Why the push to ban the nutritional supplement is shortsighted and misguided

By Stephen Silver

Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler died tragically on Monday, at the age of 23. Since his death, and the declaration later that day from the Broward County coroner that the weight-loss supplement Ephedra may have contributed to it, there have numerous calls that the drug be banned from baseball, or possibly even taken off the market.

Even if Broward County's medical examiner somehow proves more competent than that same county's election officials, I believe this entire panic is a massive, irresponsible jumping of the gun. Bechler's actual cause of death will not be determined until the completion of toxicology tests in two or three weeks, but the preliminary autopsy determined that Bechler (in addition to using the drug) had a history of high blood pressure and liver abnormalities, and had hardly eaten much solid food the previous two days.

So at this point, there's really no way of knowing whether or not Ephedra had anything to do with Bechler's death at all. While media reaction (especially from ESPN) has caused a nationwide panic throughout the week reminiscent of last year's revelations of rampant use of illegal anabolic steroids in the sport, Ephedra is completely legal as an over-the-counter drug, and used by millions of Americans in products such as Stacker 2 and Ripped Fuel. The drugs all have FDA approval, and no deaths have been reported that didn't involve other, pre-existing medical conditions. Perhaps Ephedra is dangerous when used incorrectly, or by those with medical conditions- but that's also true of just about every drug there is.

This also reminds me of the artificial furor created in 1998 when Mark McGwire admitted that he had used the completely legal, not-banned-by-baseball supplement Androstenedione (exposed when a reporter allegedly peered into McGwire's locker and was somehow able to read the word "Androstenedione" off of a bottle). A clear distinction must be drawn between actual, illegal, anabolic steroids (the ones known to have caused the deaths of NFL star Lyle Alzado and too many wrestling figures to mention), and the over-the-counter supplements that are used by many and dangerous to very few.

I've gotta disagree with Michael Wilbon here (and I don't often): the baseball player's union shouldn't be pushing for a banning of Stacker 2; they should be cracking down on the much more dangerous use of real steroids- which, according to the admissions of former MVPs Ken Caminiti and Jose Canseco, are used rampantly throughout baseball.

After the similarly sudden deaths in recent years of athletes Korey Stringer (of heatstroke) and Darryl Kile (of a heart ailment), it's sad to see another sports star go so long before his time. If Ephedra is indeed found to be responsible for his passing, then I believe action should be taken at that time. But let's not rush to judgment or jump to conclusions before we know all the facts.