Ephedra Ban

There is plenty of public confusion about the legality of ephedra products in the United States and whether it can still be purchased. Discover more about the status of the ephedra ban.

Places selling ephedra diet pills have taken advantage of the confusion in the market place since consumers don't really know whether ephedra is legal or not. They are selling ephedra mimics and ephedra like products even though nothing worked like ephedra did.

The confusion over the situation starts back in the year 2004 when the FDA declared herbal ephedra used in any type of product for any purpose would be considered adulterated and harmful to the public therefor making it illegal to sell.

The FDA had never shown that small quantities, like 10 mg, of ephedra were not harmful. They had only tried to show that large quantities, such as 25 mg, were dangerous. The Nutraceutical Corporation challenged the legality of this aspect of the ephedra ban and in 2005 a Utah judge ruled in their favor.

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.

The FDA used US marshals several times to raid and seize pallets of ephedra products that were packaged for weight loss.

Then in August of 2006 a ruling by the 10th U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the FDA's ban on all ephedra products. The marketing of ephedra in the U.S. is considered illegal and subject to disciplinary action by the FDA.

Nutraceutical Corporation, October 2006, has issued another challenge and filed another 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.

Even though there were multiple scientific studies showing ephedra to be effective and safe when used properly the real proof came from the people who purchased ephedra products. They would not have supported it for a decade if it had not worked. They buying public would have moved on.

If ephedra had been as dangerous as the FDA made it out to be it would have disappeared from store shelves. But millions of people continue to search for it even while it is illegal showing they did not think that it was a danger to use and that it worked for weight loss.