By Thomas J. Moore

Faith Rumph calls it her long nightmare, and this is how it began.

Her doctor in Dumfries, Virginia, suggested she try a dietary supplement called l-tryptophan. It would help her sleep better, and cope with the everyday pressures of teaching piano, and the needs of a family that included a husband and 12-year-old son. No prescription needed.

"Being a curious person," she recalled, "I went to the health store near me and researched it. I read the pamphlets. Then I went to a library and took out books." She read nothing in conflict with her doctor's opinion that it was a safe, natural remedy. In fact, the l-tryptophan did not improve her sleep. But it did seem to help prevent occasional migraine headaches and PMS.

For the next two years, it became part of her daily routine, one capsule, three times a day. She can still remember the exact day that her normal life ended,and a nightmare existence began. It was August 17, 1989. She had always been a natural athlete, and was demonstrating to her son that she could still do leg splits and other impressive athletic maneuvers for a mom, age 39.

The next morning her legs were red and painfully swollen, like a bad case of hives. Over the coming days it got much worse. "I became so miserable that I couldn't stand clothing to touch my skin. Even my blanket caused pain." Then her hair started to fall out, and she would experience painful muscle spasms that felt like electric shocks. Nodules formed under her skin. Shiny white scar tissue spread over a large area of her chest. A decade later she is permanently disabled.

The l-tryptophan had triggered a disorder of the immune system called Eosinophila-Myalgia Syndrome,or EMS. Faith Rumph was one of more than 1,500 victims of the nation's first health catastrophe involving the drug products called dietary supplements.

At least 30 people died and few victims have recovered. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have linked most EMS cases to l-tryptophan from one large Japanese manufacturer; six chemical contaminants in the drug are the leading suspect. Ten years later consumers have even fewer safeguards for dietary supplements than when the l-tryptophan tragedy began.

Since Congress deregulated the industry 1994, the Food and Drug Administration's powers have been limited. The actions the FDA has taken against the most dangerous products are few, and hesitant. Quality and safety standards-such as there are-are mostly voluntary and left to the discretion the manufacturer.