A ban on all items with "ephedra"

[Larry_OHF]

Ephedra is used in some weight loss drugs and other things. It is sold as an herbal supplement. The officials are calling for an official ban as of today, although smart states like "llinois and New York already have banned the sale of products containing ephedra, and Florida banned ephedra sales to minors in May."

http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/12/30/ephedra/index.html

This is what happens when the FDA is no longer allowed to test such drugs before they are marketed. I believe my wife said that Clinton is responsible for that. She learned about this sad law in her Nutrition class.

[Dron_Cah]

I didn't even know the FDA wasn't allowed to test drugs before they are marketed! Are you sure!? That sounds like a really stupid law, to me. Whatever happened to the safety of the public?

[Larry_OHF]

I do not know of the law myself...my wife told me that she learned in her Nutrition class at college (She's a Nutrition Major) that Clinton signed a bill that allowed Supplements to be sold without FDA approval. That is all I know of it.

In reference to this supplement, I hear many deaths have been blamed on it, from what my wife says...including that famous baseball player.

[Dron_Cah]

that's really sad. And everyone (sorta) liked Clinton! hmm, this is very disturbing news.

Btw, what baseball player? (don't keep up w/ outside world)

[Jorath Calar]

It's banned here and in some scandinavian (europe?) countries, many people are trying to smuggle it in and one guy got fined about 10.000 dollars.

[Garnet FalconDance]

Ephedra (or Ma Huang) is a bronchiodialtor (sp). It is extremely helpful for bronchial and extreme congestion. Having said that, it also can cause heart palpitaions/irregularity in some people or when misused. I use herbs nearly exclusively and never had trouble with this, but then again, I do not over use/ screw around with dosage or otherwise act stupidly. In other words, I know what I'm doing and do not take anyone's word for it when it comes to my health.

A cheap 'benefit' of ephedra is that in certain dosages it apparently raises metabolism while it also makes you feel less hungry. The companies that prey on the weight-conscious and the under-educated (read: not well read in herbal knowledge and trusting of companies to not put anything dangerous on the market--not a slam on the people who take the pills) are after money at any cost and to have a product that caters to a growing need (fueled by the media dictating that skinny is best) which is cheap need to be shut down. Period.

Instead what happens is a valuable herb that is correctly used by a select group of people who bother to read up on the subject and use said herbs in a responsible manner gets yanked off the open market OR becomes so expensive that it is no longer an option for herbalists.

[Larry_OHF]

If you had personal knowledge on how to use the herb...that is one thing...but the article I read said that some of the dosages that the bottles came in prescribed taking way too high of a dose...so there was no regulation on educating people on how to take it.
BTW>>>I love herbs and herbology.
I am just against supplements being marketed without FDA checking them. That is how I was poisoned by what was supposed to be "bee pollen supplement" in my milk shake. My body reacted very violently to it.

[Gammit]

Being an herb (and being that it hasn't been classified as a "drug" yet (like marijuana)) makes it perfectly legal to sell... ala Ginseng and Ginko Biloba. Until it's found to be harmful (which it apparantly is), it won't be touched by the government (read FDA).

Ferstehen?

[Garnet FalconDance]

Agreed, Larry. Problem is, ephedra has no true medicinal place in the otc 'drugs' mentioned. That's the true problem. There have been several reports lately (please don't ask for specifics--I can't remember but could probably find if had to) of doctors prescribing one drug for a malady which was actually meant for something else entirely different but that had certain side-effects they thought might help. Seems to me that the only reason this had been brought to the news (and apparently it has been happening for years) was people were actually developing other serious health conditions because of the misuse.

Of course, (generalization coming up, here) most of the people I've seen taking these so-called diet pills with ephedra and other similar 'supplements' have either been the ones who worry about that 5 vanity pounds or who have discovered that little buzz you can get off ephedra if you take enough. Now, that buzz usually means you've overdosed......but surely that's a minor technicality if you are so inclined.

On a similar subject, the herb goldenseal (yellow root) is a natural antibiotic and invaluable for infections. Truly a wondrous herb. But the drug-users discovered it cleansed the system of certain chemicals with very healthy doses. Two major drawbacks no one thought about: first, goldenseal is very hard on the liver (read: dangerous in higher/prolonged doses) and secondly, now a lot if not most companies also test for the presence of goldenseal in drug test samples. At a health store I worked at several years ago, the owner refused to sell goldenseal to people she didn't know (were herbalists or knowledgeable). Now you can get it at Wal-Mart.

ANYthing is harmful if misused. The morning news just announced the ban on ephedra goes into effect in 30 days. That means I need to order my supply now because after that date, will I have to go to questionable sources? I do not use that much, but it is part of my 'medicine cabinet'.

[harleyquinn]

I agree. What annoys me is how now everyone will associate Ephedra with being bad when what's bad is that it was being used for something it shouldn't have ever been used for (a diet supplement). Chinese medicine has used Ephedra correctly, and without the problems we're seeing here because they are smarter about how they use herbs and use the herbs a) with other herbs to work and b) only for what they are intended for, not for "additional" benifits.
Western medicine (not all, I'm talking the drug part of our medicine) is declining in MHO. Yes, we are curing diseases that used to be fatal, and that's good, but too often the drug companies are using "parts" of herbs or plants in their pills without realizing that to truly be benificial to the human body, you need all of the plant. The result is meds that don't work well, or have dangerous side effects. I'm not anti-doctors, I'm just anti-drug-companies.