Bid to Curb Stimulant’s Use Hits Panel Roadblock

Legislation aimed at banning the sale of ephedrine-containing dietary supplements to children--and at strengthening warning labels on the products--ran aground Thursday in the face of opposition by manufacturers and a union representing retail clerks.

The bill by Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) stalled in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Assemblywoman Carole Migden (D-San Francisco), who heads the panel, said the measure will probably not be revived until next year.

Migden said she bottled up the bill because the legislative session is almost over and Speier is pushing, by her count, at least 14 other bills.

The measure would have required retailers to request proof that purchasers were at least 18 before selling supplements that contained ephedrine, a stimulant made from the ephedra genus of herbs.

The bill would also have required that warning labels contain an 800-number for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, so consumers could have reported any adverse reactions directly to health authorities.

Ephedrine has drawn attention this year since two college football players and one professional football player collapsed and died after reportedly ingesting products containing it.

Many consumers use compounds that include the substance to enhance metabolism and lose weight. The items are readily available at grocery stores, pharmacies, health food outlets and over the Internet. By law, these dietary supplements are not considered drugs and are largely unregulated by state and federal authorities.

“This is legal speed, and we’re treating it like it is holy water,” Speier said, citing evidence that products containing the stimulant have been linked to heart attacks and strokes and have been a factor in 80 deaths nationwide.

Despite its critics, however, ephedrine enjoys powerful supporters. Its producers are significant political donors, and they have held off previous attempts to curb sales of the substance. The legislation that died Thursday has already been watered down.

The bill, SB 397, would have initially required that the warning label be written in type one-eighth-inch tall. But to win passage in the Assembly Health Committee, Speier agreed to cut the type to one-sixteenth of an inch. She also dropped the words “heart attack and stroke” from the warning. So the warning would read: “Exceeding recommended serving may cause serious adverse health effects.”

As written, the label also cautioned against use by pregnant and nursing women, and said people who had a history of high blood pressure or were at risk of heart disease should consult physicians before taking the products.

Speier said she intends to push for a vote before the Legislature adjourns next week.

But Migden said the legislation won’t leave her committee.

“There are a lot of bills,” she said. “Some get held. It is my job. Every year, a couple bills that are pretty good get held because you can’t possibly manage or advance every one of them every session.”

Migden, who has sparred with Speier over legislative issues before, called it “a numbers thing.”

“Sen. Speier has a lot of bills,” she said. “. . . No disrespect. But you have a prolific author.”

In Sacramento, ephedrine producers are represented by one of the more influential law and lobbyist firms, Livingston & Mattesich.

The American Herbal Products Assn., a trade group, reported spending $90,787 on lobbying last year and a relatively modest $5,664 in the first half of this year.

One of the largest manufacturers of products containing ephedrine, San Diego-based Metabolife International, reported no expenditures on Sacramento lobbying during the first six months of 2000.

However, company founder Michael Ellis contributed $25,000 to Gov. Gray Davis earlier this year.

Metabolife also donated $150,000 to the governor last year, including $50,000 to a nonprofit corporation that Davis established to fete delegates to the Democratic National Convention, held in August 2000 in downtown Los Angeles.

Additionally, the firm reported giving $5,000 to the San Diego County Republican Central Committee and $10,000 to the Democratic National Committee last year, plus $7,189 this year to the Democratic group.

Davis vetoed legislation last year that sought to amplify the warning on products containing ephedrine. At the time, he said it was the federal government’s responsibility to oversee such products. A Davis spokesman had no comment Thursday on the new bill’s fate.

Michael McGuffin, president of the herbal products trade group, disputed that ephedrine-containing products lead to heart attacks, strokes or other maladies, so long as they are used in accord with the industry-sponsored label warnings.

“I don’t call this a benign substance. It is not,” McGuffin said. “The substance can be abused. We seek to protect its use in a nonabuse setting.”

The industry label warns against use by people who have a variety of conditions, such as a history of heart disease, and says the products should not be taken by minors.

But a ban on sales to minors goes too far, he said. “I don’t think a kid should drink a six-pack of Coke,” McGuffin said. “. . . But I don’t think there should be government restrictions against the purchase of that. We need to assume there is some kind of parental overview and personal responsibility.”

In addition to the manufacturers, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which represents retail clerks, opposed the bill.

“It sets up our members to be targets for stings where they could by accident sell to a minor,” said union lobbyist Barry Broad.

“We’ve got alcohol, tobacco, glue, laser pointers, spray paint, food stamps, lottery tickets where clerks have to act as a police agent of the state,” he added. “We don’t want to add to the list.”