Ephedra Ban
Public Citizen Requests Ephedra Ban for Second
Time
April 17, 2003
Public Citizen first petitioned the FDA for the removal of ephedra-containing
products in September 2001. The group has requested, once again, that
an ephedra ban be made in response to the increased blood pressure and
pulse rate, in addition to increased risk of heart rhythm abnormalities,
heart attack, and stroke that has occurred with ephedra products. The
director of the Health Research Group of Public Citizen, Dr. Sidney
Wolfe, think that the FDA has failed to take adequate safety measures
over the years by hiding behind the law that federally exempts the regulation
of dietary supplements like ephedra.
Ephedra’s
stay on the market has been partially attributed to the pressure over
lawmakers that companies like Metabolife have made through large financial
campaign contributions according to Wolfe. The hold that Metabolife
has had on the lucrative industry has allowed ephedra to remain on the
market. Wolfe continues to point to the ephedra reports linking ephedra
to 1000 deaths and several hundred adverse reactions to enough evidence
for the FDA to ban the supplement.
Although the FDA has failed to ban ephedra containing
products, the lack of federal regulation has not stopped the NFL, NCAA,
Canadian government, Army, Air Force, and many stores from voluntarily
doing so. The Public Citizen ephedra report said, “We call on
the FDA as an agency of the Public Health Service to fulfill their legal
responsibility and to stop the occurrence of further preventable deaths
and injuries by banning ephedra products.” The consumer group
had its ephedra request published in the journal Science.
For more information on the ephedra
ban, please contact
us.
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