jhood - 3:02 pm on Jul 15, 2007 (gmt 0)

FDA issued a rule in February 2004 declaring that dietary supplements containing ephedrine alkaloids present an unreasonable risk of illness or injury. Since this rule became effective in April 2004, the government has executed numerous seizures and prosecutions.

There have been at least 81 deaths in the U.S. in recent years that were blamed on ephedra, including Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler, who keeled over from heatstroke after taking the herbal stimulant.

Previous FDA attempts to ban the substance were challenged in court but the agency has been aggressively pressing its new ban, which also affected retail OTC sales of pseudoephedrine, a popular anticongestion medication.

It's still a big seller online. Most of the sellers are presumably outside the U.S. and are able to get by with shipping the stuff into the country by not accurately declaring it (or perhaps drop-shipping from a secret U.S. location).

Google's action is not only a good move ethically but also legally. Anyone promoting the sale of any restricted substance -- including Webmasters -- could face prosecution by FDA or any of several other agencies.