WASHINGTON, April 9 (UPI) -- Members of the House Energy and Commerce committee said Wednesday they have written the heads of the major U.S. sports leagues, as well as several players' organizations, to request documents relating to the leagues' policies on the use of ephedra products by their participating athletes.
The committee has been investigating the possible dangers of the dietary supplement, which has been promoted as a weight-loss product and as a sports performance-enhancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed requiring a warning label advising users of potential heart problems and the risk of death.
The letters were signed by committee chairman, Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., and three subcommittee chairmen: Reps. Michael Bilirakis, R-Fla., Cliff Stearns, R-Fla. and James Greenwood, R-Pa.
The House members called on the professional sports leagues -- including Major League Baseball, the National Football League, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer and the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing -- to turn over documents on their policies and positions pertaining to the use of ephedra products by athletes participating in their leagues.
"According to various media accounts," the letters said, "ephedra has been linked to numerous deaths and 1,400 reports of health-related problems, including strokes, heart attacks and seizures."
The letters cited a recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine -- comparing the safety of ephedra supplements with other herbal supplements -- which concluded the relative risk for an adverse reaction from ephedra supplements was more than 100 times greater than the risk of any other herb.
In addition, the representatives wrote, "64 percent of all adverse reactions to herbal supplements in the United States came from supplements containing ephedra, while ephedra-containing products represented only 0.82 percent of herbal product sales."
The letters also noted the "recently released results of a RAND Corp. study commissioned by the National Institutes of Health provides additional evidence that ephedra-containing supplements may be associated with increased health risks, while finding only limited evidence of health benefits resulting from ephedra use."
Although the NFL, the International Olympic Committee and the National Collegiate Athletic Association all have banned the use of ephedra by their athletes, the House members wrote, the NBA so far "has not taken any action, to date, to ban ephedra use among its players."
Therefore, the committee has asked the NBA to explain its policies on ephedra use among its players.
One of the cases cited in the letters was the death of 23-year-old Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler, whose reported use of an ephedra-containing supplement was a contributing factor in his death. Such incidents "raise questions about whether federal action should be taken to address safety concerns related to ephedra-containing supplements," the letters said.
The Committee on Energy and Commerce has jurisdiction over matters relating to food and drugs, the regulation of commercial practices, including sports-related matters, and public health generally.
