FOR the first time the US government is to ban a dietary supplement because of its adverse effects on health. But the ban does nothing to close a loophole that allows other supplements, including herbal remedies, to be sold without being tested for safety because they are not classified as medicines.
On 30 December 2003, the Food and Drug Administration announced its intention to prohibit as soon as possible the sale of all dietary supplements containing the plant extract ephedra, on the grounds that they pose “an unreasonable risk of illness or injury”.
Athletes and dieters buy products containing the extract, otherwise known as ma huang, to gain vigour and shed weight. But after a prolonged investigation started in 1997, the FDA says it now has enough evidence to justify a ban. The damning statistics include 155 deaths linked to the supplements, including that of Steve Bechler, a baseball star with the Baltimore Orioles. One review alone, undertaken by the California-based Rand Corporation for the US National Institutes of Health, logged 16,000 adverse reactions to the extract.
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Ephedra’s principal ingredient is the stimulant ephedrine. “It raises the heart rate and blood pressure, which can lead to strokes and heart attacks,” says an FDA spokeswoman. “It’s like taking speed.” Already, the FDA has warned more than 60 manufacturers to take the supplements off the market, and will publish a rule formalising the ban in the coming weeks.
Supplements containing ephedra are the first to be banned by the FDA on medical grounds. But while the FDA vets all new orthodox medicines, it is powerless to prevent the launch of supplements. To ban them, it has to gather data on health hazards after products have hit the shelves. That is no easy task, but the word from the FDA is that the ban on ephedra might not be the last.