BioCentury
ARTICLE | Politics, Policy & Law

Too much Congress is bad for your health

April 10, 2000 7:00 AM UTC

The FDA has been dragooned into withdrawing most of its proposed rule to regulate ephedra, a dietary supplement, adding to the sorry list of public health setbacks mandated by the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) passed by Congress in 1994.

FDA's efforts to limit the use of ephedra date at least to 1997, when the agency proposed limiting the dose of ephedrine alkaloids, the active ingredient, to 8 mg per serving or 24 mg per day. The FDA also had proposed prohibiting labeling claims such as weight loss or body building that would have required long-term intake; and prohibiting the combination of ephedrine alkaloids with ingredients with known stimulant effects such as caffeine that might interact. FDA also had proposed that a high performance liquid chromatography method be used to determine the level of ephedrine alkaloids in a supplement. ...