NFL to Test Players for Ephedra

NFL to Test Players for Ephedra

WASHINGTON--The National Football League (NFL) announced in Maythat it would begin testing players for ephedra, a performance enhancer andstimulant banned by the league last fall. The policy was to take effect July 1and falls under the league's current steroid policy, which includes the bannedsubstances ephedrine, androstenediol, androstenedione and progesterone.According to the NFL, any player testing positive for ephedra will be subject toa four-game suspension.

The impetus that kicked off NFLs investigation into ephedra supplementswas the 2001 death of Minnesota Vikings player Korey Stringer, who died ofheatstroke during a training camp session. Although the press speculated it wasephedra that short-circuited Stringers systems (ephedra supplements werefound in his locker), an autopsy revealed no traces of the stimulant in hisbody.

Despite the media flurry that has surrounded it, ephedra has continued to bea popular product taken by pro football players--in fact, 75 percent of the NewYork Giants allegedly used this weight-loss and energy-promoting supplementbefore NFL banned it. According to a May 13 article in the New York DailyNews (www.nydailynews.com), theGiants trainer Ronnie Barnes stated that 40 of the 53 players on the Giantsactive roster were using this supplement before it was banned last September.Barnes also told the Daily News that around half that number continuedusing ephedra even after the ban. I think the ban is completely necessary andcertainly going to be essential to not only good health, but in terms of eveningthe playing surface so when everybody walks out, they are clean, he told thepaper.