EEC Asks Military To Lift Ephedra Ban

EEC Asks Military To Lift Ephedra Ban

WASHINGTON--In a letter dated Sept. 5, the Ephedra Education Council (EEC) wrote to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld regarding the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) taking ephedra-containing supplements off store shelves in BXs and PXs. AAFES services 7.3 million customers at military installations in the United States and abroad, and had sales of $7.1 billion in 2001.

According to an Aug. 19 military news service report covering the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC)--the agency responsible for the Army's overall development--both it and Forces Command (FORSCOM) asked AAFES to remove products containing ephedra for six months until findings from a Health and Human Services (HHS) report studying the effects of ephedra are released.

"We began the process of removing these products from the AAFES stock assortment on Aug. 4," Fred Bluhm, chief of media relations for AAFES, told INSIDER. "We plan to have all products containing ephedra removed from direct operated and concession stores by early September 2002." He added that he was not familiar with the EEC letter.

In EEC's letter to Sec. Rumsfeld, counsel Wes Siegner wrote, "Ephedra dietary supplement products labeled by responsible industry manufacturers and distributors should continue to be available for all military and non-military personnel to help maintain a healthy weight. Removing ephedra products from AAFES will make it harder for military personnel to purchase products from responsible manufacturers but will have no effect on access to products from less reputable sources over the Internet, exposing your personnel to products that are illegal and unsafe." Siegner added that EEC respected AAFES' intent to protect the health and welfare of military personnel, and that EEC would be willing to educate personnel on the appropriate use of ephedra products.

This is not the military's first run-in with ephedra. In 1999, the Air Force Surgeon General's Office sent out a policy letter cautioning military personnel, especially those on flying status, to meet with health care professionals before taking ephedra products. And in July of this year, Maj. James Staudenmeier, M.D., director at the Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, reported that he and his colleagues had seen a number of military personnel admitted to the inpatient ward to be treated for symptoms such as paranoia, hallucinations and delusions of grandeur that were either partially or fully related to ephedra use. He also warned about military personnel taking supplements in general.

"[U]nit leaders at all levels will want to continue to educate troops about the potential dangers of using any herbal supplement that might impair military performance and readiness," Staudenmeier said. "Along with that message, the military will want to provide even more education about the less likely but clearly occurring medical dangers of supplement use to include high blood pressure, heat injury, muscle breakdown, stroke, heart attack and death."

However, TRADOC and FORSCOM's request does not stem from a psychological incident, but a physical one. In April of this year, a 27-year-old soldier in Fort Hood, Texas, died from cardiac complications resulting from the combination of exercise and ephedra intake, according to Lt. Gen. B.B. Bell, III, corps commander, who was quoted in a release from the Kenner Army Health Clinic in Fort Lee, Va.

"This soldier was likely taking a nutritional supplement containing a combination of the herbs ma huang [ephedra] and [guarana]," TRADOC Surgeon Col. Bernard DeKoning, M.D., told the TRADOC news service. "The sale of ephedra-containing products by facilities on TRADOC installations is seen by our soldiers as an affirmation that their use is safe and acceptable."

EEC stated that requests to meet with AAFES regarding ephedra have been denied. "We urge you to request a report from AAFES on the criteria, if any, used to support this directive to remove ephedra ... from Army and Air Force base exchanges," Siegner wrote to Sec. Rumsfeld. "If AAFES begins to remove products because of questions in the press instead of examination of the science, where does the list of unacceptable products stop?"