Monteloeder’s fourth interactive debate gave an answer to this question and brought together two knowledgeable professionals in the nutraceutical, legislative and personalized nutrition field, Katia Merten-Lentz and Enrique Martín.
When Katia Merten-Lentz, partner in Lawyer-Keller and Heckman LPP, was interviewed, she expressed her excitement for being part of an international nutraceutical event as VitaFoods. “It is very important for me to be in the heart of all the nutraceutical innovations”.
Monteloeder’s fourth debate revolved around international regulations, how governments implement measures to ensure safety and social control and, up to what extent, this controlling attitude might be detrimentally affecting the pace at which innovations progress. In this context, Katia strongly believes that the answer to this concern is neither unique nor simple. “A consumer’s eating habits depend on a mix of numerous factors” and therefore, when it comes to regulations “it is very difficult to say definitely yes or no”.
Moreover, as Ibidem Law&Strategy founder and director, Enrique Martín approached the question from a similar angle. With a more direct argumentation strategy, Martín explained that “there is a point in which our freedom, the freedom of consumers, must prevail over the right of governments to impose on us their standards”.
Furthermore, when asked about the possibility of standardizing a global European regulatory framework in favor of the patient, he eloquently explained that “we need global regulation, harmonization of laws, it is very important for the industry to develop with equal conditions”.
Both speakers faced each other later on in Monteloeder’s fourth interactive debate and tried to eloquently give an answer to the question: Will concerns over data, privacy or lobbying cause regulators to slow down the pace of innovation?.
Here, Katia Merten-Lentz, made use of her experience as a lawyer and exposed that “there is no specific legal framework to personalized nutrition”. She defended that “there are so many ways, tools, types and categories of distribution and production in the context of personalized nutrition offering, that it is very difficult to say yes”. This argumentation stresses the idea that since the nutraceutical and personalized nutrition industry is so complex and full of intricacies, it is complicated to consider how regulations might affect all of them.
On the other hand, Enrique Martín made clear his position and described how some laws and governmental measures might constrain evolution. As he explained, “I think that the main enemies of freedom can be regulation”.
On top of this, he further elaborated his reasoning and explained how if there were less regulations, innovation would have less boundaries and therefore it would boost its development, “the smaller the regulation, the greater the innovation”.
Additionally, Martín’s position placed great faith on the consumer, claiming that they are sufficiently responsible for themselves and do not need a strict regulatory framework, “consumers are citizens, if they can vote in elections with no information, they can choose nutraceuticals with good information”.
In the end, despite the fact that both speakers declared that they were in agreement with many of the discussed issues, it seems like Enrique Martin’s arguments were more convincing to the audience since he received 61,4% of the votes, leaving Katia Merten-Lentz with 38,6%.
As with the previous debates, Monteloeder immersed the audience into an enriching interactive experience putting at their reach the opinion and knowledge of two highly respectable professionals in the nutraceutical world. This event was a unique opportunity to interact, learn and discover more about the world of nutrigenomics, the nutraceutical industry, and the regulations that control them.
Related articles:
https://www.monteloeder.com/blog/2017/07/will-disruption-be-more-likely-from-an-incumbent-within-the-industry-or-from-a-new-entrant/
https://www.monteloeder.com/blog/2017/06/disruption-will-data-fundamentally-transform-the-industry/
https://www.monteloeder.com/blog/2017/06/is-more-information-what-the-nutraceutical-industry-truly-needs/
