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Here's a great piece written by David Greenwalt of the Power Store:
------------------
12/30/2003
Chinese Point Finger and Laugh at Stupid Americans
DIXON, IL-After 5000 years of safe use today the announcement was made
that the sale of ephedra-containing products would be effectively
outlawed in the United States.
"I can't imagine how stupid the Americans must be," said Chinese
Herbal Safety Committee spokesperson Zhou Li Quing. "We've had this
stuff for like 5000 years. The Americans get it for a few decades and
screw it all up. Morons."
------------------
Okay, on with the real story.
The federal government announced on Tuesday a ban on the sale of
ephedra, an herbal supplement used for weight control that, according
to has been linked to a number of deaths and harmful side effects.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said that "based on
the best possible scientific evidence" his agency would issue a
consumer alert about the dangers of ephedra and will send notices to
manufacturers to stop selling the herbs.
"The time to stop taking this product is now," he said.
"They are just too risky to use," said the secretary.
David's comments:
5000 years. 5000 friggin years. Been used to treat everything from
asthma to allergies to colds. 5000 years. And all of a sudden, of all
the OTC medicines and herbals out there, ephedra-containing products
are hazardous.
Here's why ephedra is going to be outlawed in case you don't want to
read any further--mass hysteria and class-action lawsuits.
The FDA initially started the ball rolling years ago. The media took
hold of the first few "claimed" ephedra deaths and, as they are so
good at, never let it go from there. 99.5% of Americans couldn't even
spell ephedra, let alone it's Chinese name of Ma Huang just a few
years ago. But in this short time ephedra went from being a safe and
effective brochodilator to KILLER OF ALL!
In the past couple years salivating, entrepreneurial attorneys grabbed
hold of what they could and made enough of a civil case to get some
cash for their clients. And this, ladies and gentlemen, was the REAL
beginning of the end for ephedra.
The FDA had failed miserably to get ephedra banned earlier. Why?
Because their evidence sucked and they were called on the carpet and
literally "sent to their room without supper" and "scolded" by a
another governmental committe empowered to oversee their research and
"hazards" discovered. So, since they couldn't ban it on their own they
found another way -- they created a public awareness unprecedented in
their history in publicly CALLING for people to report adverse events
should they ever experience them. My God folks. Wake up if you don't
understand human behavior here.
If I had the ear of 2-3 million Americans and put out a call to report
adverse events when they ate hard-boiled eggs do you know what kind of
mass calling in to report we'd get? It would be huge! People would
blame EVERYTHING that ever occurred negatively in a given day on
hard-boiled eggs--guaranteed.
So, the FDA, backed quite wonderfully by the over-sensationalized
media, SAYS that this supplement has been reaking havoc on people's
lives so if you would be so kind as to report any events you have if
you are a user it would be appreciated. Oh, and here's the toll-free
number of Medwatch just so you don't have to use your own money.
I remember in the initial witch hunt of ephedra that Ripped Fuel got
blamed for a death. Man was killed in auto accident. Bridge girder
went through the windshield and into his head. Killed instantly. Guess
what. Ripped Fuel in the cab of the truck. Guess what got blamed.
How about the shot-gun blast to the chest. Cause of death? Well, there
was some ephedrine in the blood.
I'm not saying some people didn't die from its use. And any death by
this manner is sad. But that isn't the standard in America. If 10
million doses are consumed each week and 3-4 people die a year one has
to consider everything before going on a witch hunt like the FDA and
media did thereafter. Don't we? If not, then what about this ...
***************
Some OTC pain relievers can increase the risk for stomach bleeding by
as much as 2-3 times and account for more than 16,500 deaths and
103,000 hospitalizations in the U.S. each year.
****************
Acetaminophen-containing products (Tylenol, Midol, Alka-Seltzer Plus,
Vanquish, etc.) result in over 100,000 calls a year to poison control
centers, 560,000 visits to emergency facilities, 260,000
hospitalizations, and 450 deaths. From 1996 to 1998 the average annual
deaths directly attributed to acetaminophen averaged approximately
458. I wonder what the regulatory agencies would do if a supplement
were to kill 450 people a year?
*****************
In another article we find this.
NEW YORK - Thursday, an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration recommended that a sterner warning should be put on
acetaminophen, the painkiller sold by Johnson & Johnson as Tylenol.
It's about time: Forbes wrote more than three years ago that the
warning label on the drug should be made tougher.
The problem is this: When taken as directed, acetaminophen is safe.
But the drug is included not only in Tylenol but in many
over-the-counter cough and cold remedies. When a patient winds up
taking more than the directed dose, liver damage or even death can
result. If the FDA takes its panel's recommendation, the word
acetaminophen would now be displayed more prominently on drug
packaging and warnings about liver damage would be more strongly
worded.
An FDA analysis indicated that 100 deaths and as many as 13,000
emergency room visits result each year from unintentional
acetaminophen doses.
http://www.forbes.com/2002/09/20/0920tylenol.html
****************
Always remember this folks. Ephedra is gone but it's NOT because it is
inherently dangerous. It's because of mass hysteria, misinformation,
and class-action lawsuits. What a joke.
Finally let me add this. I was at the American College of Sports
Medicine conference in Indy a few years back when I heard the head of
the dept. of nutrition at Harvard rock a room with about 800 people in
it by flat out saying that the mass hysteria and misinformation over
eggs was total B.S. Remember when eggs were evil? That was just a few
years ago folks. But who made them evil? The media and the parrots
that make up much of the nutrition industry. "Well so and so said it
so I'll just repeat it." That's how a lot of this stuff goes folks.
Anyway, the Harvard nutrition head got the balls to say what was real
and started showing the studies and asked the room of educated leaders
in the fitness community how in the hell the information was allowed
to get so out of whack.
And this is what it takes to make a change for the better. Since it
was the head of nutrition at Harvard who got the gonads to tell it
like it is guess what happened? The media grabbed it. They listened!
Then guess what happened. It APPEARED that the RESEARCH turned on its
head and NOW SAID that eggs were okay. That was crap. The RESEARCH
never waivered. It was there all along. The media had grabbed hold of
some crap report God knows when and NEVER LET GO OF IT always chanting
the "eggs are evil" mantra. So, it became America's reality. Now, the
head of nutrition at Harvard is making a stand so guess we'll have to
change gears. So, we just spin it that the RESEARCH IS CONFLICTING and
NOW SAYS THAT EGGS ARE OKAY. Wrong! Eggs were ALWAYS okay and the
research was clear.
Like Dr. Phil says. There is no reality. Only your perception of
reality. And the media creates a lot of reality for millions.
So, if you've made it this far let me give you the recipe to get a
5000-year old herbal compound off the American market:
- FDA conducts legitimate research into compound after few reported
deaths.
- FDA gets their feathers in a ruffle when Dietary, Supplement, Health
and Education Act (DSHEA) is passed in 1994. Sucks thumb and blubbers
that they don't have any authority any more to pull DANGEROUS stuff
off store shelves. Wrong. They've always had the power IF the evidence
indicated a product was harmful. Keyword? Evidence.
- Supplement industry rebuttal is strong with scientific evidence
indicating ephedra is as safe as other OTC supplements and meds.
- FDA continues
- Supplement industry begins to rally and begs of FDA to please look
at the friggin research.
- FDA continues, puts out call for public to PLEASE PLEASE
PLEAASSSSSSSSSSSE report adverse events to Medwatch.
- Media really likes this banter between FDA and supplement industry.
Also likes death. Reports all sides--the FDA's bogus cries of "no
longer having power" and "deaths" and "FDA's call for adverse events"
and, oh, yah, more deaths or maybe just a repeating of deaths already
told. Whatever, as long as it's death it's good. Am I lying? Read your
paper every day folks.
- Supplement industry continues to take it seriously but after careful
review of literature just CANNOT find legitimate indication ephedra is
excessively harmful. "No worries mate!" Wrong
- FDA releases report that ephedra is a stone-cold killer. They are
scolded by a review committee for their lack of evidence.
- Attorneys hungry for action sue big $$ companies that sold ephedra.
- Supplement industry knows they have a good product but starts
getting nervous.
- FDA continues witch hunt. Watches and learns. "We don't have to
regulate it. If enough class-action lawsuits occur it'll go away
anyway. We win! We win!"
- Big companies start paying through the nose in lawsuits. Others get
scared (like me) and quit selling it. Others follow. Nearly all
companies quit making it.
- After the sale of ephedra is flaccid with no rebound in sight a
national, governmental call to ban it is made. There will be no fight
from the supplement industry. Look how good our government is at
protecting us! Again, listen, there will be no fight from the
supplement industry. Sales are dead through lawsuits. We no longer
care other than being sickened by the imbalance of it all.
Anyway, in case anyone forgets, someone can save this email so you
know what it takes in case you want to get a supplement banned.
FDA+Public Call for Adverse Events+Class-Action Law Suits = death of
product.
Last but not least. About five years ago I wrote a friendly guide to
the safe use of ephedra. It's still on The Power Store's website in
the articles section. Check it out if you want to see more good info
on claimed, adverse events and deaths. It's worth a read. Just use the
pull down menu in the upper right and choose ARTICLES.
See ya Ephedra - man I really had some good workouts with Ultimate
Orange, Dymetadrine 25, E.P.H. 833, The Stack and others. Anyone
remember those products? And to think too that in the research a stack
of ephedrine and caffeine worked better than prescription drugs for
weight loss. But that's just research published in peer-reviewed
journals. What do they know?
------------------
12/30/2003
Chinese Point Finger and Laugh at Stupid Americans
DIXON, IL-After 5000 years of safe use today the announcement was made
that the sale of ephedra-containing products would be effectively
outlawed in the United States.
"I can't imagine how stupid the Americans must be," said Chinese
Herbal Safety Committee spokesperson Zhou Li Quing. "We've had this
stuff for like 5000 years. The Americans get it for a few decades and
screw it all up. Morons."
------------------
Okay, on with the real story.
The federal government announced on Tuesday a ban on the sale of
ephedra, an herbal supplement used for weight control that, according
to has been linked to a number of deaths and harmful side effects.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said that "based on
the best possible scientific evidence" his agency would issue a
consumer alert about the dangers of ephedra and will send notices to
manufacturers to stop selling the herbs.
"The time to stop taking this product is now," he said.
"They are just too risky to use," said the secretary.
David's comments:
5000 years. 5000 friggin years. Been used to treat everything from
asthma to allergies to colds. 5000 years. And all of a sudden, of all
the OTC medicines and herbals out there, ephedra-containing products
are hazardous.
Here's why ephedra is going to be outlawed in case you don't want to
read any further--mass hysteria and class-action lawsuits.
The FDA initially started the ball rolling years ago. The media took
hold of the first few "claimed" ephedra deaths and, as they are so
good at, never let it go from there. 99.5% of Americans couldn't even
spell ephedra, let alone it's Chinese name of Ma Huang just a few
years ago. But in this short time ephedra went from being a safe and
effective brochodilator to KILLER OF ALL!
In the past couple years salivating, entrepreneurial attorneys grabbed
hold of what they could and made enough of a civil case to get some
cash for their clients. And this, ladies and gentlemen, was the REAL
beginning of the end for ephedra.
The FDA had failed miserably to get ephedra banned earlier. Why?
Because their evidence sucked and they were called on the carpet and
literally "sent to their room without supper" and "scolded" by a
another governmental committe empowered to oversee their research and
"hazards" discovered. So, since they couldn't ban it on their own they
found another way -- they created a public awareness unprecedented in
their history in publicly CALLING for people to report adverse events
should they ever experience them. My God folks. Wake up if you don't
understand human behavior here.
If I had the ear of 2-3 million Americans and put out a call to report
adverse events when they ate hard-boiled eggs do you know what kind of
mass calling in to report we'd get? It would be huge! People would
blame EVERYTHING that ever occurred negatively in a given day on
hard-boiled eggs--guaranteed.
So, the FDA, backed quite wonderfully by the over-sensationalized
media, SAYS that this supplement has been reaking havoc on people's
lives so if you would be so kind as to report any events you have if
you are a user it would be appreciated. Oh, and here's the toll-free
number of Medwatch just so you don't have to use your own money.
I remember in the initial witch hunt of ephedra that Ripped Fuel got
blamed for a death. Man was killed in auto accident. Bridge girder
went through the windshield and into his head. Killed instantly. Guess
what. Ripped Fuel in the cab of the truck. Guess what got blamed.
How about the shot-gun blast to the chest. Cause of death? Well, there
was some ephedrine in the blood.
I'm not saying some people didn't die from its use. And any death by
this manner is sad. But that isn't the standard in America. If 10
million doses are consumed each week and 3-4 people die a year one has
to consider everything before going on a witch hunt like the FDA and
media did thereafter. Don't we? If not, then what about this ...
***************
Some OTC pain relievers can increase the risk for stomach bleeding by
as much as 2-3 times and account for more than 16,500 deaths and
103,000 hospitalizations in the U.S. each year.
****************
Acetaminophen-containing products (Tylenol, Midol, Alka-Seltzer Plus,
Vanquish, etc.) result in over 100,000 calls a year to poison control
centers, 560,000 visits to emergency facilities, 260,000
hospitalizations, and 450 deaths. From 1996 to 1998 the average annual
deaths directly attributed to acetaminophen averaged approximately
458. I wonder what the regulatory agencies would do if a supplement
were to kill 450 people a year?
*****************
In another article we find this.
NEW YORK - Thursday, an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration recommended that a sterner warning should be put on
acetaminophen, the painkiller sold by Johnson & Johnson as Tylenol.
It's about time: Forbes wrote more than three years ago that the
warning label on the drug should be made tougher.
The problem is this: When taken as directed, acetaminophen is safe.
But the drug is included not only in Tylenol but in many
over-the-counter cough and cold remedies. When a patient winds up
taking more than the directed dose, liver damage or even death can
result. If the FDA takes its panel's recommendation, the word
acetaminophen would now be displayed more prominently on drug
packaging and warnings about liver damage would be more strongly
worded.
An FDA analysis indicated that 100 deaths and as many as 13,000
emergency room visits result each year from unintentional
acetaminophen doses.
http://www.forbes.com/2002/09/20/0920tylenol.html
****************
Always remember this folks. Ephedra is gone but it's NOT because it is
inherently dangerous. It's because of mass hysteria, misinformation,
and class-action lawsuits. What a joke.
Finally let me add this. I was at the American College of Sports
Medicine conference in Indy a few years back when I heard the head of
the dept. of nutrition at Harvard rock a room with about 800 people in
it by flat out saying that the mass hysteria and misinformation over
eggs was total B.S. Remember when eggs were evil? That was just a few
years ago folks. But who made them evil? The media and the parrots
that make up much of the nutrition industry. "Well so and so said it
so I'll just repeat it." That's how a lot of this stuff goes folks.
Anyway, the Harvard nutrition head got the balls to say what was real
and started showing the studies and asked the room of educated leaders
in the fitness community how in the hell the information was allowed
to get so out of whack.
And this is what it takes to make a change for the better. Since it
was the head of nutrition at Harvard who got the gonads to tell it
like it is guess what happened? The media grabbed it. They listened!
Then guess what happened. It APPEARED that the RESEARCH turned on its
head and NOW SAID that eggs were okay. That was crap. The RESEARCH
never waivered. It was there all along. The media had grabbed hold of
some crap report God knows when and NEVER LET GO OF IT always chanting
the "eggs are evil" mantra. So, it became America's reality. Now, the
head of nutrition at Harvard is making a stand so guess we'll have to
change gears. So, we just spin it that the RESEARCH IS CONFLICTING and
NOW SAYS THAT EGGS ARE OKAY. Wrong! Eggs were ALWAYS okay and the
research was clear.
Like Dr. Phil says. There is no reality. Only your perception of
reality. And the media creates a lot of reality for millions.
So, if you've made it this far let me give you the recipe to get a
5000-year old herbal compound off the American market:
- FDA conducts legitimate research into compound after few reported
deaths.
- FDA gets their feathers in a ruffle when Dietary, Supplement, Health
and Education Act (DSHEA) is passed in 1994. Sucks thumb and blubbers
that they don't have any authority any more to pull DANGEROUS stuff
off store shelves. Wrong. They've always had the power IF the evidence
indicated a product was harmful. Keyword? Evidence.
- Supplement industry rebuttal is strong with scientific evidence
indicating ephedra is as safe as other OTC supplements and meds.
- FDA continues
- Supplement industry begins to rally and begs of FDA to please look
at the friggin research.
- FDA continues, puts out call for public to PLEASE PLEASE
PLEAASSSSSSSSSSSE report adverse events to Medwatch.
- Media really likes this banter between FDA and supplement industry.
Also likes death. Reports all sides--the FDA's bogus cries of "no
longer having power" and "deaths" and "FDA's call for adverse events"
and, oh, yah, more deaths or maybe just a repeating of deaths already
told. Whatever, as long as it's death it's good. Am I lying? Read your
paper every day folks.
- Supplement industry continues to take it seriously but after careful
review of literature just CANNOT find legitimate indication ephedra is
excessively harmful. "No worries mate!" Wrong
- FDA releases report that ephedra is a stone-cold killer. They are
scolded by a review committee for their lack of evidence.
- Attorneys hungry for action sue big $$ companies that sold ephedra.
- Supplement industry knows they have a good product but starts
getting nervous.
- FDA continues witch hunt. Watches and learns. "We don't have to
regulate it. If enough class-action lawsuits occur it'll go away
anyway. We win! We win!"
- Big companies start paying through the nose in lawsuits. Others get
scared (like me) and quit selling it. Others follow. Nearly all
companies quit making it.
- After the sale of ephedra is flaccid with no rebound in sight a
national, governmental call to ban it is made. There will be no fight
from the supplement industry. Look how good our government is at
protecting us! Again, listen, there will be no fight from the
supplement industry. Sales are dead through lawsuits. We no longer
care other than being sickened by the imbalance of it all.
Anyway, in case anyone forgets, someone can save this email so you
know what it takes in case you want to get a supplement banned.
FDA+Public Call for Adverse Events+Class-Action Law Suits = death of
product.
Last but not least. About five years ago I wrote a friendly guide to
the safe use of ephedra. It's still on The Power Store's website in
the articles section. Check it out if you want to see more good info
on claimed, adverse events and deaths. It's worth a read. Just use the
pull down menu in the upper right and choose ARTICLES.
See ya Ephedra - man I really had some good workouts with Ultimate
Orange, Dymetadrine 25, E.P.H. 833, The Stack and others. Anyone
remember those products? And to think too that in the research a stack
of ephedrine and caffeine worked better than prescription drugs for
weight loss. But that's just research published in peer-reviewed
journals. What do they know?
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