pt, the truth is that
ephedra has been around for thousands and thousands of years. in the last couple of years roughly 10 to 20 million in the usa alone were using some sort of
ephedra product. since the 1960's, the fda has recorded about 200 deaths. of those 200 ppl, how many took more than what the label said? how many had some pre-existing condition? take those out of the equation and you'll probably cut that number in half at least.
the numbers dont add up to make this a dangerous product on its own. its sad that the actions of a few dense and ignorant ppl led to this.
and to put it another way consider this:
IATROGENIC [Gk., iatros, physician, genein, to produce],
caused by treatment or diagnostic procedures. An iatrogenic
disorder is a condition caused by medical personnel or
procedures or through exposure to the environment of a
health care facility, including fears instilled in patients
by remarks or questions of examining physicians.
A recent study published in The Journal of The American
Medical Association (2000:284:94) by Barbara Starfield, MD,
MPH, showed that in the U.S. there are:
· 12,000 deaths/year from unnecessary surgery
· 7,000 deaths/year from medication errors in hospitals
· 20,000 deaths/year from other errors in hospitals
· 80,000 deaths/year from nosocomial infections in hospitals
· 106,000 deaths/year from adverse effects of medications
This totals 225,000 deaths per year from iatrogenic causes,
placing iatrogeny as the third leading cause of death in the
U.S., second only to heart disease and cancer. The scary
part is that this does not include disabilities and
disorders; just deaths in hospitalized patients. In any
event, when one ponders that more than four times as many
people die in one year from doctors' mistakes than died in
the entire Vietnam War, one is aghast at why this
information isn't making headlines or why huge think tanks
funded by medicopolitical interests haven't formed. and ephedra killed 200 ppl in 40 years so it should be banned???? 
Linear Mode
