Lift the Ephedra Ban - by Jeremy Keough

September of 2001 Public Citizen first petitioned to the FDA the removal of ephedra containing products in September 2001. The group has requested, once again, that an ephedra ban be made in response to increased risk of heart rhythm abnormalities. In addition to increased blood pressure and pulse rate increased risk of heart rhythm abnormalities, Stroke and heart attack that has occurred with ephedra products.

Although the FDA has failed to ban ephedra, sports organizations such as NFL, NCAA, Canadian government, Army, Air Force, have. Even if ephedra has not been banned yet, it soon will due to all the bad-hype that have been going around lately about it.

3000 B.C- ephedrine was first discovered by the Chinese to help with respiratory problems.

80 A.D- A Greek physician made the first documentation of the drug.

1887- Ephedrine first isolated from Ma-Huang

1930- Pharmacology of ephedrine was first discovered by western medicine.

1990’s- Ephedrine was introduced to the general media as a weight-loss aid

1997-FDA publishes a proposed dose limit of 8 mg of ephedrine alkaloid per serving, a daily limit of 24 mg, a duration limit of 7 days, & various label warnings--to which many consumers, physicians, & manufacturers comment.

2000- FDA withdrew the 1997 proposal.

2001- NFL bans ephedra

2003- Orioles pitcher, Steve Bechler, dies which was what to believed to be ephedra related.

What the FDA has begun doing--in my opinion--is outrageous. We as bodybuilders use this supplement as an herb. Sure, feel free to have sports officials ban it if they feel the need, but we as citizens of the United States should have a voice of opinion in this matter.

Please don’t think by what I’m about to say is meant to mean that I think the FDA isn’t doing their job, they are. I feel the FDA doesn’t look at all dangers from different views. Steve Bechler (may he rest in peace) was on a hot field, running around non-stop for hours. It makes people I know and myself wonder if they even thought about that.

According to USA Today, the FDA spoke “something we definitely are considering," FDA commissioner Mark McClellan says. Ephedra is used in dietary supplements sold as weight-loss aids and energy boosters. The products are especially popular among athletes. The NFL and the International Olympic Committee have banned them; Major League Baseball has not. “Consumers spent $1.3 billion on ephedra products last year. The supplements have been linked to 88 deaths and 1,500 reports of health problems, including stroke, heart attack and seizures, although the reports do not prove cause and effect” (FDA.gov)

Those numbers seem to make a pretty solid statistic, right? Recently Dr. Stephen Kimmel Started a hypothesis to determine if the numbers of deaths are more accumulative than those who do not use ephedra seems as though the FDA was wrong…. “FDA received seven reports of seizures, and the age range of those who experienced the seizures is 21 to 51. The background rate of seizures in the population in this age range is 20 to 60 per 100,000. Using these estimates, demonstrates that the estimated risk of seizures among ephedra users is within the estimated range for background risk in the population. This analysis shows no increased risk of seizures from consuming ephedra.”

“FDA received 14 reports of stroke, and the age range of those who experienced a stroke is 18 to 64. Based on several U.S. studies, the background rate of stroke in the population in this age range is 7 to 60 per 100,000. Using these estimates, the incidence of strokes among ephedra users is within the estimated range for background risk in the population. This analysis demonstrates that there is no increased risk of stroke from consuming ephedra.” “In a February 10, 2000 memorandum, FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) stated, "it is possible that the reported serious adverse events are reflective of coincidental background spontaneous occurrences in the population and are not necessarily causally related to [the use of dietary supplements containing ephedrine alkaloids.]" The above analysis, although in and of itself does not conclusively prove that any particular event is or is not casually related to ephedra, provides strong support for the conclusion that use of dietary supplements containing ephedrine alkaloids does not increase the risk of seizures, strokes or heart attacks.” I’m truly appalled by he fact that the food and drug administration can tell us what to do, especially when there aren’t enough scientific studies with proof about why ephedrine is so unsafe.

When browsing the Internet and various bodybuilding books, I didn’t see any studies against Ephedra, though I do find it weird that it’s being banned when there are only studies for the drug to stay legalized. I have found various facts on different websites and this is what the research came out to be:

2 Deaths per 3 million users of Ephedra. That's 0.67 deaths per million users. If we look at 15-35 year olds, in 2000, 10 Leading Causes of Death, 2000, All Races, Both Sexes Age Group 15-35, Sub Population 80,102,431 Rank Deaths Cause of Death

1 27,213 Unintentional Injury
2 9,433 Homicide
3 9,347 Suicide
4 6,448 Malignant Neoplasm’s
5 4,582 Heart Disease
6 3,141 HIV
7 971 Congenital Anomalies
8 945 Cerebrovascular
9 885 Diabetes Mellitus
10 615 Influenza & Pneumonia

For 15-35 year olds, that's over 60,000 deaths per 80 million citizens or a death rate of 750 per million. Please think about that for a minute. The death rate attributed to normal life hazards is 750/0.67 times that of consuming Ephedra, which equals some 1,125 times. Even if one included all of the 22 serious events per 3 million users of Ephedra, that makes the risks associated with Ephedra use some 100 times less than that of normal life events. Can I ask why you are prepared to sacrifice such a low risk product? There is a world of difference between reality and perception -- exceedingly few people look at reality and undertake critical analysis of data.

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