Black Ice Ephedra
Black Ice Ephedra was discontinued after the FDA had ephedra banned in the United States. Black Ice with ephedra was compared, by some, to Stacker 2 and Stacker 3 which were energy boosters and also aided in weight loss. Stacker 2 EF and Stacker 3 EF are still on the market but they are now ephedra free and ephedra has been replaced with another ingredient. Many of the products which once contained ephedra have replaced ephedra with a safer ingredient which does not cause the side effects the ephedra did. Others have just discontinued their products instead of replacing the ephedra. Ephedra was banned in the United States because of the many reports of people who suffered serious health issues or death from using products which contained ephedra. The Food and Drug Administration received over 800 reports of people suffering from injuries, such as heart attacks and strokes, caused by ephedra and some deaths from 1994 until 2003. Ephedra was banned for the first time in 2003. Some manufacturers and other people felt that the FDA was exaggerating with their information and did not agree that ephedra was dangerous to use so they filed a petition with the court to get the ban lifted on ephedra. The court ruled in favor of the people and lifted the ban on ephedra in 2005. The courts did not feel that the FDA had enough proof that ephedra was dangerous if used in small doses of less than 10 mg. so they lifted the ban. The only problem with this was the FDA continued to receive reports of people suffering from heart attacks and strokes even when they used doses of ephedra as small as 8 mg. From 1997 until 2006 the FDA received over 1,000 reports of emergency medical cases and at least 17 deaths of people who had been using ephedra. The FDA had some of the products which contained ephedra tested for the amount of ephedra in each dose and some of them did not result in what was stated on the label. Some of the products contained more ephedra than was stated and some contained less. There were some that contained no ephedra at all. The FDA took all of the information and evidence that they had gathered and filed it with the courts again and ephedra was banned for the second time in late 2006.
Some of the side effects people suffered from the ephedra besides heart attacks and strokes was irregular heart beats, rapid heart beat. Insomnia, nausea, vomiting, anxiety, psychosis, high blood pressure, nervousness, tremors, anxiety, hives, itching, allergies, seizures, and more. Many people have been compensated for their suffering because of the ephedra products and others have filed lawsuits and are awaiting the final results.
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