Senator Durbin Statement Regarding Ephedra

Durbin Statement Regarding Ephedra

February 28, 2003

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) today issued the following statement in response to today's announcement by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson regarding ephedra:

The litany of government actions against ephedra announced by Secretary Thompson stopped short of the one thing he has the power to do to truly protect American consumers: declare ephedra supplements an "imminent hazard" and take ephedra off the market. He has the authority to do this today, but refuses to do so.

When I first wrote to Secretary Thompson and the FDA in August 2002 urging them to take ephedra of the market, Lee Smith, an airline pilot from Nevada had not yet suffered a debilitating stroke which ended his career, and Sean Riggins, a healthy 16-year old high school athlete from my home state of Illinois was still alive. When I wrote to Secretary Thompson in January 2003 again urging him to ban ephedra, Steve Bechler of the Baltimore Orioles was still alive and looking forward to opening day.

It is impossible for anyone to calculate exactly how many people have had their lives ended or their health ruined by ephedra during the six months since I first raised the issue with HHS and FDA, but whether it was 500 or 5, it was too many. My fear is that in the time it will take to implement the recommendations the Secretary is making today, ephedra will surely ruin more lives and cause more deaths.

This experience with ephedra should convince everyone that DSHEA should be changed in order to protect the American consumer. Congress can make those changes, and I will work with HHS and the FDA to do just that, but only the Secretary has the power to take immediate action to protect the public health.

Today's efforts by the Secretary, no matter how well-intentioned, fall short of the mark.