Ephedra Controversy Part 1 of 2 |
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Ephedra Controversy Part 1 of 2 |
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Happy Fall Action Readers of “Martial Arts
Talk” In the last decade I have kept a close eye on the competition in the market place primarily
concerning biology produced medicines and natural herbal products sold over the counter in
health food stores as well as Chinese herb shops. I use the word “competition,” somewhat
facetiously in that I believe as we are entering 2000 years of the Age of Aquarius, that
competition will evolve to healthy competition and finally to cooperative trade at the highest
level between Democracy and Communism. The old herder/hunter parallel farmer thing. That said;
let us stick with the here/now. (click on image to enlarge)About Ephedra or Ma Huang I have studied herbs since 1965. In western herbology books I had, mention was given to a desert plant the Mormon’s called Brigham Young Tea or Mormon Tea. During the 1980’s when I studied with Wai, he often would make a flu tea when I was sick with flu like symptoms. I got to experience the teacher healing me in real time with a concoction he made himself. I later inherited the formula. Again, this was in the 80’s. I have video of him teaching me how to make hit pills in my home. The process was videoed for an hour or so. Other video I have is of him going over dozens of formulas he gave me where he personally explains what the formula in Chinese is for as well as preparation tips. Getting back to the flu formula, one of the under a dozen ingredients was Ma Huang. When word got out that ma huang was the natural source for ephedrine, some folks sought opportunity to market it in all types of weight loss, energy and sex enhancement over the counter products. Many herbal products have the blessing of the FDA as long as companies obey all the rules. Back in July of 2003, the San Diego Union – Tribune had a top story; “Panel favors ban on ephedra sales.” The State Assembly Health Committee voted 13 – 5 to approve the measure which had passed the State Senate already in May. Words like “this modern day snake oil off our shelves,” were used. The House Energy on Commerce Committee wants the FDA’s international ephedra inspections since the beginning of 2000 and records where ephedra is grown. In another article this year we were told the FDA’s efforts to regulate ephedra were somewhat hampered by a 1994 law that subjects herbal dietary supplements to far less federal scrutiny than pharmaceuticals. Critics say powerful political contributors keep it on the market while the industry counters that its products are safe if used as directed. Where we stand is that although ephedra over the counter products may be regulated, all out bans are unlikely unless they want to take it out of Chinese medicine and all the herb shops. Metabolife’s old 356 was one flagship product, but I can remember convenience stores and liquor stores all having different brands of energy or weight/sex enhancement products with ephedra as an ingredient. Kava and garana are others that became controversial. July 25th of this year there was talk on an all out FDA ban on ephedra, but no timeline was given. There was a vote in the California Assembly that went 44–23 in favor to bring the issue to the Governor. All the no votes came from Republicans. I personally think regulation is more practical. My points of view in fixing all our woes include the legalization and regulation of more forms of self gratification. This means an acknowledgement that Jesus came to destroy not one word of The Old Testament. We call ourselves a Judeo/Christian nation. It says in scripture “the leaf of the tree for man’s medicine.” Remember folks, from 1620 Jamestown, till President Harrison in the early 1900’s, all plants were being used in America! That said, we can be thankful we have bio-technology cooperating with folks wanting to use natural ingredients and have the freedom to follow scripture when it suggests “Physician Heal Thyself.” A good dose of common sense, brotherly love, the golden rule and cooperation over competition will go a long way to make Pagan tradition and science find and focus on similarities over differences. Quick Update In the hot summer and early Fall days in the high desert, my sunroom reading porch gets over 100 degrees. During these hot days I usually let the papers add up. On cool days I speed read to play catch up. This latter was exactly what I was doing when I came across another update (mind you October 13th’s 2003 paper while today is October 24th 2003. According to what I just read, it was one of the last bills passed by the Governor. So now three states have bans on ephedra based products, the other two being New York and Illinois. In 2000 the then Governor Davis vetoed a bill by Susan Davis that would have required warning labels on ephedra products. The dangers of ephedra products gained notoriety in an article published in the New England Journal of medicine in late 2000. Metabolife has touted its ephedra free alternative. My question is what about the many Chinese communities that use the raw plant in formulas such as the old flu formula? The flu formula connection rings a bell with the similarity that most over the counter flu medications in pill form contain a synthesized form of ephedrine if I am not mistaken. In any case, honesty is the best policy. Let science study the plant and decide whether an all out sale ban of the raw plant will be justified. Alternative ingredients that are approvable would have to substitute. We would have to look at all herbal lists to see what would have to be modified because of these types of situations. The baseball player brought it into focus, but about a third of those using ephedra based products in one study of about 140 people showed enough science to merit label warnings and straight out bans of entire markets using ephedra based products. Metabolife was a financial campaign contributor to Davis at one time. What apparently hurt the company was its perhaps reluctance to share about 13,000 reports about problems with the product allegedly. Last year the Governor had reversed his opinion after the veto with a compromise warning label legislature. The NFL, Olympic Committee and NCAA have banned ephedra products. The bill banning products with ephedra was called SB 582 and was supported by the California Medical Association and Consumers Union. Let us hope that science, religion and philosophy can all be censors to each other in a spirit of cooperation to allow for a win/win between biotechnology and folk medicine practiced by over half the planet or more worldwide. God does not make junk! We merely need to use things correctly and legally according to the customs, mores and traditions of the times we live. In part 2 of this article I will focus on what the material medica and other sources say of ma huang, garana and kava.
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