Comments on: Ephedra – banned! http://www.medrants.com/archives/1706 Internal medicine, American health care, and especially medical education Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:15:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Chully http://www.medrants.com/archives/1706/comment-page-1#comment-2980 Chully Mon, 05 Jan 2004 18:33:24 +0000 http://medrants.com/archives/2003/12/30/ephedra-banned/#comment-2980 My wife and I have studied and used herbs as our primary method of healthcare in a country where medical doctors are *still* the third leading cause of death. I personally feel that the banning of a useful herb is a knee-jerk reaction, with no supporting data on the health or potential abusive use of the herb in the very small number of people who died taking it. What seems highly suspect, is that the government did not, at the same time, announce a banning of the synthetic version of the main active ingredient; pseudo-ephedrine. This compound is found in cold rememdy tablets at doses easily 2 to 4 times the dosage in most of the herbal suppliments, and HUNDREDS of times greater than that of the ephedrine content in the whole herb. 155 people? What about the tens of thousands of cigarette smoking related deaths each year? When is that ban coming? Answer: never, as long as the government continues to capitalize on the sale of cigarettes through taxes and other kick backs. Bottom line of this post is that something stinks here, and it doesn't smell like ma huang. My wife and I have studied and used herbs as our primary method of healthcare in a country where medical doctors are *still* the third leading cause of death. I personally feel that the banning of a useful herb is a knee-jerk reaction, with no supporting data on the health or potential abusive use of the herb in the very small number of people who died taking it.

What seems highly suspect, is that the government did not, at the same time, announce a banning of the synthetic version of the main active ingredient; pseudo-ephedrine. This compound is found in cold rememdy tablets at doses easily 2 to 4 times the dosage in most of the herbal suppliments, and HUNDREDS of times greater than that of the ephedrine content in the whole herb.

155 people? What about the tens of thousands of cigarette smoking related deaths each year? When is that ban coming? Answer: never, as long as the government continues to capitalize on the sale of cigarettes through taxes and other kick backs.

Bottom line of this post is that something stinks here, and it doesn’t smell like ma huang.

]]> By: Bernie Simon http://www.medrants.com/archives/1706/comment-page-1#comment-2979 Bernie Simon Tue, 30 Dec 2003 22:56:53 +0000 http://medrants.com/archives/2003/12/30/ephedra-banned/#comment-2979 <i> And if ever a law needed rewriting - this law does!!!!!!</i> Forty years of drug regulation under the Harris-Kefauver amendment has not increased either the safety or efficacy of the prescription medicines. It has increased the cost and time it takes to bring drugs to market. Before bringing supplements and herbs under this system of regulation, I'd like to have confidence the system works. There's no clear dividing line between nutrition and medicine. The idea that chamomile tea, prune juice, and cod liver oil should be subject to the same stringent regulation as chemotherapy agents boggles the imagination. You may wish to take us back to the bad old days when the FDA impounded shipments of evening primrose oil and prosected senior citizens who used DHEA for illegal prosession of steroids. But millions of Americans are heartily sick of the arrogance of a medical establishment that looks with disdain on any approach it has not blessed and will fight tooth and nail to keep supplements legal. What makes ephedra dangerous is how it has been used, an approach sometimes called "green allopathy". That is, the administration by rote of large doses of ephedra in the form purified extracts to override the body's natural metabolic processes. Used in this way ephedra certainly is risky. But it's the allopathic approach that's risky and it's ironic that the same voices calling fot ephedra to be banned employ the same risky approach with other medications and with the same unfortunate results. And if ever a law needed rewriting – this law does!!!!!!

Forty years of drug regulation under the Harris-Kefauver amendment has not increased either the safety or efficacy of the prescription medicines. It has increased the cost and time it takes to bring drugs to market. Before bringing supplements and herbs under this system of regulation, I’d like to have confidence the system works.

There’s no clear dividing line between nutrition and medicine. The idea that chamomile tea, prune juice, and cod liver oil should be subject to the same stringent regulation as chemotherapy agents boggles the imagination. You may wish to take us back to the bad old days when the FDA impounded shipments of evening primrose oil and prosected senior citizens who used DHEA for illegal prosession of steroids. But millions of Americans are heartily sick of the arrogance of a medical establishment that looks with disdain on any approach it has not blessed and will fight tooth and nail to keep supplements legal.

What makes ephedra dangerous is how it has been used, an approach sometimes called “green allopathy”. That is, the administration by rote of large doses of ephedra in the form purified extracts to override the body’s natural metabolic processes. Used in this way ephedra certainly is risky. But it’s the allopathic approach that’s risky and it’s ironic that the same voices calling fot ephedra to be banned employ the same risky approach with other medications and with the same unfortunate results.

]]>