On Tuesday, February 11th, the Suffolk County Legislature approved a total ban on the sale of dietary supplements containing the controversial herb ephedra, the first such ban in the nation.
The six-month legislative effort to ban ephedra, led by Legislator Jon Cooper (D-Huntington), included an epic battle by industry lobbyists to defeat the bill. Cooper said his office received literally hundreds of e-mails and phone calls urging him to withdraw the bill, a campaign organized by local manufacturers and distributors of ephedra supplements. The deluge, he said, was even more intense than during his successful bid in 2000 to ban the use of hand-held cell phones by motorists, also the first such ban in the country.
Ultimately, though, the drive to ban ephedra was successful. The Legislature voted 12-5 with one abstention to approve Cooper's bill at its regular meeting in Hauppauge. If County Executive Robert Gaffney signs the bill into law, the deadly supplement will be removed from the shelves of Suffolk stores, an action that Cooper believes will save many lives.
"The industry lobbyists don't want you to know this, but the simple fact is ephedra kills," Cooper said. "It took the life of the 20-year-old son of one of my constituents. It has taken the lives of many others all around the country. It must be banned in Huntington. It must be banned in Houston. It must be banned in Honolulu. Ephedra must be banned, period."
Cooper said he hopes the action in Suffolk will lead to a national movement to ban ephedra, which has so far escaped regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration due to intense lobbying by the $17 billion dietary supplements industry
