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Ephedra Report Expected Today

Aired February 28, 2003 - 14:35   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.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, now we turn to medical news, and the effects of ephedra, the popular diet supplement. Well, there has been a great deal of talk about it since the death of a Major League Baseball player last week, and this afternoon, the government will release a new report on the effects of that supplement, ephedra. And our medical news correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is here with some details on that for us.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a long- awaited report, and the government has actually rushed it out, Leon. It's very interesting. It wasn't due out until April, and it's coming out today. And it will basically, this report by the Rand Corporation, commissioned by the government, will try to answer the question, is ephedra truly a dangerous supplement?

There have been lots of reports that ephedra has caused everything from heart attacks to seizures to death, but the big question is, is there a real cause and effect relationship there? Is ephedra responsible for all of these terrible events that you hear about.

Let's talk a little bit about ephedra. I have some here. These bottles here, these two right here, we purchased at a regular old health food store. You can even get it in gas stations. These little ones here we purchased at a gas station. It says on many of them not for sale to minors, but that is not the law, so we imagine they probably are sold to minors.

And -- according to some people, according to some critics, they say that there have been reports that ephedra causes everything from high blood pressure to a rapid heart rate, to heart attacks, to seizures, to strokes, and even death.

And so what this report is going to say, is that true or not. Now, depending upon what the report says, the FDA could decide to actually do something about ephedra. But the experts that we have been talking to said they really do not think that the FDA is going to ban ephedra, even if it does turn out that the report says that it's dangerous. They might do things like insist on warning labels that say don't take for more than seven days, or things like that. But the people we have been talking to said they don't expect the government to ban it.

HARRIS: Back up for a second here. How is it that they are saying, all the experts in the government themselves can say that this is dangerous, but they won't ban it. How is that? COHEN: Well, the reason why is that the Food and Drug Administration does not regulate things like ephedra, which are herbal supplements the same way that it regulates drugs. For example, when the diet drug Fen-Phen was linked to some heart problems in not very many people, in a pretty small group of people, they could take it off the market very quickly because it's a drug.

However, for herbs, there's a much higher standard for the FDA to meet. They have to show that there's actually an imminent hazard from this herb, and that it poses significant or unreasonable risk. That is a very hard thing to prove. The bar is much lower with drugs.

HARRIS: I understand. I understand. Boy, no end of controversy here.

COHEN: Absolutely. Absolutely.

HARRIS: We'll talk about this some more, no doubt. Thanks Elizabeth. Elizabeth Cohen.

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 February 28, 2003 - 14:35   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, now we turn to medical news, and the effects of ephedra, the popular diet supplement. Well, there has been a great deal of talk about it since the death of a Major League Baseball player last week, and this afternoon, the government will release a new report on the effects of that supplement, ephedra. And our medical news correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is here with some details on that for us.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a long- awaited report, and the government has actually rushed it out, Leon. It's very interesting. It wasn't due out until April, and it's coming out today. And it will basically, this report by the Rand Corporation, commissioned by the government, will try to answer the question, is ephedra truly a dangerous supplement?

There have been lots of reports that ephedra has caused everything from heart attacks to seizures to death, but the big question is, is there a real cause and effect relationship there? Is ephedra responsible for all of these terrible events that you hear about.

Let's talk a little bit about ephedra. I have some here. These bottles here, these two right here, we purchased at a regular old health food store. You can even get it in gas stations. These little ones here we purchased at a gas station. It says on many of them not for sale to minors, but that is not the law, so we imagine they probably are sold to minors.

And -- according to some people, according to some critics, they say that there have been reports that ephedra causes everything from high blood pressure to a rapid heart rate, to heart attacks, to seizures, to strokes, and even death.

And so what this report is going to say, is that true or not. Now, depending upon what the report says, the FDA could decide to actually do something about ephedra. But the experts that we have been talking to said they really do not think that the FDA is going to ban ephedra, even if it does turn out that the report says that it's dangerous. They might do things like insist on warning labels that say don't take for more than seven days, or things like that. But the people we have been talking to said they don't expect the government to ban it.

HARRIS: Back up for a second here. How is it that they are saying, all the experts in the government themselves can say that this is dangerous, but they won't ban it. How is that? COHEN: Well, the reason why is that the Food and Drug Administration does not regulate things like ephedra, which are herbal supplements the same way that it regulates drugs. For example, when the diet drug Fen-Phen was linked to some heart problems in not very many people, in a pretty small group of people, they could take it off the market very quickly because it's a drug.

However, for herbs, there's a much higher standard for the FDA to meet. They have to show that there's actually an imminent hazard from this herb, and that it poses significant or unreasonable risk. That is a very hard thing to prove. The bar is much lower with drugs.

HARRIS: I understand. I understand. Boy, no end of controversy here.

COHEN: Absolutely. Absolutely.

HARRIS: We'll talk about this some more, no doubt. Thanks Elizabeth. Elizabeth Cohen.

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