Ephedrine Product Pulled

A nutritional supplement company in Laguna Hills announced Friday it will temporarily halt distribution of a product that contains small amounts of ephedrine.

Alluding to the NFL’s recent ban on players endorsing the stimulant, Formulated Sciences Inc. said it would pull its relatively new product, Duzoxin, off its line.

Formulated Sciences President Paul Edalat said the move is being made to allay any safety concerns in the product.

“Due to our close relationship with the NFL, we’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt,” he said.

Ephedra has come under scrutiny since the death of Northwestern safety Rashidi Wheeler on Aug. 3 while taking part in a conditioning drill. Wheeler is believed to have taken dietary supplements that contained ephedrine.

Dr. Edmund Donoghue, the medical examiner for Cook County, Ill., has ruled that Wheeler died of bronchial asthma and that ephedrine did not contribute to Wheeler’s death.

“We still don’t know what the product was that [Wheeler] was taking for his asthma,” Edalat said. “We’d like to see what the bottom line is. We’ve never had any cause of death relating from this product.”

Edalat said the NFL did not pressure him to halt distribution. Although ephedra supplements are not banned by the NFL, they are forbidden by the NCAA and the International Olympic Committee.

Last week, Cytodyne Technologies of New Jersey discontinued the sale and distribution of androdyne, which contains androstenedione, a substance banned by the NFL.