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American Morning

Ephedra Dangers

Aired July 24, 2003 - 08:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Dr. Gupta is off today, and in our medical segment this morning, Ephedra, the popular weight-loss supplement that's been linked to heart attacks and strokes is the focus of a congressional hearing that continues today. A House panel is looking into dietary supplements and the rules that cover them. The panel heard yesterday from the parents of Steve Bechler. He was the 23-year-old pitcher who collapsed during spring training with the Baltimore Orioles and died last February. He had taken Ephedra, and it was cited as a factor in his death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT BECHLER, MOTHER OF STEVE BECHLER: They took our pride and joy from us, and his wife and his baby. And they took our baby from our life. Steve was our life. And his daughter will never know him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Joining us from Washington this morning Steve Bechler's parents, Pat and Ernie Bechler, along with their attorney Jim France.

Good morning to all of you, and thank you for joining us. Appreciate your time.

Pat -- Pat, we're going to start with you. Obviously, we saw there incredibly emotional testimony. How did it go yesterday? How do you think what you were saying was received?

P. BECHLER: I believe everybody really understood where we were coming from, and with the help of the other gentleman that lost his son, Mr. Riggins, helped a lot of getting this across to everyone.

O'BRIEN: Ernie, why did you think it was important to do that? Because obviously it must be very, very difficult to get up there and talk about something that's so painful to you.

ERNIE BECHLER, FATHER OF STEVE BECHLER: Well, I just don't want no other parents or anybody else to see their loved ones, what we had to go through. It's a dangerous drug, and it needs to be taken off the market period.

O'BRIEN: Pat, did you know that your son was taking Ephedra?

P. BECHLER: Well, I saw the bottle, yes. But I don't know how long. And I saw -- and I asked him about it. And he says, oh, mom I just take it a few just to get ready for spring training, because he was 10 pounds overweight this year, and that's all I knew. O'BRIEN: He never mentioned any concerns about it, having read anything about the risks of Ephedra?

P. BECHLER: No, he was healthy, so why would he have any risks?

O'BRIEN: Jim, let's bring you into this discussion. As we mentioned you are the attorney for the family.

And when you listen to what the medical examiner said, he listed a number of things as possibly playing a role in Steve's death. He said that Steve had liver problems. He said that Steve had high blood pressure, that he was overweight. We heard from Pat, you know, 10 pounds. Some people have said more. How do you know that all those factors weren't to blame for Steve's death?

JIM FRANTZ, BECHLER'S ATTY.: Well, Steve was 23 years old, and his liver function tests. That's not going to kill him. Many people have that condition. As far as being -- having high blood pressure or any notion of that, we all know these drugs, these dietary supplement drugs cause high blood pressure.

So if he had high blood pressure, that's the smoking gun, in my view. I mean, this product would be the thing that created the high blood pressure. And they don't have any warning on those bottles that you should not exercise and take these products. And when you exercise, you get warm, you get heated, you take Ephedra, caffeine products, they heat you up, and there's no release of the heat. That's the medicine behind it. And when you don't have a release of the heat, you get very hot like a furnace with the doors shut. And that's what happened here, and his body temperature went up to 108 degrees.

O'BRIEN: The medical examiner, a former medical examiner of New York City, who is working now with Citodyne, which is a company that makes the product that has Ephedra in it, says that Ephedra didn't cause the death. I know that you obviously disagree with that contention, but I know you're a lawyer, but I don't think you're a doctor as well. Does the medical research and the other doctors support what you're saying here?

FRANTZ: Absolutely. At Congress yesterday, several medical doctors, including a cardiologist and a practicing physician at Columbia University, Dr. Steve Heinzefeld (ph), said that this is a classic case of an Ephedra-induced stroke. The body overheats when you take Ephedra. It causes an overheated condition. It doesn't release the heat.

So I believe the Citodyne doctor is misguided. He's also a paid- for expert. He's a paid-for expert. He's a paid-for expert, and Citodyne buys its science. That's what they've done in the past, and that's what they're doing now, trying to escape their responsibility.

O'BRIEN: Ernie and Pat, what do you want out of these hearings? What is the absolute best thing that you could hope for out of all of this? P. BECHLER: We want it off the market. I don't want other families and other kids having to go through this, and they don't -- it just doesn't need to be out there.

O'BRIEN: All right. Well, Pat Bechler and Ernie Bechler, and also Jim Frantz, the family attorney, I thank all of you for joining us this morning. We certainly appreciate it.

And we do need to mention that CNN contacted Citodyne, the maker of Xenadrine, which contains Ephedra. Our calls were not returned. So thanks to all of you, appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 24, 2003 - 08:42   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Dr. Gupta is off today, and in our medical segment this morning, Ephedra, the popular weight-loss supplement that's been linked to heart attacks and strokes is the focus of a congressional hearing that continues today. A House panel is looking into dietary supplements and the rules that cover them. The panel heard yesterday from the parents of Steve Bechler. He was the 23-year-old pitcher who collapsed during spring training with the Baltimore Orioles and died last February. He had taken Ephedra, and it was cited as a factor in his death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT BECHLER, MOTHER OF STEVE BECHLER: They took our pride and joy from us, and his wife and his baby. And they took our baby from our life. Steve was our life. And his daughter will never know him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Joining us from Washington this morning Steve Bechler's parents, Pat and Ernie Bechler, along with their attorney Jim France.

Good morning to all of you, and thank you for joining us. Appreciate your time.

Pat -- Pat, we're going to start with you. Obviously, we saw there incredibly emotional testimony. How did it go yesterday? How do you think what you were saying was received?

P. BECHLER: I believe everybody really understood where we were coming from, and with the help of the other gentleman that lost his son, Mr. Riggins, helped a lot of getting this across to everyone.

O'BRIEN: Ernie, why did you think it was important to do that? Because obviously it must be very, very difficult to get up there and talk about something that's so painful to you.

ERNIE BECHLER, FATHER OF STEVE BECHLER: Well, I just don't want no other parents or anybody else to see their loved ones, what we had to go through. It's a dangerous drug, and it needs to be taken off the market period.

O'BRIEN: Pat, did you know that your son was taking Ephedra?

P. BECHLER: Well, I saw the bottle, yes. But I don't know how long. And I saw -- and I asked him about it. And he says, oh, mom I just take it a few just to get ready for spring training, because he was 10 pounds overweight this year, and that's all I knew. O'BRIEN: He never mentioned any concerns about it, having read anything about the risks of Ephedra?

P. BECHLER: No, he was healthy, so why would he have any risks?

O'BRIEN: Jim, let's bring you into this discussion. As we mentioned you are the attorney for the family.

And when you listen to what the medical examiner said, he listed a number of things as possibly playing a role in Steve's death. He said that Steve had liver problems. He said that Steve had high blood pressure, that he was overweight. We heard from Pat, you know, 10 pounds. Some people have said more. How do you know that all those factors weren't to blame for Steve's death?

JIM FRANTZ, BECHLER'S ATTY.: Well, Steve was 23 years old, and his liver function tests. That's not going to kill him. Many people have that condition. As far as being -- having high blood pressure or any notion of that, we all know these drugs, these dietary supplement drugs cause high blood pressure.

So if he had high blood pressure, that's the smoking gun, in my view. I mean, this product would be the thing that created the high blood pressure. And they don't have any warning on those bottles that you should not exercise and take these products. And when you exercise, you get warm, you get heated, you take Ephedra, caffeine products, they heat you up, and there's no release of the heat. That's the medicine behind it. And when you don't have a release of the heat, you get very hot like a furnace with the doors shut. And that's what happened here, and his body temperature went up to 108 degrees.

O'BRIEN: The medical examiner, a former medical examiner of New York City, who is working now with Citodyne, which is a company that makes the product that has Ephedra in it, says that Ephedra didn't cause the death. I know that you obviously disagree with that contention, but I know you're a lawyer, but I don't think you're a doctor as well. Does the medical research and the other doctors support what you're saying here?

FRANTZ: Absolutely. At Congress yesterday, several medical doctors, including a cardiologist and a practicing physician at Columbia University, Dr. Steve Heinzefeld (ph), said that this is a classic case of an Ephedra-induced stroke. The body overheats when you take Ephedra. It causes an overheated condition. It doesn't release the heat.

So I believe the Citodyne doctor is misguided. He's also a paid- for expert. He's a paid-for expert. He's a paid-for expert, and Citodyne buys its science. That's what they've done in the past, and that's what they're doing now, trying to escape their responsibility.

O'BRIEN: Ernie and Pat, what do you want out of these hearings? What is the absolute best thing that you could hope for out of all of this? P. BECHLER: We want it off the market. I don't want other families and other kids having to go through this, and they don't -- it just doesn't need to be out there.

O'BRIEN: All right. Well, Pat Bechler and Ernie Bechler, and also Jim Frantz, the family attorney, I thank all of you for joining us this morning. We certainly appreciate it.

And we do need to mention that CNN contacted Citodyne, the maker of Xenadrine, which contains Ephedra. Our calls were not returned. So thanks to all of you, appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com