FLYERS WITH DRUG SUPPLEMENT AD CAUSE RUSH AT SCHOOLS

Feel-good drugs -- legal but possibly dangerous -- that were pushed on
Wichita Falls elementary-school campuses last week nearly destroyed a
business' partnership with the school district, officials said Wednesday.

For years, Gymnastics Sport Center has been a part of the district's
Partners In Education program, sending flyers home with students. The
flyers include an offer for free gymnastics classes to students who make
the honor roll or have perfect attendance on their report cards.

This year's flyer, however, included an advertisement for such unregulated
nutrition supplements as Metabolic Nutrition System, Coreplex, Performance
Optimizer System and Spark -- some containing ephedrine, caffeine, aspirin
and phenylpropanolamine.

"People don't really know about them. People automatically think of an
illegal substance," said Joe Cronin, owner of Gymnastics Sport Center. "The
school district has to be real careful. . . . I've got nothing to hide. It
is just an uncomfortable situation between the school district and myself."

The advertisement was an honest mistake, he said. He thought he had a good
product and didn't realize he was crossing a legal boundary, he said.

School officials said they didn't initially know about the advertisement
for the nutrition supplements and didn't approve of them.

Several parents from Cunningham, Ben Milam, West Foundation, Fowler and
Jefferson elementary schools immediately called the district to complain
when their children handed them the flyers.

When the school system found out, district lawyer David Gossom instructed
principals to destroy any undistributed copies.

". . . the district in no way endorses the use of these products," he wrote
in an e-mail to all the district's principals and administrative staff. "It
was frankly one of those things that the owners of Gymnastics Sport Center
did not knowingly do wrong."

But the legal consequences to the school district could be enormous if ill
befell students who decided to take the supplements -- and the drugs they
contain, a concerned parent said.

"(Cronin) had permission to promote Gymnastic Sport Center program," said
Denise Williams, secondary assignment coordinator for the school district.
"That is solely what he has been given to support and nothing else . . . He
didn't do this maliciously. He made a mistake."

The federal Food and Drug Administration, for instance, is considering a
ban of phenylpropanolamine after a Yale University study linked it to
strokes accompanied by bleeding and hemorrhaging in brains.

Ephedrine has also raised a fuss in the medical community in recent years
after it was linked to numerous seizures, heart attacks and even deaths.

William Breland, a physical therapist with Breland-Henslee Rehabilitation
Clinics, said the products promoted on Cronin's flyer can be dangerous,
even if they are legal.

"We don't promote any of that stuff. We talk to people about it," he said.
"(Elementary school) is a tender age to be talking about supplements."

Interested people should consult their doctors or nutritionists before
using supplements like that, Breland said. A blood-chemistry test would be
done in an ideal situation, he said.

Several members of the successful Wichita Falls High School Coyotes
football team used the Metabolic Nutrition System this year, but only with
their parents' knowledge and consent, he said.

"If the kids are in our programs and are exposed to us, we are available to
them to give them a neutral person's opinion -- because we are not making
any money off it," Breland said. "The burden is on them to make the
decision. We would not counsel a high school student without a parent's
consent."

But just because some people approve of the use of Metabolic Nutrition
System, that doesn't mean it gives the athletes an advantage, he said.

"They didn't lose their playoff game because the other team was taking
better nutritional supplements," Breland said. "They got beat because they
got whooped."

Having a good, balanced diet is best for a body, he said.

Cronin's advertisement boasted the advantages of taking Metabolic Nutrition
System, Coreplex, Performance Optimizer System and Spark. One of the
supplements is supposed to help with losing weight, another is touted as
improving attention spans, one claims to improve athletic performance and
another simply provides a boost, said the advertisement sent home with the
children's report cards.

"There are safe limits to take," Cronin said. "If you are going to take
something and you are not sure, seek medical advice. If anyone has a
problem or a question, I would recommend that. I find the recommendation on
the packet to be sufficient."

His own 7-year-old daughter and wife take many of the supplements, he said.

"I'm not going to give something to their child that will affect their
long-term health. It is a gray area," Cronin said of the ad. "I know we all
want to be on the same page. We just want to do what is best for the
children. That is what it is all about."