The status of whether ephedra and related products like diet pills is legal or not legal has a lot of consumer interested in buying it really confused.

The actual legality of ephedra weight loss products has gone back and forth making consumers interested in getting diet pills with ephedra to be at the mercy of marketers. Some marketers were telling consumers ephedra products were illegal and then pushed another "ephedra-like" product with promises of results just like ephedra based diet pills.

The FDA declared back in 2004 that ephedra was a dangerous herb and represented a danger to the public so that any products containing it would be adulterated in nature and illegal to produce or to sell.

Early in 2005 a company by the name of Nutraceutical Corporation challenged the legality of the ban and a Utah judge ruled in favor of Nutraceutical Corporation. The legal challenge related to the fact that the FDA had not shown that products with 10 mg or less of ephedra alkaloids were dangerous. (Most ephedra products before the ephedra ban used 20-25 mg of ephedra alkaloids.)

So during 2005 and 2006 companies jumped back in and began manufacturing and started selling the popular weight loss products with 10 mg of ephedra. But during this time the FDA's official line was ephedra products were dangerous to the public and illegal to make and sell.

In fact, the FDA used U.S. marshals to raid several companies and seized large quantities of weight loss products that contained ephedra.

The production and selling of ephedra was once again delcared illegal in August, 2006 when the 10th US Court of Appeals upheld the FDA's position that ephedra was a harmful substance. It is no longer legal to sell or make ephedra products in the U.S. no matter what it is used for or how much ephedra is in the product.

Nutraceutical Corporation, October 2006, has issued another challenge and filed another petition for rehearing in front of the entire 10th circuit of the US Court of Appeals saying the FDA's assessment of unreasonable risk is too rigid and gives the agency license to declare any dietary ingredient adulterated.

As of right now ephedra weight loss pills are considered illegal by the U.S. government.

To make matters worse even though the fight still goes on in courts. Congress is making is easier for the FDA to ban any herbal product they want to, for any reason they want. They won't have to prove that the herb is dangerous. All they have to do is speak up and say the public is in danger, whether it is true or not. Overnight an herb can disappear from public access.

Millions of people used ephedra to help lose weight for years while it was on the market. The reason so many people continued to use it over and over was because they thought the herb to be effective at helping them to lose weight.

If ephedra had been as dangerous as the FDA made it out to be it would have disappeared from store shelves. But millions of people continue to search for it even while it is illegal showing they did not think that it was a danger to use and that it worked for weight loss.

Supplements and Vitamins Products on our marketplace

Read additional information about the Ephedra Ban This and other unique content diet pills articles are available with free reprint rights.