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Asian healing practices have successfully used this herb for thousands of years in the treatment
of respiratory dysfunction, edema, and the common cold. Current pharmaceutical use of ma huang
as a stimulant and diet aid have generated real concerns about its safety, after several reports
of injury and or death following excessive use, mainly by young adults.
In 1994, the state of Texas began its prosecution of ma Huang based on five complaints from the
hundreds of thousands of users of a popular ma Huang product. After the prosecution became
public, a hundred other users came forward with "complaints". While Texas didn't look into
the validity of these claims, an independent group of toxicologists did and found "virtually no
basis, in these materials or in the scientific literature, to conclude that [a ma huang] product
would cause any serious adverse effect in human beings." Other scientists agreed, and the
Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at Georgetown University, stated that these claims
of injury appeared to be based upon exceeding the recommended dosage.
According to the Ad Hoc Committee on the Safety of Ma Huang in Washington, D.C., in its 1400-page
scientific review of ma huang's safety, even the FDA's own Advisory Committee concluded in 1995
that there was no basis on which the FDA could claim that all ma huang products are unsafe. On
the contrary, the FDA Advisory Committee proposed that the FDA agree to labeling and other
guidelines specifically permitting the continued sale of safe and effective ma huang products.
States, such as Florida, Nebraska, and New York, have banned the sale of certain
ephedrine-containing over-the-counter preparations, such as Herbal Ecstacy, Euphoria, Herbal XTC,
Ultimate Xphoria and a number of other products that have been indicated in ephedrine-overdose
related injuries or deaths. Ohio has lifted its ban on ephedra-containing products after much
review.
Ma Huang
Ephedra Controversy
Governmental Intervention
Effective Uses of Ma Huang
Personal Notes on Ma Huang
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