FDA Warns About Diet Pills
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded its nationwide alert to consumers about tainted weight loss pills that contain undeclared, active pharmaceutical ingredients. On December 22, 2008, the FDA warned consumers not to purchase 28 different products marketed for weight loss. Since then the number of weight-loss pills sold in the United States that contain undisclosed, and possibly harmful drugs, has gone up to almost 70. A few of these weight loss products are:
- Fatloss Slimming
- 24 Hours Diet
- 7 Day Herbal Slim
- Powerful Slim
- Imelda Fat Reducer
- Perfect Slim
- ProSlim Plus
- Slim Express 360
- Superslim
- Venom Hyperdrive 3.0
Click here for the complete list of tainted weight loss pills. Some of these products claim to be “natural” or “herbal” but in fact contain potentially harmful ingredients not listed on the product labels and can be potentially harmful to unsuspecting consumers. According to Janet Woodcock, M.D., director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, “These tainted weight loss products pose a great risk to public health because they contain undeclared ingredients and, in some cases, contain prescription drugs in amounts that greatly exceed their maximum recommended dosages. Consumers have no way of knowing that these products contain powerful drugs that could cause serious health consequences.”
The health risks posed by consuming these products can be very serious. Sibutramine, a controlled substance found in many of these products, can cause high blood pressure, seizures, tachycardia, palpitations, heart attack or stroke. The drug can also interact with other medications that patients may be taking and increase the risk of side effects. Another ingredient found in many of these products is Rimonabant, a drug that is not approved for marketing in the United States. Although it has been approved in Europe, it has been associated with increased risk of depression and suicidal thoughts and has been linked to five deaths and 720 adverse reactions over the last two years. The FDA's Consumer Information website lists the weight-loss products that contain Sibutramine, Rimonabant, Phenytoin, Phenolphthalein, and Bumetanide, as well as the risks associated with the consumption of each.
These health risks such as heart attack and stroke are life threatening and there are other diet pills on the market that do not carry such dangerous risks. Since these products are sold over the counter, they do not have to be FDA approved and tested. They are profitable to produce and often marketed to mislead the consumer. We are likely to see litigation result from the serious injuries caused by these drugs.