Ephedrine

Federal police Monday uncovered 4 tons of ephedrine in oil drums and boxes to be sent to Mexico and the United States. The lead investigator called it the largest illegal shipment of the methamphetamine ingredient seized in Argentina and said it was worth millions of dollars. The ephedrine, imported from India and China, was discovered with the help of U.S. and Interpol agents who have advised police investigating a group of Argentines and Mexican traffickers, Commissioner Miguel Castro said.

Federal police Monday uncovered 4 tons of ephedrine in oil drums and boxes to be sent to Mexico and the United States. The lead investigator called it the largest illegal shipment of the methamphetamine ingredient seized in Argentina and said it was worth millions of dollars. The ephedrine, imported from India and China, was discovered with the help of U.S. and Interpol agents who have advised police investigating a group of Argentines and Mexican traffickers, Commissioner Miguel Castro said.

Starbucks Corp. released a statement denying that it added the stimulant ephedrine to its tea products without warning consumers. The Seattle-based coffee company was sued last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court by a group that claimed the chemical was placed in Starbucks' Tazo Chai Tea product without approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

The three young entrepreneurs met their contacts outside a Wal-Mart here and drove off with them, apparently convinced that they would be celebrating a lucrative new deal. But authorities believe it was a set-up, linked to Mexican mobsters bent on reshaping the global drug trafficking map. The three men were handcuffed, forced to kneel in the mud and sprayed with bullets; their bodies were dumped in a ditch.

Starbucks Corp.'s Tazo Chai tea might contain a bigger jolt than customers expect, according to a lawsuit filed by a consumer-interest group. The Council for Education and Research on Toxics sued the largest specialty-coffee retailer in the U.S., claiming its Tazo Chai tea contains the stimulant ephedrine. Starbucks said "there is no basis for the claims" and ephedrine has never been an ingredient in any company product. The herbal compound often is used by dieters to enhance metabolism.

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday warned consumers against buying or taking dietary supplements containing ephedrine, such as Herbal Ecstasy, saying that the stimulant has been linked to 15 deaths and hundreds of adverse reactions. The FDA issued the alert against only those products advertised as alternatives to street drugs aimed at young people, such as "ecstasy," that promise euphoria, heightened sexual awareness and enhanced athletic performance.

Each day before he works out at a Fullerton gym, running back P.J. McNiff swallows a pair of Max Lean capsules. Soon after, his heart begins to beat faster, energy surging as he lifts weights to get in shape for the high school football season. The dietary supplement, recommended to him by fellow body builders, contains ephedrine, an amphetamine-like compound. Although some question its safety, NcNiff, 18, does not.

Legislation aimed at banning the sale of ephedrine-containing dietary supplements to children--and at strengthening warning labels on the products--ran aground Thursday in the face of opposition by manufacturers and a union representing retail clerks. The bill by Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) stalled in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Assemblywoman Carole Migden (D-San Francisco), who heads the panel, said the measure will probably not be revived until next year.

The dietary supplement ephedrine contributed to the heart attack death last month of a semi-pro football player, a finding likely to intensify a national debate about the safety of the over-the-counter substance used by many athletes. Curt Jones, 34, a former three-sport star at San Pedro High who lived in Utah, was one of 12 football players whose deaths this year raised nationwide awareness about supplement use and the rigors of the game.

Almost 60% of student-athletes surveyed by the NCAA have used nutritional supplements, according to a report released Monday. The NCAA also found that use of ephedrine, a stimulant with potentially dangerous side effects, is rising.

Damage control started not long after tennis players and officials got up to prepare for another day at the Australian Open and read the 108-point, front-page headline today in the Herald Sun: TENNIS DRUG MYSTERY Pictured on the front page were Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, Elena Dementieva of Russia and Nathalie Dechy of France. The accompanying story said there was a "drug cloud" hanging over the three players. Jarring, yes.

Track stars Carl Lewis and Joe DeLoach, who won gold medals at the Seoul Olympics, tested positive before those 1988 Summer Games for trace amounts of stimulants commonly found in cold medicines, but under the rules in place then and now deserve to be cleared of any suggestion they used performance-enhancing substances, according to documents obtained by The Times.

An over-the-counter dietary supplement containing the stimulant ephedrine was probably a contributing factor in the death of Baltimore Oriole pitching prospect Steve Bechler, a coroner said Tuesday. Bechler had been taking three capsules each morning of Xenadrine RFA-1, a weight-loss drug that contains ephedrine, which has been linked to heatstroke and heart trouble, Broward County (Fla.) medical examiner Joshua Perper said.

The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation to determine whether San Diego-based Metabolife International lied when it told the Food and Drug Administration that it had received no reports of adverse health effects caused by its bestselling weight-loss product, officials said Thursday.

The NFL will begin testing players July 1 for the banned stimulant ephedrine, a substance used in many dietary supplements and found to cause heart attacks and strokes. Implementation of the testing program was ordered after an agreement was reached with the NFL Players Assn., which approved the league's ban on ephedrine last September but sought further consultation with Commissioner Paul Tagliabue on testing procedures.

Rosie Talbert, a working mother of four, relied on energy and enthusiasm to hold her own on the volleyball court. "Spiking was way out of my league since I'm short," she said, "but I could really get under the ball." During one game at a state park campground in the summer of 1995, she felt sick, staggered to the sidelines and collapsed. Talbert was diagnosed as suffering from heat exhaustion.

There's not much notice given--and that's the point. College athletic directors are told 24 to 48 hours in advance that the NCAA will be on campus administering drug screenings. Teams must assemble with a formal roster in hand, used to randomly pick the men and women to be tested. The procedure has been in place since 1990, started at a time when the NCAA and member schools primarily were trying to ferret out use of illegal street drugs--marijuana, cocaine--or steroids.

It can lurk in the most innocent cold medicine, herbal tea or nasal spray. It is very common, but for an athlete subject to drug testing, it can be very dangerous. Ephedrine is a component in many over-the-counter cold medications. It is classified as a stimulant and considered by the international governing bodies of many sports to be an illegal performance-enhancing drug. Increasingly, ephedrine is at the center of many thorny legal and ethical battles regarding drug testing and athletes.

As U.S. health experts worry about the rising use of ephedrine-based diet and energy products by teenage athletes, Canadian health authorities have initiated a nationwide voluntary recall of such products, saying they can cause strokes, heart attacks, even death. The products, which are used by millions of Americans, have been implicated in the deaths of more than 80 U.S.

Starbucks Corp. released a statement denying that it added the stimulant ephedrine to its tea products without warning consumers. The Seattle-based coffee company was sued last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court by a group that claimed the chemical was placed in Starbucks' Tazo Chai Tea product without approval from the Food and Drug Administration.