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bowling-name
sleuth
Registered: 09/24/02
Posts: 282
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Last seen: 10 years, 1 month
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FDA bans ephedra
#2210240 - 12/30/03 03:47 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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U.S. bans ephedra, drug linked to deaths By John Solomon (source)
Dec. 30, 2003 | WASHINGTON (AP) --
The federal government announced on Tuesday a ban on the sale of ephedra, an herbal supplement used for weight control that has been linked to a number of deaths and harmful side effects.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said that "based on the best possible scientific evidence" his agency would issue a consumer alert about the dangers of ephedra and will send notices to manufacturers to stop selling the herbs. "The time to stop taking this product is now," he said.
"They are just too risky to use," said the secretary.
Thompson said the decision was "well grounded" and based on extensive scientific study. The ban would take effect in 60 days.
"I don't want people turning to ephedra thinking they could lose weight," Thompson told a news conference.
Mark McClellan, head of the Food and Drug Administration, said his agency is notifying consumers and manufacturers that it will publish a rule making it illegal to sell and use ephedra.
He said the agency was concerned about young people and athletes looking to ephedra to boost their performance. Use of the supplement has led to serious health effects, he said.
"We're sending a strong and clear signal" that such products should come off the market, McClellan said.
McClellan said the FDA reviewed major studies of ephedra and publicly issued findings about the herb. He said the publication received thousands of comment and expressions of support for taking the product off the market.
The rule will go into effect in 60 days "and have the practical effect" of banning ephedra, he said.
"Ephedra raises your blood pressure and stresses your system," McClellan said. "There are far better, safer ways, to get in shape."
Critics called the federal crackdown too late. Sales nationwide already have plummeted because of publicity about roughly 155 deaths blamed on the amphetamine-like stimulant, including Baltimore Orioles baseball player Steve Bechler earlier this year. Ephedra is linked to heart attacks and strokes, even when used by outwardly healthy people at recommended doses, because it speeds heart rate and constricts blood vessels.
Ernie Bechler, Steve's father in Medford, Ore., said he was awakened by a phone call around 6 a.m. local time with word of the decision.
"It's the only thing that could make my wife and I be happy," he said. "Nothing else could have done what this is doing. I mean to get this off the market and to save other peoples' lives is just amazing to us."
Ernie Bechler testified in Congress, urging a ban. "That's the last thing I said: 'Please don't let my son die in vain."'
At the news conference, McClellan said FDA has spent months "scouring all of the adverse effects reports." The decision was not based on adverse effects alone, he said, but also on clinical studies and expert opinion and review.
"It is the totality of the evidence" that was used to make the decision, McClellan said.
McClellan said the FDA was prepared to defend the action in court.
He said his agency was working as quickly as it can under the current law regulating diet supplements. "We are laying the strongest possible foundation to not only take the product off the market, but to keep it off," McClellan said.
Thompson said the agency "was crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i' " to make sure the action stands up in court. "We are taking every procedural accountability standard" to make sure the ban withstands court tests, he said.
McClellan said his agency has done extensive work to "make sure we can use all of our authority" to keep ephedra off the market.
Thompson said that three states already have banned ephedra and "this is the next giant step" in taking the supplement off the market.
New York, Illinois and California -- have passed their own ephedra bans; use has been banned in professional football, college athletics and minor-league baseball, and several retail chains, including supplement giant General Nutrition Centers, recently quit selling it, too.
"It's a dead product and unfortunately it has become a dead product over the backs of a lot of dead people when the FDA could have acted before," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, which petitioned the government for a ban in 2001.
The supplement industry's Council for Responsible Nutrition said it didn't oppose a ban, noting that very few companies still make the stimulant -- its members who once did no longer do so.
"We think the reputable players have found so much controversy and difficulty in this marketplace that they've decided to get out of it," said CRN's John Hathcock. "We recognize the controversy is a cloud over our whole industry."
Remaining ephedra manufacturers didn't immediately comment Tuesday, but have insisted that studies prove their products safe when used properly.
"Anyone who has read our label knows that we go to great lengths to inform our customers about the proper use of our products," Metabolife International chief executive Russell Schreck said over the summer.
But several scientists said that it was impossible to prove whether ephedra was safe because studies screen out participants who have health problems -- the people most likely to be hurt by the product.
The General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, looked into the issue and found many people who reported problems had followed the label's instructions.
The government ban, one of the first involving a dietary supplement, comes after Thompson this summer urged Congress to rewrite a law that rolled back dietary-supplement regulations and to require manufacturers to acknowledge potential side effects.
Because ephedra is an herb, U.S. law let it sell over-the-counter with little oversight unless the FDA could prove a clear danger to public health. Manufacturers blocked a 1997 FDA attempt to restrict sales of certain dosages and to put warning labels on the herb by arguing the agency lacked enough proof of danger.
In March, FDA again proposed those warnings and said it would re-examine a ban.
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Galvie_Flu
Registered: 06/30/02
Posts: 6,632
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good, i recently took a dose, and it didnt feel good. in the mind yes, in the body, no way, it sucked for my body, and i could tell.
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero
Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 1 month, 18 days
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Re: FDA bans ephedra [Re: Galvie_Flu]
#2211259 - 12/31/03 05:28 AM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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> good, i recently took a dose, and it didnt feel good. in the mind yes, in the body, no way, it sucked for my body, and i could tell.
I agree. Just because it wasn't good for you, we should outlaw it for everybody else. No reason the rest of us should have the same rights as you did to see for ourselves if a substance is good for us or not. I'm glad you are looking out for us. Thanks.
(The above drips with sarcasm for the humor impaired...)
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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MOTH
Wild Woman
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 23,431
Loc: In the jungle
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Re: FDA bans ephedra [Re: Seuss]
#2211442 - 12/31/03 09:02 AM (20 years, 2 months ago) |
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^^ Sarcasm noted. I completely agree!
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baraka
Registered: 07/15/00
Posts: 10,768
Loc: hyperspace
Last seen: 2 years, 2 months
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Uh oh, they prolly make it schedule 1 just like other dangerous drugs such as the scary MARIJUANA. One toke and im criminally insane.
-------------------- This is the only time I really feel alive.
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Dreamer987
The VerbalHerman Munster
Registered: 04/15/03
Posts: 5,326
Loc: Texas
Last seen: 16 years, 2 months
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Re: FDA bans ephedra [Re: baraka]
#2212076 - 12/31/03 02:45 PM (20 years, 2 months ago) |
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Alright niggas, i got some eph, pm me on the sly and mabey we can work somethin out 20 a gram
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cateyes
Registered: 12/16/03
Posts: 2,754
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Re: FDA bans ephedra [Re: Seuss]
#2212161 - 12/31/03 03:38 PM (20 years, 2 months ago) |
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Ephedra was pulled from the shelves because it cut into the lucrative diet medication market pharmaceutical companies were determined to maintain market share in. Word in the progressive health care movement is that this ban establishes a "beachhead" for future attempts at complete control over supplement markets.
Postmortem exams into these deaths linked to ephedra probably ignored other more likely causes in order to nail the door shut on something that seemed fairly harmless to me. Although I do appreciate others looking out for me, I don't mind taking on the responsibility for myself. Peace!
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StonedShroom
OG shroomerite
Registered: 10/21/00
Posts: 10,876
Last seen: 8 months, 27 days
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Good
I used to be a ripped fuel junkie. I had seizures and nosebleeds when I was on that stuff. I really don't think it's safe.... but you will lose weight.
Last time I took it I fucking freaked out... I would buy a bottle like once one bottle was finished but one time i just didn't have the money and a couple weeks went by until i had enough to buy it... and i guess your tolerance goes down fast for that stuff cuz I popped 3 pills at aaround 10am then 2 more around 3pm. (A normal dose for me two weeks prior) holy moly i was wired. god I felt like shit. didn't sleep for almost 3 days. I felt like such shit. the last day i had a seizure and uncontrolable tremors in my legs. I finally slept b/c my mom gave me some muscle relaxers.
My roomie at the time then bought the bottle from me when she was out of meth, pill by pill, ($2 a pop LOL) until it was gone.
It may just be a plant but plants can be dangerous and deadly too. and I don't mean marijuana so save the DARE flames.
-------------------- We are not human beings going through a temporary spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings going through a temporary human experience.
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Learyfan
It's the psychedelic movement!
Registered: 04/20/01
Posts: 34,184
Loc: High pride!
Last seen: 4 hours, 52 minutes
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So is the bottle of ephedrine that I have illegal for me to have? Could I be arrested for having it?
Before I bought that bottle(for band practice), I went to Sheetz to get some Stacker 3's. She said that "they're trying to take them off the market because people are dying from them"...............................
..............as she stood in front of a huge rack full of cartons of cigarettes.
What a world
-------------------- -------------------------------- Mp3 of the month: Sons Of Adam - Feathered Fish
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Galvie_Flu
Registered: 06/30/02
Posts: 6,632
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erowid hasnt updated yet.
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sir tripsalot
Administrator
Registered: 07/09/99
Posts: 6,487
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People who die from Sleeping pills, took too much. People who die from Ephedra pills, took too much.
But I guess attaining a six pack is less important than getting some sleep....
-------------------- "Little racoons and old possums 'n' stuff all live up in here. They've got to have a little place to sit." Bob Ross.
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Galvie_Flu
Registered: 06/30/02
Posts: 6,632
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Re: FDA bans ephedra [Re: Galvie_Flu]
#2216276 - 01/03/04 04:27 AM (20 years, 2 months ago) |
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had an idea, mabey they are afraid its being used to make meth.
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Dobie
Dopeless Hopefiend
Registered: 08/15/02
Posts: 52,841
Loc: ON DA BLOCK
Last seen: 7 months, 27 days
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Re: FDA bans ephedra [Re: Galvie_Flu]
#2216409 - 01/03/04 08:54 AM (20 years, 2 months ago) |
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isn't it like the main ingredient in meth
-------------------- This place is gayer than when the balls touch
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StonedShroom
OG shroomerite
Registered: 10/21/00
Posts: 10,876
Last seen: 8 months, 27 days
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Re: FDA bans ephedra [Re: Dobie]
#2216625 - 01/03/04 11:57 AM (20 years, 2 months ago) |
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I'm not an expert... so don't take the following as gospel, wlthough I'm 85% sure I'm right.
I believe the ingrediant most trailer-park cooks are looking for is pseudo-ephedra. ephedra that's in herbal diet pills is natural, the pseudo-ephedra in cold medicine is a synthetic chemical... easier to extract and bond with other synthetic chemicals during the whole 'cooking' process.
I'm not sure though. watch a salton sea, they give you the whole recipe for crystal meth in the beginning...
but I think there's a difference between crystal methamphetamine and regular methamphetamine.
-------------------- We are not human beings going through a temporary spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings going through a temporary human experience.
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DazedSol
old hand
Registered: 08/01/01
Posts: 1,230
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sure ephedra(the plant) can be milked of its ephedrine to make meth.....but if you were making meth, getting your ephedrine from these over the counter diet pills would be very very inefficient....plus they often contain other things like caffeine....... so i doubt that has anything to do with the fda ban.....
after the fda ban you WILL still be able to buy ephedra....just not in pills at the gas station......
bulk dry herb and such will still be very available........
-------------------- Peace, Adam
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Mushmonkey
shiftlesslayabout
Registered: 09/25/03
Posts: 10,867
Last seen: 5 months, 9 days
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Re: FDA bans ephedra [Re: DazedSol]
#2224551 - 01/06/04 10:48 PM (20 years, 2 months ago) |
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Wank wank wank.. this is what I really dislike about the US.
God forbid anyone actually think for themselves.. let's let the gub'mnt do all our thinking for us..
I'm not a fan of those things.. (lol.. stacker 3's, yeah, that's the ticket exactly).. and I mean really not a fan, I did make a few comments to my ol' roomie a few times on the subject, but seriously. they won't kill you unless you have no regard for your personal safety in the first place. people don't die from ephedra overdose, they die from heat stroke, dehydration, and over-stressing themselves, things that are made much easier to do when taking ephedra but can be avoided perfectly well, ephedra or no ephedra.
I wish my hand was big enough to smack the whole country and wake them up sometimes.
-------------------- i finally got around to making a sig revel in its glory and quake in fear at its might grar.
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littlejohn747
addict
Registered: 09/18/03
Posts: 462
Last seen: 16 years, 3 months
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Re: FDA bans ephedra [Re: Mushmonkey]
#2225166 - 01/07/04 05:56 AM (20 years, 2 months ago) |
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be carful mushmonkey some of us have been known to smack back. With that being said i think this is the dumbest thing our goverment has done in lets say the last 48 hours. And it's like sir trip's alot said if you take to much sure you will die but if any one is dumb enough that they can't read and or educate themselve on a pruduct befor they swallow it well maybe they will be going to a better place
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Baby_Hitler
Errorist
Registered: 03/06/02
Posts: 27,634
Loc: To the limit!
Last seen: 2 hours, 40 minutes
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Re: FDA bans ephedra [Re: DazedSol]
#2226642 - 01/07/04 05:18 PM (20 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
DazedSol said: after the fda ban you WILL still be able to buy ephedra....just not in pills at the gas station......
bulk dry herb and such will still be very available........
I hope that's what this means. I wouldn't really have a problem with that as long as they don't make dried ephedra plant matter contraband.
-------------------- "America: Fuck yeah!" -- Alexthegreat “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day.” -- Thomas Jefferson The greatest sin of mankind is ignorance. The press takes [Trump] literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally. --Salena Zeto (9/23/16)
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Mushmonkey
shiftlesslayabout
Registered: 09/25/03
Posts: 10,867
Last seen: 5 months, 9 days
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"be carful mushmonkey some of us have been known to smack back."
But that's what my smack would be in the first place, a retaliatory smack at all those whose utter stupidity and refusal to take responsibility for their own choices and actions has resulted in further restrictions placed on ME..
but i guess, if it's just the packaging they're putting a stop to, and not the actual plant, that's not so bad.. Still not a fan, still want to smack the general public around for crying to mommy government to do their thinking for them, but that's normal.
-------------------- i finally got around to making a sig revel in its glory and quake in fear at its might grar.
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laloqua
Stranger
Registered: 01/06/10
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Last seen: 14 years, 1 month
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Where would I be able to find ephedra in the US?
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