|
Ephedra Ban |
By:
Todd Massey |
|
|
Ephedra Ban
by Todd Massey
The status of whether ephedra and related products like diet pills is legal or not legal has a lot of consumer interested in buying it really confused.
The actual legality of ephedra weight loss products has gone back and forth making consumers interested in getting diet pills with ephedra to be at the mercy of marketers. Some marketers were telling consumers ephedra products were illegal and then pushed another "ephedra-like" product with promises of results just like ephedra based diet pills.
The reason for the confusion goes back to 2004 when the FDA said the herb ephedra used in products for weight loss, energy, etc. to be considered adulterated, harmful to the public and illegal to sell.
The FDA had never shown that small quantities, like 10 mg, of ephedra were not harmful. They had only tried to show that large quantities, such as 25 mg, were dangerous. The Nutraceutical Corporation challenged the legality of this aspect of the ephedra ban and in 2005 a Utah judge ruled in their favor.
During the years 05-06 companies started producing and marketing ephedra diet pills that contained only 10 mg of ephedra. Although during this same period of time the FDA still was stating that all ephedra products were harmful to the public and were not legal to manufacture or sell.
The FDA used US marshals several times to raid and seize pallets of ephedra products that were packaged for weight loss.
The production and selling of ephedra was once again delcared illegal in August, 2006 when the 10th US Court of Appeals upheld the FDA's position that ephedra was a harmful substance. It is no longer legal to sell or make ephedra products in the U.S. no matter what it is used for or how much ephedra is in the product.
The same company, Nutraceutical Corporation, in October 2006 has issued another challenge and has filed a petition for rehearing in front of the entire 10th circuit of the US Court of Appeals saying the FDA's assessment of unreasonable risk is too rigid and gives the agency license to declare any dietary ingredient adulterated.
Ephedra weight loss pills and any product containing the herb ephedra are considered illegal by the U.S. government.
That could change but doesn't seem likely due to the fact that Congress is rewriting the laws regarding supplements and herbs. The newly worded laws will make it easier for the FDA to take action and ban substances they deem harmful to the general public.
Even though there were multiple scientific studies showing ephedra to be effective and safe when used properly the real proof came from the people who purchased ephedra products. They would not have supported it for a decade if it had not worked. They buying public would have moved on.
If it had not show results ephedra would have vanished from the market on it's own. But due to the support of people who thought is was safe and effective they continue to search for ephedra weight loss products despite the fact it is illegal. This is something they just want to use.
Learn more on the Ban on Ephedra Don't reprint this exact article. Instead, reprint a free unique content version of this same article.
|
|
Article Source: http://www.statssheet.com/articles/article54337.html |
|
|
|
|
|
