June 29 , 2006
"Senate Votes on Diet-Pill Rules"
A Senate committee recently approved a bill that would require dietary-supplement manufacturers to report to the FDA any side effects or deaths associated with their medication. This is the first time that diet-pill companies would be required to report such information to regulators.
Under the proposed law, diet-pill makers would be required to report any side effects, birth defects, or deaths linked to their product within 15 days of receiving the consumer complaint. This bill has the support from both critics and supporters of the diet-product industry.
This industry’s reputation has been left in shambles following reports about the dangers of drugs like Ephedra. A few years ago, Metabolife Incorporated, the former primary producer of ephedra-based diet drugs, failed to report thousands of cases of users developing serious ephedrine side effects, including strokes, heart attacks, and death.
The company, now known as MII Liquidation, filed for bankruptcy protection in July 2005 due to the high volume of ephedrine lawsuits the company is facing.
In the wake of the ephedra concerns, the FDA has banned the use of this ingredient in diet drugs. However, a federal judge in Utah ruled that the FDA overstepped its bounds in banning ephedrine. The FDA has appealed this ruling.
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