To Klink:
Make sure you put a huge decrease in govt spending. If you wanted to raise the same amount of taxes that is currently being collected, but with a flat tax, you would have to drastically increase what the middle and lower class would conributte and drastically lower what the upper class contributes.
So, lower the budget first, then enact the flat tax.
Hey, I feel the same way. Luckily I was able to get on CNN on Wednesday (Talk Back Live) as an expert and I harped on the fact the this unfortanate man was obese (BMI of 32), had boderline hypertension (145/90) and a hepatic disorder. The main issue, besides that the warning label on the bottle states do not take if…HTN, etc. is that he was not in condition to do the exercise he was doing and being dehydrated coupled with the 2-3 degree increase that occurs during exercise is a set up for heat illness and heat stroke. Thus, all players should undergo good physicals and fitness assessments in the pre-season and have a hydration routine during practice.
Did you know that the Orioles owner Peter Angelos made all of his money in asbestos litagation…he has strong ties to anti-ephedra lawfirms, thus blame has to be put on some item (i.e., ephedra) rather than the duo of personal responsibility and the team’s coaching and medical staff.
Doug Kalman
The whole issue is absurd. This kid had a rap sheet up the wazoo. Hypertension and liver problems at the age of 23? A professional athelete, no less? His dad was quoted as saying he “couldnt believe that they havent already banned this crap”. With all due respect to the tragedy and loss of life, how about we delve deeper into why this kid had some of the health problems that he did. Obviously, his eating habits were extremely poor. Thats a given. But why the liver problems? Could it be alcohol or drug abuse? Would it be so absurd to blame the root causes of Belcher’s health problems and lifestyle instead of something that may or may not have played a slight role in “pushing” him over the edge? Would it be absurd to blame the absolute stupidity of not eating or drinking appropriately in the hours/days before for a vigorous workout in the hot weather? Everybody is looking for something to blame, when the blame seems to obviously lie on the victim himself. But that wouldnt make for a very profitable lawsuit, now would it?
Furthermore, call me stupid, but isnt ephedra already banned? I always thought this was why my beloved MD6 was taken off the market…?
Way to go Doug!! I wish I knew that you were gonna be on CNN, as I wouldve taped it and showed it to the half a million people ive been arguing with lately:-). Theyre not planning on re-airing it at anytime, are they?
Sorry, but as usual we Americans can’t be trusted to responsibly use a supplement, thus some of those in government feel it’s their duty to get involved. I don’t think they’re doing it out of ignorance. The legislators coming out against ephedra feel like they’re helping the public by avoiding any more of what they’d term “ephedra-related deaths”.
So don’t blame Big Governemt on this one, blame the irresponsible, high-profile users of these products (Korey Stringer, Steve Bechler) that have died not directly because of the ephedra-containing products, but because of their irresponsible use of it.
Certain legislators are taking the view that it’s better to just ban the substance, than to have people continue using it in an irresponsible way and harm themselves.
Baseball pitchers aren’t known for being the best conditioned athletes, so I’d settle for a ban on ephedra only for pitchers with multiple health issues who go into spring training ridiculously overweight and run in 100+degree heat, trying to keep up with center fielders. Everyone else gets a free pass.
Doug aka The Voice of Reason:
Congrats on getting on there as an expert. I wish I could have seen it, but I know from your writings that you represented our viewpoint well. I’m sure you did an excellent job.
I also completely agree with you about the physicals. Pretty soon someone is going to be dehydrated, out of shape, pushing themselves to make the team, and die again, and ephedra is going to be banned, so what are people going to blame? The player? Hell no!, they’re not going to blame the player. Why should they blame the out of shape guy with pre-existing conditions? They’re always going to find something to blame, and I can’t wait to see what it is once they get rid of ephedra.
This is all I have to say. I’ve used ephedra for the past 2+ years, 1 250mg pill for just about every hockey game I have played(which is MANY). The only side-affect was me skating longer, harder and faster than everyone else.
I posted this quote on another thread, but it seems to suit this thread even better, so I’ll post it again:
Orioles designated hitter David Segui says “there’s almost a witch hunt going on” in the aftermath of Bechler’s death. “It hasn’t been proven that ephedrine caused his death. There was probably some milk found in his system, too. Did that cause his death?” Right on Segui!
Here’s the problem w/ ephdra. Its marketed to millions of people who are obese and so they take it and eventually abuse the product. And die from it…
Now if your just trying to lose a few pounds and get more energy etc… And don’t abuse the product… Then its perfectly safe…
Who’s to say that Ephdra or his out of shape condition. Was the effect of him collapsing. I do believe that both had to be a playing factor on his death…
Again I hate to repeat myself the reason for the gov to ban ephdra products is that people don’t know how to use the supplements correctly.
They are ill informed on the proper way to educate themselves on the product. Unlike use folks here on t-mag. Unfortunatly, we are not the majorty of the population… Although we should be.
As pointed out so many times by Dr. Colgan, the difference between posion and medicine is dosage. Take enough asprin and you’ll die. Take enough vitimine A and you’ll die. Didn’t we see the same thing in the 80’s with trytophane? And who was pushing to get that off the markets? The greedy pharmacutical companies so they could market Prozac. Why would you take Prozac with all it’s side-effects when you can take a prefectly safe (and equally effective) natural supplement.
It amazes me that they will now punish the intelligent person because someone either couldn’t read a damn label or knowingly disregarded that label. If you can show me one case where Ephidrine posed a danger to someone other than the person taking it (unlike the effects some drugs have that impare judgement)then I would agree that it should be controlled. As mean as it might appear to say, this death was an act of stupidity. They don’t need to take supplements away from those people who use them correctly, they need to make sure that people don’t use them foolishly. I’ve used ephidrine more than once. I cycled up by taking half a dose once a day and leveled out at the prescribed full dose 3 times a day and never used it for more than 8 weeks. This is just another attempt to create a law aimied at protected people from hurting themselves by acting foolishly.