They don’t have stingers, but they might make someone’s heart beat faster.
Yellow Jacket pills are nonprescription dietary supplements with ingredients that include ephedra, a stimulant similar to the herb Ma huang, which was used in traditional Chinese medicine.
But Yellow Jackets may soon
be pulled from stores in Eugene
and nationwide.
The Food and Drug Administration Center for Drug Evaluation and Research said in a statement that they are cracking down on the product because of reasons including the questionable marketing campaign for the product.
“The Yellow Jacket has an
extremely stimulating rush, with sensations one would attribute to E or amphetamines,” the company, called “De Sjamaan” or The Shaman, said in a description on its Web site.
The FDA also said that dietary supplements should not include ephedra.
Kris Donald, who works at Evergreen Nutritional Supply, compared ephedra’s effect on the human cardiovascular and nervous system to drinking a pot of coffee every hour, all day. She added that the drug exhausts the parts of the body that are stimulated.
“Eventually, if you drink a pot of coffee on the hour every day, you’re going to be exhausted, but you won’t be able to sleep,” Donald said.
She said ephedra, while used in certain Chinese teas, is a concern when taken in high dosages.
“They were using minute quantities in tea form,” she said. “It’s meant to be used to open the air waves.”
Donald said ephedra should not be used for energy or dietary needs. Some say the pill has its benefits.
University student Nick Ngai said his fraternity friends — who he did not want to identify — have taken Yellow Jackets.
“It’s a stimulant,” he said. “It lets you party all night.” However, there may be costs for the benefits it gives.
Reported ephedra side effects include the possibility of heart attacks, chest pains, seizures, strokes, blood pressure fluctuations, headaches and dizziness.
Most stores are clearing Yellow Jacket pills off the shelves because of the FDA’s warning issued for the company’s marketing.
However, many campus area stores carry the product, including the Alder Street 7-Eleven. Local stores would not comment on the drug.
In an Oct. 4 letter from FDA spokesman David J. Horowitz to Xoch Linnebank, who heads the Netherlands-based company, Horowitz said the product has not been given FDA approval. Linnebank could not be reached for comment.
On the package of the product, there is a warning stating that it is not regulated by the FDA.
The FDA also told the company that its content on the Internet is not acceptable.
“The information on your Web site indicates that the product is intended to be used as an alternative to street drugs,” Horowitz wrote.
Horowitz said the FDA intended to inform U.S. Customs about Yellow Jacket, which may cause the product shipments to be detained or refused entry into the country.