The Ephedra Ban By The FDA

By: Todd Massey

There is lot of head scratching over the true legal nature of ephedra products in the US and people want to know if they can still buy ephedra. Find out the status of the ephedra diet pills.

There is a reason lots of people are confused about the legal nature of ephedra diet pills and that confusion has left consumers open to scams. Those selling diet pills are pushing a lot of similar ephedra products or claiming to have the same weight loss power as ephedra.

The FDA declared back in 2004 that ephedra was a dangerous herb and represented a danger to the public so that any products containing it would be adulterated in nature and illegal to produce or to sell.

The Nutraceutical Corporation challenged the legality of the ephedra ban and in 2005 a Utah judge ruled in their favor. The challenge to the ruling related to the fact that the FDA had declared all quantities of ephedra were dangerous. The FDA had not shown or proven that smaller quantities of ephedra, such as 10 mg instead of the normal 20 mg, were harmful.

The FDA was still declaring that all ephedra products were illegal and that the ban was still in place despite the fact that manufacturers continued to make ephedra diet pills. Although they were now producing lower quantity ephedra products that only contained 10 mg of the ephedra alkaloid.

In fact, the FDA used U.S. marshals to raid several companies and seized large quantities of weight loss products that contained ephedra.

A court of appeals then upheld the FDA ephedra ban in mid 2006 reinstating the fact that ephedra was illegal again. As of today the manufacture and selling of ephedra products for any reason or in any amount is illegal in the US.

Nutraceutical Corporation, October 2006, has issued another challenge and filed another petition for rehearing in front of the entire 10th circuit of the US Court of Appeals saying the FDA's assessment of unreasonable risk is too rigid and gives the agency license to declare any dietary ingredient adulterated.

Ephedra weight loss pills and any product containing the herb ephedra are considered illegal by the U.S. government.

That could change but doesn't seem likely due to the fact that Congress is rewriting the laws regarding supplements and herbs. The newly worded laws will make it easier for the FDA to take action and ban substances they deem harmful to the general public.

The effectiveness and safety of ephedra was supported by social proof in the marketplace. People bought and used ephedra for over 10 years with many of them coming back again and again to repurchase these products. Even without scientific proof that alone shows that ephedra worked and was safe.

If it had not show results ephedra would have vanished from the market on it's own. But due to the support of people who thought is was safe and effective they continue to search for ephedra weight loss products despite the fact it is illegal. This is something they just want to use.

Article Source: http://appliedhealtharticles.com

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