July 25, 2003
Christopher Drew
- The New York Times
WASHINGTON - The
commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration told House
subcommittees today that Major League Baseball should ban use of the
herbal stimulant ephedra, which was linked to the death of a young
pitcher at the Baltimore Orioles' spring training camp in February.
Asked if
the major leagues should stop their players from using ephedra, used in diet
pills and tablets meant to raise energy, Dr. Mark B. McClellan, the F.D.A.
commissioner, said, "I think professional sports leagues like baseball teams
should take action to protect their players."
McClellan said studies showed that ephedra offers little benefit in improving
sports performance and can pose serious health risks. So, for baseball, he
said, "there is a medical basis for action on this important issue."
The
F.D.A. is considering whether to ban use of ephedra by anyone. But Dr.
McClellan said the evidence was clear that the pills are even riskier for
competitive athletes, who are already pushing their bodies to the limit, than
for other people.
After
the pitcher, Steve Bechler, 23, died of heat stroke in Florida,
the F.D.A. ordered two dozen companies to stop advertising ephedra as a way to
build muscles or enhance athletic performance, saying there was no scientific
evidence for those claims. McClellan said then that the F.D.A. was also
considering a nationwide ban or sales restrictions on ephedra products, though
the scientific evidence on the dangers for people just trying to lose a few
pounds seemed less clear-cut.
The
companies that make the products have long said they are safe. But just this
week, new F.D.A. critiques have been released that cast doubt on the industry's
most important safety study, and political momentum seems to be building for a
national ban.
McClellan's comments today came after several congressmen lashed out at Eugene
Orza, associate general counsel of the Major League Baseball Players
Association. Union officials have been reluctant to support banning ephedra
despite Bechler's death.
Orza
said the major leagues usually outlawed only drugs and substances that were
banned by the government. He said the union was waiting to see what the
regulators would do before bargaining with baseball owners, who have voiced
support for a ban.
But
Representative James C. Greenwood, a Pennsylvania Republican who is chairman of
one of the two House Energy and Commerce subcommittees that held the hearing,
retorted that some of the pill manufacturers had little scientific training and
could not even explain what all the ingredients were or how they interacted. He
said to Orza, "Instead of protecting this, I don't know why you're not rushing
in to ban this to protect your own players."
Orza
said the union was also dealing with privacy questions and was hesitant to let
the league tell players that "we will come to you at certain times and demand
urine." He said the union would agree to drug testing only for cause and not
randomly.
A little
later, Representative Edward J. Markey, a Democrat from
Massachusetts, resumed the attack.
"You
don't wait for us to ban the corking of bats," he said. "It seems to me that
you're leaving the most important issue, the health of your players, to us."
In his
response, Orza said: "Is beer next? Because, in fact, more ballplayers have
died from beer."
He added
that before Bechler's death, the union was not aware of any serious problems
with ephedra among baseball players.
Orza
said that after the pitcher died, the union sent a memorandum to players noting
that a medical examiner had concluded that ephedra contributed to Bechler's
death, though it was probably not the only cause, and warning the players to be
"extremely reluctant" to use ephedra products.
Adding
to the pressure on the union is that baseball owners have banned the use of
ephedra in the minor leagues. The National Football League, Major League Soccer
and the National Collegiate Athletic Association have also banned it. The
National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League have not.
McClellan said the F.D.A. will decide soon whether to ban ephedra nationwide or
restrict its sales. He said it was likely that some of the ephedra companies
would appeal the agency's decision in court, setting up an important test of a
1994 law that has made it harder to regulate dietary supplements than drugs.
The
F.D.A. has been scrutinizing dozens of deaths, including some of high school
athletes, that might be linked to ephedra. Dr. McClellan said scientists were
also reviewing more than 17,000 complaints, most relating to health issues,
that consumers had made to the government or some ephedra companies over the
past decade.
Several
lawmakers said that because professional athletes are role models, high school
and college athletes might continue to experiment with such stimulants if they
were not banned in all the professional leagues.
Stock
car racing also came under fire at the hearing. Representative Jan Schakowsky ,
a Democrat from Illinois, asked why at least one ephedra company
had been allowed to sponsor a racing team and promote its products at
racetracks.
Mike
Helton, president of Nascar, has set limits on how much ephedra was acceptable
in tests of drivers. But he also said that the driving teams and tracks were
owned by various individuals, and Nascar could not set a blanket policy
covering them as well.
By
contrast, Adolpho Birch III, the N.F.L.'s counsel for labor relations, said the
league began reviewing medical information about ephedra after the first
problems with players surfaced in 1999. The N.F.L. banned ephedra use in
September 2001. |