just three days.   At the National Museum of American History, I sat in a dimly lit room in front of star-spangled banner, yes, the actual flag that flew over the Baltimore harbor in 1812 and inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem that became our national anthem.  The history of these places, these things, transcends the present moment. I came away inspired.