ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 11, 1996 TAG: 9604110050
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: LAURAN NEERGAARD ASSOCIATED PRESS
ADVERTISERS PROMISE euphoria, heightened sexual awareness and enhanced athletic performance. They don't say anything about heart attacks, seizures or psychosis.
The government moved Wednesday to curb sales of an herb offering Generation Xers a ``natural high,'' telling consumers not to buy such dietary supplements as Herbal Ecstacy that contain the stimulant ephedrine.
The supplements are advertised to young people - sometimes as a ``natural'' alternative to illegal drugs - promising euphoria, heightened sexual awareness and enhanced athletic performance. They're found everywhere and in various forms - from tablets in health-food stores to special fruit drinks sold on the beaches of California and Florida.
The supplements are ``aimed directly toward youth for the express purpose of catching a buzz,'' said FDA spokesman Arthur Whitmore.
The FDA has learned of 15 people who died after taking ephedrine-containing supplements and has received almost 400 other reports of side effects, from heart attacks and seizures to psychosis.
So the agency warned consumers not to buy or use the supplements, and is collecting coroners' reports and other evidence in an effort to take regulatory action against manufacturers.
The products are ``recreational, street drug-like products that are masquerading as dietary supplements,'' said FDA Commissioner David Kessler, who investigated when relatives of a 20-year-old who died asked him about ephedrine.
Herbal Ecstacy manufacturer Global World Media Corp. of Venice, Calif., did not return phone calls seeking comment.
But an industry trade group said not all ephedrine was a problem, noting that the FDA warning does not target ephedrine-containing supplements used to help people lose weight.
``There are legitimate uses of ephedra which are different from the drug-type, drug-mocking uses that FDA is concerned about,'' said Annette Dickinson of the Council for Responsible Nutrition.
Ephedrine, an amphetamine-like stimulant and a common ingredient in certain nonprescription asthma medicines, long has been controversial.
It's also a central ingredient in the illegal drug methamphetamine, known as speed, and ``ecstasy'' is the street name for another illegal drug, MDMA.
But in dietary supplements, manufacturers promote the botanical source of ephedrine as ``natural'' and safe, often listing the stimulant under the herbal names ephedra or ma huang and sometimes advertising that they're FDA-approved.
The FDA does not approve dietary supplements. In fact, legislation Congress passed in 1994 slows how quickly the FDA can ban a dangerous supplement.
Until 1994, the FDA simply declared a suspicious supplement to be an unapproved drug that must prove its safety before it could resume sales. Now, the FDA must prove each version of the supplement sold is dangerous before taking it off the market.
LENGTH: Medium: 61 linesby CNB