As the FDA Banned Ephedra, Over-The-Counter Sudafed Fueled Widespread Harm

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As the FDA Banned Ephedra, Over-The-Counter Sudafed Fueled Widespread Harm

JoAnn Guest Apr 06, 2005 12:04 PDT

As the FDA Banned Ephedra, Over-The-Counter Sudafed Fueled Widespread

Harm By Providing Raw Materials for Illegal Methamphetamine Labs

http://www.newstarget.com/001685.html

 

The proliferation of methamphetamine labs, also known as " meth labs, " is

a growing problem in the United States. Not only do these meth labs

produce illegal drugs that harm those who choose to take them, these

labs also occasionally explode, killing their inhabitants. But one of

the most common ingredients used to make methamphetamines is a chemical

compound known as pseudoephedrine. This pseudoephedrine is known by the

popular brand name Sudafed, which is, of course, an over-the-counter

medicine. What's interesting about all of this is that pseudoephedrine

is a chemical compound also found in the medicinal herb known as

ephedra. In fact, the name Sudafed is derived from the name of the herb

ephedra.

 

 

 

The FDA has banned ephedra as a dangerous herb, citing a few deaths from

people who abused the herb as a weight-loss aid. And yet, at the same

time, the FDA never banned the sale of Sudafed, even though it contains

the chemical compound found in ephedra. The herb, of course, is far

safer than any over-the-counter medication because its chemicals are not

so highly concentrated as they are in the medication. That's why people

who make meth drugs were purchasing large quantities of Sudafed rather

than growing and harvesting their own ma huang plants. So, while the FDA

was out screaming about the dangers of ephedra, they said nothing about

the dangers of Sudafed, and in fact continued to allow it to be sold,

over the counter, to anyone willing to pay for it.

 

I have a couple of questions about this -- first, a question directed to

the FDA. If the active ingredients in ephedra are so dangerous to the

American public, then why are you still allowing them to be sold in

Sudafed? Actually, I think I already know the answer to that. That's

because Sudafed generates profits for pharmaceutical companies, but ma

huang is a healing herb, and anytime the FDA can discredit herbal

medicine it will do so, even when the exact same chemical compounds are

being sold in over-the-counter medications. The second question is, if

Sudafed is being purchased by illegal drug dealers in order to

manufacture meth drugs that are presumably harming and killing tens of

thousands of Americans each year, then why isn't Sudafed being banned

from over-the-counter sales?

 

Obviously, Sudafed is far more dangerous than the ma huang herb. People

are outright buying it and using it to manufacture illegal

methamphetamine drugs. And yet Sudafed remains 100% legal to purchase

anywhere in the country without a prescription.

 

The big picture here, folks, is that in banning the herb ma huang, the

FDA was really just out to get herbal medicine. They wanted to discredit

the herb, and they grossly distorted the truth in order to do that. They

managed to find a few people who had been harmed by taking massive doses

of the herb, and from that, they were able to ban the sale of the herb

and the importation of the herb, affecting all consumers in America.

 

By doing that, the FDA took away one more piece of your freedom by

restricting you from being able to choose an herb that has been safely

used around the world for thousands of years to treat a variety of

medical conditions. At the same time, the FDA neglected to mention that

Sudafed contains some of the same active ingredients and that it is

available without a prescription as an over-the-counter medication (and

on the internet as well). They failed to mention that Sudafed is being

purchased by criminals who are using it to manufacture methamphetamines,

and in this way Sudafed is fueling a massive underground drug economy

that is causing untold harm to the population of this country.

 

In this way, the FDA performed an incredible feat of misdirection. They

got the whole country to look at ma huang while ignoring the fact that

Sudafed is the dangerous drug here. It is Sudafed that is causing the

deaths of people by serving as a primary ingredient in the manufacture

of methamphetamines. It is Sudafed that should have been banned by the

FDA, or at least national warnings should have gone out about Sudafed.

But you didn't hear any of that in the national press. What you heard

was how dangerous ma huang was. You heard how people were being killed

by this potentially dangerous and unregulated medicinal herb. Well,

Sudafed is regulated. Sudafed is sold with the full approval of the FDA,

and yet, it is fueling the manufacture of highly toxic methamphetamine

drugs.

 

So, there you have it folks -- one more chapter in the history of the

oppression of your health freedom by the FDA, which seems to have as its

primary mission wiping out all alternative medicine, nutritional

supplements, herbal medicine, and anything it can't control or regulate.

Meanwhile, the FDA continues to promote and approve extremely toxic,

dangerous and even deadly substances, and even allows them to be sold

over the counter, without any prescription required, to anyone who can

walk up to the counter with a $5 bill. Welcome to organized medicine --

this is the system under which we all live today.

_________________

JoAnn Guest

mrsjo-

DietaryTi-

www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Genes

 

 

 

 

AIM Barleygreen

" Wisdom of the Past, Food of the Future "

 

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