Local distributors question ephedra ban

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, December 30, 2003

"It kind of ticks me off," Brant Wacker, owner of Gold’s Gym in Everett, said of the impending federal ban on ephedra, which could go into effect as early as March.

Gym customers buy up to 30 bottles a day of Ripped Force, a bottled drink containing about 20 milligrams of ma huang or ephedra. "It’s probably the most popular drink I’ve got," he said.

The herbal ingredient has been popular in exercise and body building circles for giving people extra energy, he said, although gym members buy almost as many non-ephedra fruit and yogurt smoothies.

Wacker said he began using ephedra when he was 18 to enhance energy during workouts.

"I’m still standing, and it’s been 15 years," he said. "Maybe I’ve got a strong ticker."

But he acknowledged that at age 35 he’s backed off its use a bit. A regular gym customer who used it daily for three years "started to get the shakes" from it.

"You can abuse it," Wacker said.

"People are always looking for an edge," he said. "The easy way, the quick way.

"The best way to get in shape is to work out three days a week religiously. You don’t need any supplements. That’s it."

Jennifer Wilson-Norton, pharmacy director at The Everett Clinic, which has clinics throughout the county, has not recommended or carried ephedra in the five-and-a-half years she’s worked for the organization.

"This is the first herbal product the federal Food and Drug Administration has banned," she said.

That’s a stance Wilson-Norton said she supports. "It’s a product that hasn’t shown benefits and can cause harm in the wrong people," she said.

Marty Smith is a skier and mountain biker who distributes ephedra at Exercise Specialties in South Everett. He classifies himself as an occasional user of ephedra.

The ephedra contained in bottled drinks he sells represents about half of his current supplement business.

When asked about the federal ban, he said: "I’m not a toxicology expert. I’m a simple distributor."

But Smith said he doesn’t think the battle over ephedra is over. "This is an issue that probably will be settled in the courts," he said.

Many products available to consumers — peanuts, saturated fats, alcohol and tobacco — can have health effects if used improperly or by people who have reactions to them, he said.

"Where’s it going to end?" he said of federal regulation. "There’s some personal responsibility that has to be taken into account."

Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.