WASHINGTON Federal government announces ephedra ban

Very few companies still manufacture the supplement.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The federal government announced today 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.
Basis for decision
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.
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.
States passed bans
Three states -- 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.
Wolfe urged remaining manufacturers to recall all ephedra-containing products still on store shelves. For any future ephedra-linked injuries, "there's going to be hell to pay in terms of increased liability on the part of the companies that are allowing it to be sold," he said.
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.