093_HB2311
LRB093 10882 MBS 11394 b
1 AN ACT concerning public health.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5 Ephedra Prohibition Act.
6 Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds the
7 following:
8 (1) Over 3 billion servings of ephedra are consumed
9 by Americans each year.
10 (2) Ephedra, or ma huang, has been associated with
11 a wide range of severe adverse events, including death.
12 (3) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has
13 received over 18,000 reports of adverse reactions by
14 ephedra users, including strokes, seizures, heart
15 attacks, and deaths.
16 (4) The Inspector General of the U.S. Department of
17 Health and Human Services noted in a report on ephedra
18 adverse events that 60% of those adverse events were
19 experienced by people under the age of 40.
20 (5) A study reported in the Annals of Internal
21 Medicine concluded that, compared with other herbs,
22 ephedra is associated with a greatly increased risk for
23 adverse reactions and that the use of ephedra should be
24 restricted.
25 (6) The American Medical Association and the
26 consumer group, Public Citizen, have called for a
27 nationwide ban on ephedra.
28 (7) The National Collegiate Athletics Association,
29 the National Football League, and the International
30 Olympic Committee have all banned ephedra use by their
31 athletes because of concerns about the safety of this
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1 dietary supplement.
2 (8) The U.S. Army has banned the sale of ephedra
3 products in army commissaries worldwide after 33 army
4 personnel died from consuming ephedra products.
5 (9) Canada, Britain, Germany, and Australia have
6 all taken steps to restrict the sale of ephedra products.
7 Section 10. Purpose. The purpose of this Act is to ban
8 the sale of all dietary supplements containing ephedrine
9 alkaloids in the State of Illinois regardless of the age of
10 the purchaser in order to protect the health and public
11 safety of Illinois residents.
12 Section 15. Definitions:
13 "Ephedra" means herbs and herbal products that contain
14 ephedrine alkaloids, including ma huang, Chinese ephedra,
15 ephedra sinica, ephedra herb powder, epitonin, or any extract
16 of those substances, but does not include any drug that
17 contains ephedrine and is lawfully sold, transferred, or
18 furnished over the counter with or without a prescription
19 pursuant to the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21
20 U.S.C. 301 and following) or regulations adopted under that
21 Act.
22 "Person" means any natural person, individual,
23 corporation, unincorporated association, proprietorship,
24 firm, partnership, joint venture, joint stock association, or
25 any other business organization or entity.
26 Section 20. Prohibition.
27 (a) No person may sell or offer for sale any dietary
28 supplement containing any quantity of ephedra or ephedrine
29 alkaloids to any person located within the State or to any
30 person making the purchase from within the State.
31 (b) The prohibition in subsection (a) of this Section
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1 does not apply to the sale of any product that receives
2 explicit approval as safe and effective for its intended use
3 under the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C.
4 355) or is lawfully marketed under an over-the-counter
5 monograph issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
6 Section 25. Penalties.
7 (a) Any person who violates this Act is guilty of a Class
8 A misdemeanor. The penalty is imprisonment for less than one
9 year or a fine of not more than $5,000 or both for a first
10 offense.
11 (b) For a subsequent violation of this Act, a person is
12 guilty of a Class 3 felony, and the penalty is imprisonment
13 for less than 5 years or a fine of not more than $20,000 or
14 both.
15 Section 99. Effective date. This Act shall take effect
16 upon becoming law.