A Grieving Mother Urges Ban of Ephedra

Steve Bechler had always loved baseball. But when the pitcher finally reached the big leagues, drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in 1998, his career in the majors was just three games long, “a dream cut short,” said his mother, Pat Bechler.

Wiping her eyes and clutching a tissue, Bechler testified with a wavering voice before Congress on Wednesday about the February death of her 23-year-old son that was linked to the herbal supplement ephedra. Pat Bechler wants the product banned.

“Steve was our life,” Bechler said as her husband, Ernie Bechler, sat beside her, shaking his head. “And his daughter will never know him.”

Ephedra, a popular stimulant used primarily for weight loss, is at the center of a controversy about its safety and the government’s limited power to regulate dietary supplements. The Bechlers were two of several witnesses on both sides of the debate testifying before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s subcommittee on oversight and investigations.

Makers of the supplement -- taken by millions of Americans, including athletes hoping to boost performance -- maintain that ephedra is safe when used as directed. “We do not believe the [Food and Drug Administration] should regulate based on anecdotes or emotions, but rather should rely on science,” said Russell Schreck, chief executive of Metabolife International, one of several companies that makes ephedra products. Schreck defended his company’s warning labels and said a recent study by the Rand Corp. did not link the supplement with serious health problems.

Doctors at Wednesday’s hearing disagreed on the role of clinical testing in regulating ephedra. Some argued it is impossible to apply scientific results of carefully screened test participants to the population at large. “Studies without medical screening are not feasible or ethical because of the general knowledge in the medical community that [these] products are dangerous,” testified Dr. Raymond Woolsey, vice president of health sciences for the University of Arizona.

A 1994 federal law allows makers of dietary supplements to place their products on the market without testing their safety or efficacy, as is required for drugs. And unlike drug regulations, it is the FDA’s responsibility, not the dietary-supplement company’s, to prove that a product is dangerous enough to regulate or ban it. The American Medical Assn. and the National Football League have prohibited ephedra use.

The Bush administration’s top health officials said Wednesday, as they have in the past, that federal law prevents the government from banning sales of ephedra, which has been connected with heart attacks, seizures and strokes.

“The department is somewhat hampered by the way the law is structured,” said Tommy G. Thompson, secretary of Health and Human Services. “We think the law should be modified to some extent.” Makers of supplements should have to file government reports listing incidents in which consumers of their products have suffered side effects, he said.

Metabolife received 14,684 such reports between May 1997 and July 2002, in which users complained of adverse health effects from the supplement, according to the General Accounting Office. The GAO said 92 of those calls were serious -- resulting in heart attacks, strokes, seizures or death.

The FDA had in 1997 proposed a rule mandating specific warning labels and prohibiting combining ephedra with other stimulants such as caffeine -- a combination that was banned in over-the-counter drugs in 2001. The rule is still under consideration. The sale of ephedra to minors is prohibited, but the product is widely available in places like health clubs and gas stations.

Woolsey and others called for decisive action instead of further debate.

Rep. Susan A. Davis (D-San Diego) has proposed legislation to force supplement makers to be more accountable to the FDA. Illinois is the only state to have banned ephedra sales.

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Times staff writer Vicki Kemper contributed to this report.