The world knows that Arnold Schwarzenegger will be taking over as California’s governor soon, but the fact remains that Gray Davis is still serving as the state’s chief executive, leaving Davis about a month to deal with almost 300 bills passed by the legislature currently sitting on the governor’s desk
Fortunately, Davis, free from concerns about politics, is signing many of these bills into law. One of them, SB582, prohibits the sale or distribution of any ephedra product in the state. Davis signed it into law over the weekend.
This is welcome news. California now joins Illinois and New York in banning a drug that doctors have tied to strokes, seizures, and heart attacks. Ephedra is marketed as an “herbal stimulant” that can help people looking to lose weight or athletes hoping to “enhance” their exercise regimen, but the truth is ephedra is the “chemical cousin” of methamphetamine.
FDA reports implicated ephedra in at least 80 deaths and 1,400 cases of serious illness, including arrhythmia, hypertension, heart attacks, seizures, and strokes between 1994 and 2000. The drug received increased attention after doctors announced they believe the drug caused a fatal stroke in Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler last spring.
In some ways, Davis’ ridiculous recall election has freed him from political restraints and is allowing him to take appropriate steps he was afraid to take before. For example, three years ago, the California legislature passed a measure requiring warning labels on all ephedra products. Davis, who received $100,000 in campaign contributions from a San Deigo-based manufacturer of ephedra products, vetoed the bill.
Now that Davis has been recalled, he no longer has to worry about pleasing campaign contributors. He’s heading out the door and signing whatever bills he wants to.
The new law in California, which takes effect in January, will have a tremendous impact on ephedra sales. Nevertheless, a national problem exists.
The FDA and other government regulators have had their hands tied by the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (or DSHEA), championed by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).
Hatch’s DSHEA shifted the burden of proof from manufacturers to regulators on potential dangerous supplements such as ephedra. DSHEA doesn’t require manufacturers to prove their product is safe before putting the pills on store shelves, it requires the FDA to prove the product is unsafe. Worse, while drug manufacturers are required to record and report adverse reactions effecting consumers taking their medication, Hatch’s DSHEA frees makers of these “dietary supplements” from this “burden.”
As Stephanie Mencimer explained in the Washington Monthly, “Thanks to Hatch, the U.S. now has standards as low as those in many Third World countries for the sale of many products with serious, pharmacological effects.”
California is doing its part and I’m glad. As one of the leading sponsors of the measure said after Davis signed her measure into law, “California is doing the job the federal government won’t — acting to save lives.”
That’s true. It’s time the federal government corrected the mistake Congress made in 1994 by repealing the DSHEA.