Judge Allows Nationwide Ephedra Ban

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=541&e=12&u=/ap/ephedra_ban | 4/12/04

[Fierce Allegiance]

22 minutes ago Add Health - AP to My Yahoo!

By WAYNE PARRY, Associated Press Writer

NEWARK, N.J. - A federal judge allowed a nationwide ban on dietary supplements containing ephedra to take effect Monday, turning aside a request by two supplement makers.

Yahoo! Health Have questions about your health? Find answers here.

U.S. District Judge Joel Pisano refused to grant a temporary restraining order sought by the two manufacturers that would have prevented the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) from banning the products.

NVE Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Newton, the manufacturer of the popular diet supplement Stacker 2, had hoped to head off the nationwide ban on the herbal stimulant, arguing the main ingredient in its product is safe if used as directed.

The company had asked for the temporary restraining order pending further scientific tests. On Monday, a second company had been allowed to join the motion — the National Institute for Clinical Weight Loss, manufacturer of a product called Thermalean.

Ephedra, once hugely popular for weight loss and bodybuilding, has been linked to 155 deaths and dozens more heart attacks and strokes.

After years of fighting manufacturers over ephedra's risks, the FDA announced in December that it was banning sales of the amphetamine-like herb — the first such ban of a dietary supplement. The ban takes effect Monday.

Research shows the herb can speed heart rate and constrict blood vessels even in seemingly healthy people, but it's particularly risky for those with heart disease or high blood pressure or who engage in strenuous exercise.

Unlike medications, which must be proven safe and effective before they're allowed to be sold, federal law allows dietary supplements to be marketed without any such proof. To curb a supplement, the law requires the FDA to show it poses a significant health threat.

NVE Pharmaceuticals maintains that the FDA lacks proof that ephedra is dangerous if used correctly. Its lawsuit argued that the agency simply reacted to the emotion of high-profile deaths like that of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler.

The FDA argued that it amassed sufficient proof of ephedra's dangers from thousands of side-effect reports and scientific studies that proved the herb's stimulant-like effects.

Ephedra sales already had plummeted because of publicity about the risks, which peaked after Bechler's ephedra-related death a year ago. Three states — New York, Illinois and California — prohibited the stimulant on their own.

[Mears]

Alcohol is dangerous if overused also.

Anyone here want to ban the use of alcohol?

Cigarettes,what about them?

Thank God we have the government to keep us safe we are all such morons.

[Fierce Allegiance]

The gov't must not have found a way to tax the bejeeeezes out of it like smokes & booze.

[Smogger]

Linked to 155 deaths? Compared to the millions of people that take supplements containing Ephedera? More people probably OD on asprin.

Nevertheless, it just means more of you fatty's will be going to the grave early now that being fat has replaced smoking as the number one preventable cause of death.

I wonder how the number of deaths linked to dietary supplements compares to the number of deaths linked to being a fatty? hmmmm...

[sweetliberty]

Any guesses on what we will actually have choices about in another 5-10 years? I'm guessing that by the time we get sick enough of government invasion of every aspect of our private lives to do something about it, it will be too late. Even now, we are helping them with the shackles.

[Fierce Allegiance]

The ephedra was a short-term kind of thing with a linkable cause/effect, where as my expanding waistline is a lifestyle, hence the ephedra was an easy target.

[Fierce Allegiance]

I will make 2 sets of predictions based on the outcome of the fall election.

Bush wins - more of the same degradation in the american way of life. I don't blame him, it's merely the way our entire structure is currently working, from the schools to the media to the government.

Kerry wins - we all line up forr the blue pill daily and go off to our worker utopia world after extensive "INDOCTRINATION" and "RETRAINING"

[sweetliberty]

Pretty bleak picture either way.

[Fierce Allegiance]

That's while i enjoy beer & cigs now, they won't be around long for us regular people.

[hchutch]

Is there any chance for an appeal? Or can Congress slip something in that prohibits the use of funds to enforce an ephedra ban?

It can't standbased on the RAND study that HHS was using.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1116157/posts?page=1

[11th Earl of Mar]

Linked to 155 deaths? Compared to the millions of people that take supplements containing Ephedera? More people probably OD on asprin.

FYI. There were 250 deaths last year due to peanut allergies.

So what do the feds do? Ban ephedra.

[hchutch]

Gee, this does NOT make sense, and it's probably inviolation here.

We're talking 165 deaths TOTAL vs. 250 to peanuts a year.

But something had to take the fall because someone did not follow the directions on the label. Ephedra took the fall. Now, when my stockpile runs out, I'm going to have to welcome back the 25 pounds I gained.

Thanks for NOTHING, Secretary Thompson.

[HELLRAISER II]

Sure it will, you'll just be added to the WOD's list of criminals that will have to buy it on the Black Market and some of you will eventually end up going to jail for it. Just think you'll be listed right along with the Crack & Heroin addicts, Thanks U.S. Govt. for nothing!

[goldylight]

This is crazy - people wanting to get healthy cannot. they are only banning it bc people abused it. what about fast food - that is probably the cause of more deaths than ephedra. i take ephedra as it helped me go from an unhealthy weight to one which is good. 165 people died - that is nothing more people die from asprin per year. UNBELEIVABLE.

[w1andsodidwe]

This is so silly. Viagra will never go off the market, no matter how many men die or how many side effects, but never will any diet medication be allowed.

Very strange priority our FDA has.

[w1andsodidwe]

This is so silly. Viagra will never go off the market, no matter how many men die or how many side effects, but never will any diet medication be allowed.

Very strange priority our FDA has.

[adam_az]

Ephedra, once hugely popular for weight loss and bodybuilding, has been linked to 155 deaths and dozens more heart attacks and strokes.

Aspirin kills thousands a year.... Ban aspirin! ;) This is pretty dumb.

[BossLady]

We certainly will not see the pharmaceutical version of ephedra banned! It's in OTC cold, allergy and asthma medicines. Amazing!

[augggh]

This is crazy - people wanting to get healthy cannot. they are only banning it bc people abused it.

This is why many of us "small-L" libertarians have been against the War on Drugs all this time. It is a far more slippery slope than most people want to admit.

Of course, I'm sure the usual suspects will show up sooner or later to tell us we're all godless libertines and FedGov is here to make everything better.

[hchutch]

I can't believ that Tommy Thompson, of all people, would fall for a wave of hysteria, particularly given the facts behind Steve Bechler's death.

http://www.mediresource.sympatico.ca/health_news_detail.asp?channel_id=8&news_id=923

http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2003/0313/1523003.html

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al/orioles/2003-02-17-bechler-collapse_x.htm

It sounds like he was overdosing on the supplement. And this leaves me up the creek without a paddle once my stockpile runs out.