May 2 ,
2006
Ephedra Ban Challenged
Importer Emax Enterprises has filed a lawsuit against former Utah governor, the Food and Drug Administration, and U.S. Customs directors after a customs agent at Salt Lake City International Airport seized a shipment of ephedra dietary supplements in February 2006.
The lawsuit seeks to suspend the federal ban on all products containing ephedra, a popular weight loss ingredient used in dietary supplements, and penalize the FDA for wrongfully enforcing the ban.
Ephedra has been proven to increase the risk of heart attacks, stroke, and death, particularly in people with high blood pressure or other heart complications. The herb has been associated with 19,000 “adverse events” and dozens of fatalities.
Officials called for a “prompt federal review” of ephedra, which found that most adverse effects were linked to doses higher than 10 milligrams a day. According to the FDA, the risks of taking any dose of ephedra significantly outweighed the benefits and the agency banned all ephedra products in February 2004.
The federal ruling, however, was challenged by Nutraceutical Corp., a supplement company, who wished to produce and sell low-dose ephedra products. Nutraceutical won the case because the FDA could not prove that low doses of ephedra were harmful.
Despite the court ruling, the FDA has continued to confiscate ephedra products—six seizures since the ban went into effect—claiming authority that the court decision was flawed.
Emax claims the FDA has no right to ignore a court ruling allowing supplement companies to sell low-dose ephedra products. The FDA insists that the court order only opened up the privilege to Nutraceutical, who initially challenged the ban
For
more information on ephedra side effects, including
Metabolife side effects, please contact us to confer
with an attorney.
|
