Saying that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had not met the burden of proof that any specific dosage of the controversial weight-loss drug ephedra was dangerous, a U.S. District Court judge in Salt Lake City has lifted the year-old FDA ban and sent the matter back to the agency for further evaluation.A lawsuit against the ban, which the FDA initiated in February 2004, was brought by Nutraceutical Corp. and Solray Inc. of Park City, Utah, a nutritional supplement manufacturer. On Thursday, Judge Tena Campbell ruled that the FDA had not proved that its arbitrarily-set dosages of 10 milligrams (mg) or less of ephedrine-alkyloid dietary supplements (EDS) were dangerous.In fact, Campbell said in her ruling that the FDA had rested its entire case on research offered by the agency and its advisory committee that could not determine what a safe level of an EDS would be.
