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Male 'Enhancement' Drugs Called Dangerous Amid FDA Crackdown
BY BILL BRIGGS
Turns out, bigger can be badder: Many products claiming to enlarge men’s genitals are deceptive and potentially even deadly, according to federal experts and doctors.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, seeking to curb what it calls “an emerging trend,” has issued 20 public notifications this year concerning 20 "tainted" Internet products with names like Weekend Warrior and O.M.G. that promise male “sexual enhancement.”
Yet months after the FDA warnings, some of these supplements are being sold on mainstream retail websites. Some products were removed following calls from NBC News. An executive of one online seller specifically named in an FDA warning said her company wasn't officially notified by the agency until Thursday — one day after NBC News contacted the FDA, and six weeks after the FDA issued its announcement about that company, citing the “tainted” drugs it was selling.
In its parade of alerts, FDA officials warn consumers their labs have discovered the 20 listed products all contain a “hidden drug,” typically, sildenafil — the active ingredient in the erectile-dysfunction medication Viagra. In each bulletin, FDA experts urge men to “stop using this product immediately and throw it away.”
For men with diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure or high cholesterol who already take pharmaceutical nitrates to combat those conditions, unknowingly swallowing sildenafil may cause “dangerous” blood pressure drops, the FDA reports.
But a leading urologist says mixing nitrates and any pharmaceutical form of Viagra could actually kill some men.
“The combination, in some cases, could cause a myocardial infarction (heart attack) — or death,” said Dr. Drogo K. Montague, director of the Center for Genital Urinary Reconstruction at the Cleveland Clinic.
Yet the online market is swarming with “male enhancement” products that, according to the FDA, hold secret doses of the Viagra ingredient: Full Throttle On Demand, 3 Hard Knights, and SexRx to name three of the 20 brands cited this year by the agency.
During 2013, the FDA — which also dubs the products “deceptive” — issued 33 similar notifications for such brands, preceded by 15 alerts in 2012, and two in 2011.
“We’re not talking about men with E.D. who are seeking to have better erections. For the most part, it’s men who want to have larger penises,” Montague said.
“But these really aren’t going to help a man who has normal (sexual) function. They’re not going to see any benefit,” Montague said. “No patient has ever admitted to me that he’s tried it, but people ask me about it and I discourage it.
“The problem is, the FDA doesn’t have the degree of regulation over natural, herbal supplements that they really should have,” Montague added.
NBC News contacted the FDA's communications staff Wednesday, seeking further comment on the alerts. As of Friday, the agency had not responded to that interview request.
Continued here http://www.nbcnews.com/health/mens-...s-called-dangerous-amid-fda-crackdown-n211946
BY BILL BRIGGS
NSFW:
Turns out, bigger can be badder: Many products claiming to enlarge men’s genitals are deceptive and potentially even deadly, according to federal experts and doctors.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, seeking to curb what it calls “an emerging trend,” has issued 20 public notifications this year concerning 20 "tainted" Internet products with names like Weekend Warrior and O.M.G. that promise male “sexual enhancement.”
Yet months after the FDA warnings, some of these supplements are being sold on mainstream retail websites. Some products were removed following calls from NBC News. An executive of one online seller specifically named in an FDA warning said her company wasn't officially notified by the agency until Thursday — one day after NBC News contacted the FDA, and six weeks after the FDA issued its announcement about that company, citing the “tainted” drugs it was selling.
In its parade of alerts, FDA officials warn consumers their labs have discovered the 20 listed products all contain a “hidden drug,” typically, sildenafil — the active ingredient in the erectile-dysfunction medication Viagra. In each bulletin, FDA experts urge men to “stop using this product immediately and throw it away.”
For men with diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure or high cholesterol who already take pharmaceutical nitrates to combat those conditions, unknowingly swallowing sildenafil may cause “dangerous” blood pressure drops, the FDA reports.
But a leading urologist says mixing nitrates and any pharmaceutical form of Viagra could actually kill some men.
“The combination, in some cases, could cause a myocardial infarction (heart attack) — or death,” said Dr. Drogo K. Montague, director of the Center for Genital Urinary Reconstruction at the Cleveland Clinic.
Yet the online market is swarming with “male enhancement” products that, according to the FDA, hold secret doses of the Viagra ingredient: Full Throttle On Demand, 3 Hard Knights, and SexRx to name three of the 20 brands cited this year by the agency.
During 2013, the FDA — which also dubs the products “deceptive” — issued 33 similar notifications for such brands, preceded by 15 alerts in 2012, and two in 2011.
“We’re not talking about men with E.D. who are seeking to have better erections. For the most part, it’s men who want to have larger penises,” Montague said.
“But these really aren’t going to help a man who has normal (sexual) function. They’re not going to see any benefit,” Montague said. “No patient has ever admitted to me that he’s tried it, but people ask me about it and I discourage it.
“The problem is, the FDA doesn’t have the degree of regulation over natural, herbal supplements that they really should have,” Montague added.
NBC News contacted the FDA's communications staff Wednesday, seeking further comment on the alerts. As of Friday, the agency had not responded to that interview request.
Continued here http://www.nbcnews.com/health/mens-...s-called-dangerous-amid-fda-crackdown-n211946