Ephedra and the Failure of Dietary Supplement Regulation
![handle is hein.journals/cathu54 and id is 671 raw text is: EPHEDRA AND THE FAILURE OF DIETARY
SUPPLEMENT REGULATION
Michael Sachs'
On Sunday, August 17, 2003, in front of friends, family, and some of
her deceased husband's former teammates, a solemn Kiley Bechler
spread the ashes of her husband, Steve Bechler, on the three pitching
mounds in Oriole Park at Camden Yards. This was a far cry from the
scenario in which they had pictured Steve taking the mound at Camden
Yards and etching his name into Orioles folklore.2 As a young boy
growing up in Medford, Oregon, Steve Bechler dreamed of one day
pitching in the Major Leagues. His dream came true when he made
three relief appearances for the Baltimore Orioles in the summer of
2002.4 Steve reported to spring training the following season weighing
250 pounds, ten pounds over his projected weight.5 In order to help shed
the excess weight and enhance his chances of staying with the major
league team, Steve took a dietary supplement called Xenadrine RFA-1,
manufactured by Cytodyne.6 The main ingredient in Xenadrine is
' J.D. Candidate, May 2005, The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of
Law. The author would like to thank his family for their support, Professor Helen M.
Alvare for her substantive edits, and the members of the Catholic University Law Review,
particularly Daniel Roque, Edward Meyers, and Wesley Dunn, whose comprehensive
editing made the publishing of this paper possible.
1. See Thorn Loverro, Bechler Has Eternal Presence at Camden, WASH. TIMES, Aug.
18, 2003, at C1.
2. See id.
3. Id.
4. Id.
5. Issues Relating to Ephedra-Containing Dietary Supplements: Hearings Before the
Subcomm. on Oversight & Investigations and the Subcomm. on Commerce, Trade, &
Consumer Prot. of the House Comm. on Energy and Commerce, 108th Congress 67 (2003)
[hereinafter Ephedra-Containing Supplements Hearings] (testimony of Pat Bechler); id. at
132 (statement of Rep. Greg Walden, Vice Chairman, Comm. on Energy & Commerce).
Pat Bechler testified that her son reported to spring training ten pounds overweight, but
with a lower percentage of body fat than the previous year. Id. at 67.
6. See Loverro, supra note 1. In addition to being implicated in the death of Steve
Bechler, Cytodyne is currently being sued for the role of its product in the death of
Rashidi Wheeler, a Northwestern University football player who died of heatstroke during
summer workouts in 2001. Guy Gugliotta & Amy Shipley, Ephedra Controversy Nothing
New in Sports: Dietary Supplements Linked to Other Deaths, WASH. POST, Feb. 20, 2003,
at D4.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/cathu54&div=22&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Ephedra and the Failure of Dietary Supplement Regulation
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