Davis signs ephedra ban.
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
"California is doing the job that the federal government won't - acting to save lives and protect consumers," state Senator Jackie Speier (D) says of law banning ephedrine alkaloid-containing supplements going into effect Jan. 1, 2004. With Oct. 12 signature by outgoing Gov. Gray Davis (D), California joins Illinois, New York in barring the botanical from consumer supplement sales. Of prospects of national action, Speier's office says "observers believe that the strength of the supplement industry is keeping the FDA from taking meaningful action at the federal level." Another Speier-sponsored bill (SB 779) requiring mandatory quarterly adverse-event reporting by supplement manufacturers and distributors is in the Assembly health committee, to be addressed in 2004...