The Ban on Ephedra

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 reason for the confusion goes back to 2004 when the FDA said the herb ephedra used in products for weight loss, energy, etc. to be considered adulterated, harmful to the public and illegal to sell.

Early in 2005 a company by the name of Nutraceutical Corporation challenged the legality of the ban and a Utah judge ruled in favor of Nutraceutical Corporation. The legal challenge related to the fact that the FDA had not shown that products with 10 mg or less of ephedra alkaloids were dangerous. (Most ephedra products before the ephedra ban used 20-25 mg of ephedra alkaloids.)

During the years 05-06 companies started producing and marketing ephedra diet pills that contained only 10 mg of ephedra. Although during this same period of time the FDA still was stating that all ephedra products were harmful to the public and were not legal to manufacture or sell.

Several companies were raided by US marshals at the request of the FDA, large amounts of weight loss products that were made with ephedra were seized.

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.

The same company, Nutraceutical Corporation, in October 2006 has issued another challenge and has filed a 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 it would have vanished from the market. But millions of people continued to search for it even while it was illegal and they are still searching for it today.

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