[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 28 (Friday, February 14, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2505-S2513]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                         The Danger of Ephedra

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I want to touch on one other issue not 
related to the Estrada nomination before I yield the floor. It will 
take me about 15 minutes to complete the presentation I am about to 
make. Then I will be happy to yield the floor. It relates to a decision 
that was made this week by a county in New York, Suffolk County. They 
took a historic step to protect the residents of their county from 
harm, even the dangerous and deadly harm of dietary supplements. You 
know about these dietary supplements. You cannot walk into any 
drugstore or turn on the TV or go to a convenience store or a gas 
station that you don't see someone trying to sell us a pill to make us 
thin. These dietary supplements, I guess, help some people to lose

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weight. Doctors argue back and forth about that.
  It turns out that some of these dietary supplements contain a 
chemical--a naturally occurring chemical--called ephedra, which is 
dangerous. Suffolk County in Long Island banned the sale of ephedra 
products because the Suffolk County Department of Health Services 
determined that ``dietary supplements containing ephedra alkaloid are 
too dangerous to be sold within the county of Suffolk.''
  Last year, the U.S. Army moved to protect service men and women and 
the employees who use the base by also banning the sale of ephedra 
products in commissaries across the United States.
  Sadly, it would seem that despite these decisions by local and State 
governments and by some agencies of the Federal Government, our Federal 
Government, in general, and particularly our Department of Health and 
Human Services, has consistently refused to take the necessary action 
to protect America's families and children from products containing 
ephedra.

  Since last August, I have repeatedly called on Secretary Tommy 
Thompson, and I renew the call today, to ban ephedra products in the 
United States. The Secretary has the authority to do so. There is no 
excuse for the delay. I have asked him to use his authority under DSHEA 
to declare ephedra an imminent hazard and take it off the market, in 
the same way as it was done in Suffolk County and other cities and 
counties, and in certain States it was done in our military posts. The 
Secretary has refused to respond. His responses have not been helpful.
  As chairman of the Government Oversight Committee, last year, I held 
two hearings on this topic, challenging this administration to act. I 
am not the only one who has done so. Last year, the Canadian Government 
banned products containing ephedra. They said you cannot sell them 
there because they are too dangerous. They kill people.
  What kind of products am I talking about? Are these weird, remote 
things you never run across? No. Metabolife--have you ever heard of it? 
They do a lot of advertising. Metabolife diet pills--an energy 
supplement, they call it, to help you lose weight. They do sell a 
product that contains ephedra. This is what I am talking about. These 
are the drugs that can be a danger to certain people. There are others. 
One is called Yellow Jackets. I will get to that in a moment because 
there is a sad and tragic story about these. It says ``built as an 
extreme energizer.''
  I recently went to a junior high school in Springfield, IL, and I 
asked the boys and girls: How many have heard of Yellow Jackets? Half 
of the kids raised their hands. Do you know why. You don't need a 
prescription. You can walk into any convenience store or gas station 
and you can buy them two or three at a time.
  Sadly, these pills taken by kids can kill them--kill them. I will 
tell you of a sad story where it occurred near my home. I have given 
this information to Secretary Thompson. He has ignored it. Nothing has 
happened. There are no excuses now for what we presently face. The best 
he can give us is, he says these products ought to have stronger 
warning labels.
  What would a warning label say if it was honest about the product 
ephedra? It would have to say if you are going to take Metabolife, for 
example, which is known as a dietary supplement and classified as a 
food under our strange Federal laws, if you were going to take this 
product, here is the warning label you would have to put on it: Taking 
this food product will increase your risk of heart attack, stroke, 
seizure, and death.
  Can one think of another food product sold in America where we 
identify on the label that it can be lethal if you take it? In most 
cases, in most civilized nations, we would not allow a product that 
could kill you to be sold as a food product in any circumstance.
  Some people argue, you can take enough aspirin to kill you. This is 
all true, but when it comes to this product, they are selling it to 
children--this Yellow Jacket product and this product, Metabolife--to 
virtually anybody who can put money on the counter, with no warning as 
to the potential of harm.
  In reality, how can the Secretary rely on warning labels for a 
product that is found to be so dangerous? Let me make it clear, the 
only reasonable step to take is to take these products off the market. 
If this administration, and particularly Secretary Thompson, continues 
to delay this decision, sadly he will have to answer the question of 
how he can account for the numerous people who continue to lose their 
lives because of these dangerous products.
  The Secretary has the power under existing law to take these products 
off the market. He has failed and refused to do so. As the Department 
delays, terrible things occur.
  I told you I would recount an incident involving this particular 
product, Yellow Jacket. Last September, in Lincoln, IL, a few miles 
from where I live, a young man 16 years old, a healthy, athletic, high 
school student named Sean Riggins was getting ready for a football 
game. He went to a local convenience store and bought Yellow Jackets, 
an extreme energizer. You will find them for sale. You are going to 
find them in North Dakota. You are going to find them as well in Rhode 
Island. You are going to find them in Ohio. They are everywhere.
  This boy bought this product, grabbed a Mountain Dew, which contains 
caffeine, washed it down, and died. He bought them at a convenience 
store, washed them down, and died. It is incredible to think this could 
happen, and the autopsy confirmed this was the reason for his death.
  When we say to Secretary Thompson, for God's sake, protect the 
children from this happening again, he waits, he fails to respond. He 
says he is thinking about it.
  On September 6 last year, because of these Yellow Jackets, Sean 
Riggins, a healthy, athletic high school student had a massive heart 
attack and died. When you look around the Senate, you will see pages 
working on the floor in the Senate. It is a time-honored tradition. 
These are young men and women of high school age. When you look at 
them, you are looking at a person of the age of Sean Riggins who 
thought he was doing the right thing to get ready for a football game. 
Sadly, he was preparing for a funeral--his own.
  He was the only child of Deb and Kevin Riggins from Lincoln, IL. His 
parents, thank God, have decided to go on a crusade to try to protect 
other kids. They turned their grief to positive action. They set up the 
Sean Riggins Foundation for Substance-Free Schools. I commend them for 
their courage. They are going to coaches, teachers, and parents saying: 
For goodness sake, talk to your kids about this. We know 
about marijuana; we know about cocaine; we know about heroin; we have 
to do our part in telling them how dangerous it can be. We know how 
dangerous tobacco and alcohol are. We are ignoring the obvious. These 
are for sale everywhere. They are cheap and kids are buying them. Let 
me be honest with you; some kids buy these pills and drink beer with 
them and think this is a brand new high and die as a result--
Metabolife, Yellow Jackets, and a variety of other names.

  The question before us now is, Should we act? And the answer is 
obviously yes. Mr. President, did you know the NCAA, the National 
Football League, and the International Olympic Committee have all moved 
to protect their athletes by banning ephedra? And yet, Secretary 
Thompson refuses to protect innocent children who buy this product.
  The Rigginses are not alone in their grief. The Suffolk County, NY, 
ban I mentioned was imposed this week was also as a result of a young 
person's death. In 1996, Peter Schlendorf of Northport, Long Island, 20 
years old, died from taking ephedra. His parents have joined the 
Rigginses in this sad alliance in the memory of their sons to try to 
warn parents.
  The 7-Eleven stores--we see them all around--used to be one of the 
stores that sold ephedra products. They decided it is not safe. They 
will not carry ephedra products anymore.
  Think about it; all this action is taking place without the Federal 
Government stepping in to protect us. That is hard to believe.
  There are also lawsuits underway. The trial lawyers of America are 
convenient whipping boys. People blame them for a lot of things--too 
many frivolous lawsuits, high insurance rates, and the like. The fact 
is, if the trial lawyers of America were not suing this industry, 
changes would not

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take place because this Government is not doing its job. This 
administration is not doing its job.
  If we look at the situation, Metabolife is now peddling a product 
they say is free of ephedra. They want to make it clear you have a 
choice. They are trying to figure a way to back off the thousands and 
thousands of bottles of this product they have already sold.
  In October, a Federal jury found Metabolife 356, this dietary 
supplement, containing ephedra that was ``unreasonably dangerous,'' 
although you can buy it over the counter without a prescription, and 
awarded four injured Americans $4.1 million to compensate them for 
their injuries and the wanton bad behavior of the Metabolife Company. 
Many other cases have been settled with large awards.
  The action is in the courts because there is no action in Washington. 
Secretary Thompson and the Department of Health and Human Services 
refuses to respond, refuses to act. People die, and their survivors go 
to court holding these companies responsible. Why isn't this Government 
holding these companies responsible? Why aren't we banning the sale of 
these products now?
  The medical evidence is overwhelming. In January of this year, 
researchers from Yale, the University of Texas at Houston, the 
University of Michigan, the University of Cincinnati, and Brown 
University reported in the journal Neurology that those taking one-
third of the manufacturer's recommended daily dose of these ephedra 
products increase their risk of hemorrhagic stroke three times. In 
February, an article in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that 
ephedra use associated with a greatly increased risk for adverse 
reactions compared with other herbs, and the authors suggested its use 
should be restricted.
  This study found ephedra use resulted in a 720-times increase in 
adverse reactions compared to ginkgo biloba use and in hundredfold more 
adverse reactions compared to other herbs that were used which they 
think are safe. Secretary Thompson knows this. The medical evidence is 
there.
  Metabolife, when they were asked to produce information for 
Congressman Waxman and myself, said in 1999, for example, they did not 
have any instance of anybody taking their pills and having a bad 
result. But when Congressman Waxman and I, as well as the trial 
lawyers, put them on the spot and made them produce all the information 
sent to them, we found 100 people before 1999 with serious adverse 
reactions, including heart attack and stroke.
  These companies selling these products have been irresponsible in the 
marketing of this product. They sell them to children. They know they 
cause adverse health consequences, and they continue to do so because 
this Government will not step in and stop them. The burden is on 
Secretary Thompson and the Bush administration. Do not look the other 
way. Do not ignore the deaths that are occurring. Do not ignore the 
fact that 23 States have now moved to restrict the sale of these 
products because the Federal Government refuses to accept its 
responsibility.
  It is time for us to act and to act now before there are more 
innocent victims.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Chafee). The Senator from Ohio.