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Ephedra Is Safe When Used As Directed
2004 January 24 Printer-friendly format Email this article to a friend
I feel a need to provide consumers with something they are not receiving from the media regarding the Food and Drug Administration and ephedra -- the truth.
The Rand report, a recent comprehensive scientific review of ephedra, confirms that more than 55 studies support the safety of ephedra/caffeine combinations when properly formulated, labeled and used as directed.
It also states that the FDA's use of adverse event reports -- the apparent sole media source -- are not useful for assessing safety, do not negate the scientific data supporting the safety and efficacy of ephedra and do not establish that ephedra has caused these adverse events.
Opponents have suggested that 155 deaths have been linked to the use of ephedra. But even this number is quite low given that 17 million Americans consume about 3 billion doses per year.
If the FDA is truly concerned with consumer safety, why then are higher concentrations of a synthetic ephedrine alkaloid, pseudoephedrine, still going to be used in over-the-counter cold medications?
Furthermore, if consumer safety is truly the concern, why are 147,000 people dying each year from "approved" pharmaceuticals? According to a 1999 Drug Abuse Warning Network report, 811 people die from valium, 641 from Benadryl, 427 from Tylenol, 305 from Prozac and 104 from aspirin. Where is the FDA concern for these disturbing numbers?
Until the FDA reverts back to the impartial governmental consumer watchdog agency it was designed to be instead of the politically driven machine it has become, consumers are at a far greater health risk than anything the innocent herb ephedra has been falsely accused of.
GERALD R. BALDELLI JR.
Lake View
Copyright: (C) 2004 Buffalo News. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved
2004 January 24 Printer-friendly format Email this article to a friend
I feel a need to provide consumers with something they are not receiving from the media regarding the Food and Drug Administration and ephedra -- the truth.
The Rand report, a recent comprehensive scientific review of ephedra, confirms that more than 55 studies support the safety of ephedra/caffeine combinations when properly formulated, labeled and used as directed.
It also states that the FDA's use of adverse event reports -- the apparent sole media source -- are not useful for assessing safety, do not negate the scientific data supporting the safety and efficacy of ephedra and do not establish that ephedra has caused these adverse events.
Opponents have suggested that 155 deaths have been linked to the use of ephedra. But even this number is quite low given that 17 million Americans consume about 3 billion doses per year.
If the FDA is truly concerned with consumer safety, why then are higher concentrations of a synthetic ephedrine alkaloid, pseudoephedrine, still going to be used in over-the-counter cold medications?
Furthermore, if consumer safety is truly the concern, why are 147,000 people dying each year from "approved" pharmaceuticals? According to a 1999 Drug Abuse Warning Network report, 811 people die from valium, 641 from Benadryl, 427 from Tylenol, 305 from Prozac and 104 from aspirin. Where is the FDA concern for these disturbing numbers?
Until the FDA reverts back to the impartial governmental consumer watchdog agency it was designed to be instead of the politically driven machine it has become, consumers are at a far greater health risk than anything the innocent herb ephedra has been falsely accused of.
GERALD R. BALDELLI JR.
Lake View
Copyright: (C) 2004 Buffalo News. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved
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