FDA and Ephedra

U.S. District Court Judge Tena Campbell has struck down the Food and Drug Administration's ban on ephedra,an adrenalinelike stimulant linked to dozens of deaths.  Nutraceutical and its subsidiary Solaray had challenged the FDA's April 2004 ban in federal court in Utah, claiming that ephedra was wrongly being regulated by the FDA as a drug and not a food.  In her ruling, the judge stated  that the drug agency had failed to prove that ephedra at low doses was dangerous, and that it lacked the authority to ban the substance without such proof.  Judge Campbell's ruling sends the matter back to the FDA for further rulemaking and keeps the agency from enforcement action against the companies. [bm]