DRUG LAW LOOPHOLE IS DEADLY

The laughably weak federal law on herbal supplements has again put
people at risk. Four Colorado Springs teenagers were rushed to the
hospital last Friday after taking Green Hornet, an herbal concoction
that promises to give users a legal high and "take them to Venus." As
the teens discovered, it's more likely to send them to the ER.

Drinking Green Hornet is linked to life-threatening symptoms such as a
rapid heart beat, elevated blood pressure and seizures. Dr. Alvin
Bronstein of the Rocky Mountain Poison Center says Green Hornet is so
dangerous it should be banned. Yet because Green Hornet is sold as an
herbal supplement, it doesn't even have to carry a warning label.

Ten years ago, Congress caved in to the herbal industry's intense
lobbying and hog-tied the Food and Drug Administration.
Supplement-makers don't have to conduct credible scientific studies on
their products, report adverse affects among users or warn consumers
of possible side effects. There are no meaningful requirements that
the makers follow good quality controls, and no government agency
ensures that what the label says is in the product is actually what's
inside the bottle.

The law has so hamstrung the FDA that it can't really protect
consumers in the expanding market for supplements. The FDA couldn't
even get ephedra off the market until after the diet supplement had
killed 155 people.

American consumers have been lulled into the fantasy that products
labeled as herbal are risk-free. They're not. Some potent drugs in our
pharmacopeia were first found in nature - and even those legitimate
drugs are hazardous if mishandled. For example, digitalis must be
taken in carefully controlled doses or the life-saving heart medicine
instead can kill.

In fact, even very common supplements can have unintended
consequences. For instance, consumers planning to have surgery should
tell their doctors if they're taking vitamin E. (It can cause
excessive bleeding.) Indeed, it's a good idea in general for consumers
to tell their doctors and other medical professionals what supplements
and herbs they are taking.

The problem with Green Hornet isn't that it makes users high. (One
Colorado Springs teen reported such a bad trip he saw the sink come
out of the wall and chase him around the room.) The problem is that
the stuff is dangerous.

Despite the weak law, the FDA should try to take action, based on the
reports of alarming side-effects. If the law won't let FDA's experts
do their job of protecting lives, then Green Hornet can become the
poster child for why Congress must toughen up federal regulation of
herbal supplements. At the very least, supplement-makers should
conduct credible studies to prove their products aren't dangerous and
include warning labels when adverse affects are documented.

Meanwhile, Colorado youths who want to get high should go climb a
fourteener.