US to ban 'danger' diet herb

The Bush administration is to ban the sale of diet supplement ephedra early next year.

And the government urged consumers to immediately stop using the herbal stimulant linked to 155 deaths and dozens of heart attacks and strokes.

It was the government’s first ban on a dietary supplement, one that comes eight years after the Food and Drug Administration first began receiving reports that ephedra could be dangerous.

“The time to stop taking these products is now,” Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said yesterday. ”They are simply too risky to be used.”

Ephedra once was hugely popular for weight loss and bodybuilding. But it can cause life-threatening side effects even in seemingly healthy people who use the recommended doses, because the amphetamine-like stimulant speeds the heart rate and constricts blood vessels. It is particularly risky for anyone with heart disease or high blood pressure or people engaging in strenuous exercise.

The ban is not immediate because government rules require paperwork steps that mean the earliest it could take effect would be March. But the FDA wrote to 62 current and former makers and sellers yesterday, telling them that “we intend to shut you down”, said Commissioner Mark McClellan.

“There are companies out there who’ve profited by misleading Americans about the benefits of ephedra, even as they put Americans’ health at risk,” McClellan said. “Any responsible manufacturer and retailer should stop selling these products as soon as possible.”

Thompson said he was announcing the ban now so that people making New Year’s resolutions to lose weight would not be tempted to try ephedra.

“Ephedra raises your blood pressure and stresses your system,” McClellan added. “There are far better, safer ways to get in shape.”

The FDA warned manufacturers it would be watching what ingredients replaced ephedra in weight-loss products. But while the ban sets an important legal precedent for supplement regulation, no other crackdowns were imminent, McClellan said.

Sales of ephedra already have plummeted because of publicity about the herb’s dangers, which peaked after the ephedra-related death of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler last February.

Ephedra makers insisted their products were safe if used correctly, but so far have not said if they will launch a legal challenge to the ban.

“Millions of consumers throughout the United States have used ephedra dietary supplements as a safe, inexpensive and effective means by which to support weight loss,” San Diego-based Metabolife said.

“Cold medicine kills more people a year than ephedra does,” said Robert MacKenzie, owner of MaxOutBody.com, an internet supplement seller.