Unfair for Ephedra

Unfair for Ephedra?

On June 24 at 10:10 a.m. a Baltimore Orioles pitcher named Steve Bechler died at North Ridge Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The team physician attributed his death to a heat stroke from the symptoms he saw such as an elevated body temperature of 108 degrees and major organ failure (Mileur pars. 2-3). However, as his death was investigated and his corpse was examined more closely a medical examiner said that Bechler’s use of an herbal supplement called ephedra was a large causal factor to his death (Mileur, par. 4). What is this mysterious herb that has caused such controversy among doctors and physicians? Does it warrant the strict and severe penalties for possessing it that have recently emerged? Should it be available to enhance the performance of professional and pre-professional athletes everywhere? Ephedra is a notorious supplement that has not been thoroughly researched enough to know its effects and cannot be safely administered to athletes or any person of the general population.

Ephedra is a substance that has recently been banned in the United States. The compound ephedra contains ephedrine, a substance “used to relieve nasal congestion originating from allergic conditions, e.g., hay fever, or from bacterial or viral infection of the upper respiratory tract. It may be used as well to raise blood pressure” (“Ephedrine”). Because of its ability to raise blood pressure and increase the metabolism, it has been widely produced and advertised as a weight loss supplement (“Ephedrine”). It has also been used “in the production of methamphetamine”, an illegal drug that affects the brain (“Ephedrine”). The adverse side effects and certain people’s unhealthy reactions to the herb caused it to fall under the careful scrutiny of the United States Food and Drug Administration. On February 6th, 2004, the FDA banned the supplement stating, “We have concluded that dietary supplements containing ephedrine alkaloids pose a risk of serious adverse events, including heart attack, stroke, and death, and that these risks are unreasonable in light of any benefits that may result from the use of these products” (par. 2). At this point, the ban still exists on ephedra and any product containing the substance.

Even though ephedra has been banned, what are its effects upon athletes? Can it really produce a heightened and more skilled performance and can that merit its existence on the market? In one study, researchers “found that a combination of caffeine and ephedrine significantly improved male subjects’ time to exhaustion when compared with male subjects who consumed a placebo” (Antonio 17).