Lawmakers Call on the FDA to ban Amphetamine-like Stimulant Found in Some Dietary Supplements
Date Published: Wednesday, April 15th, 2015
Lawmakers Call to FDA – ban Amphetamine-like Stimulant
Lawmakers are calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take action against dietary supplement makers who include a potentially dangerous, amphetamine-like stimulant in their products.
BMPEA is an amphetamine-like stimulant first synthesized in the 1930s as a replacement for amphetamine. The chemical has never been tested in humans and is not an authorized dietary supplement ingredient under federal law. Supplement makers have been hiding BMPEA in their products under the name "acacia rigidula," which is an exotic shrub native to Mexico and southern Texas. Canadian health authorities pulled a popular supplement from store shelves and forced a recall of the product in December, according to The New York Times (The Times.)
In 2013, the FDA tested 21 supplements for BMPEA and nine of the products tested positive. The agency did not issue a safety alert or a recall of any of the supplements. Earlier this month, the journal Drug Testing and Analysis named 11 supplements that tested positive for BMPEA, all of which listed acacia rigidula on their labels. At least three of the products are sold at Vitamin Shoppe, one of the nation's largest supplement retailers with more than 700 stores. Vitamin Shoppe agreed to remove the products from their shelves, The Times reported.
Several lawmakers, frustrated with the FDA's unwillingness to ban BMPEA, are pressuring the agency to enforce the law. Senators Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, and Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, wrote in a letter addressed to Stephen Ostroff, the FDA's acting commissioner: "While the direct effects of BMPEA in the human body are not known, FDA should not wait for tragedy to strike before taking action to warn consumers and to remove this mislabeled product." The letter was viewed by Natural Products Insider. "For too long, dietary supplement manufacturers have either failed to list BMPEA on product labels or have listed the stimulant as a 'natural botanical,' which the Food and Drug Administration's own scientists have disproved," Durbin and Blumenthal declared in the letter. Also earlier this month, Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, called on the agency in a press release obtained by Natural Products Insider to ban supplements containing BMPEA. Senator Schumer cited medical professionals who said that BMPEA could increase blood pressure and cause heart attacks and strokes. The FDA has responded by saying that it had not identified "a specific safety concern" in connection with BMPEA.
In 2011, another amphetamine-like stimulant similar to BMPEA was banned on U.S. military bases by the U.S. Department of Defense after it was linked to the deaths of two military personnel. It took the FDA 16 months to issue a health alert warning consumers about the substance – long after it had been banned by Australia, Britain, Canada and Sweden, according to The Times.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 15th, 2015 at 4:46 pm and is filed under Other Lawsuits, Product Liability Lawsuits.
breakinglawsuitnews.com disclaimer: This article: Lawmakers Call on the FDA to ban Amphetamine-like Stimulant Found in Some Dietary Supplements was posted on Wednesday, April 15th, 2015 at 4:46 pm at breakinglawsuitnews.com and is filed under Other Lawsuits, Product Liability Lawsuits.
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