Man coughs up rat in hard-hitting advert about dangers of buying viagra online
By Jenny Hope
15th January 2009
Drugstores Online
Thousands of men are being warned that buying fake medicines such as Viagra from internet sites could put their lives at risk.
A hard-hitting cinema advertisement being screened from tomorrow shows a man coughing up a dead rat after taking a pill bought online.
The 50-second commercial is supposed to illustrate how rat poison has been found among the rogue ingredients used in counterfeit drugs bought on illicit websites.
The public health campaign comes after a survey revealed that one in ten men admitted-to buying prescription only medicines from unregulated sources.
Half are using the internet to buy products such as Viagra, smoking cessation medicines and weight loss pills.
But research shows between 50 per cent and 90 per cent of all medicines purchased online are likely to be counterfeit or substandard, including medication to treat heart, brain and mental health conditions.
Among ingredients found in fake medicines are high levels of toxic solvents, rat poison, boric acid and lead based road paint.
Experts at the World Health Organisation say fake medicines can lead to death either as a direct result of dangerous ingredients or because they supplant genuine medication.
More than £10million is being spent by British men on fake medicines each year.
The £650,000 cinema and online advertising campaign was created by Viagra manufacturer Pfizer. It is backed by the UK drug safety watchdog the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and leading patient groups including the Patients' Association, Men's Health Forum and HEART UK.
Dr David Gillen, Pfizer's medical director said: 'The time has definitely come to issue a clear, unified message to people about the dangers of purchasing medicines from illicit and unregulated sources.'
Mick Deats, group manager of enforcement at the MHRA said: 'We will not hesitate to take action against those who undermine public health.
'There is considerable risk to the public from obtaining medicines through unregulated websites.'
Showing posts with label viagra. Show all posts
Showing posts with label viagra. Show all posts
Friday, January 16, 2009
Brazilian clubs say they won't use Viagra to enhance play
Brazilian clubs say they won't use Viagra to enhance play
1/14/2009
Drugstores Online
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Two Brazilian soccer teams denied they are considering combatting the effects of playing at high altitudes during Copa Libertadores by using Viagra, a drug being studied by the World Anti-Doping Agency for its potential use as a performance enhancer.
The issue emerged this week when Brazilian reporters asked a Gremio trainer, Alarico Endres, about possibly using Viagra -- the blue pill commonly associated with treating sexual dysfunction in men -- during the South American championship.
Viagra, or sildenafil citrate, suppresses an enzyme that regulates blood flow and allows vessels to relax and widen. It also was used to treat pulmonary hypertension by relaxing the arterial wall.
In the case of athletes, increased cardiac output and more efficient transport of oxygenated fuel to the muscles can enhance endurance.
"We're going to analyze everything that could benefit the players in (high) altitude," Endres responded.
But Gremio physician Marcio Bolzoni said Endres was misinterpreted.
"Gremio would never use professional athletes to experiment with a drug," Bolzoni said. "If it is proven that it enhances an athlete's performance, its use will be immediately considered as doping."
Palmeiras team doctor Claudio Pavanelli told the GloboEsporte Web site: "Viagra may be a potent vascular dilator, but it is no use pumping more blood to the muscle if it does not have the capacity to receive it. It would be like equipping an old car with a bigger gas tank but keeping the same engine."
WADA is sponsoring a study to determine whether Viagra should be banned from sports.
1/14/2009
Drugstores Online
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Two Brazilian soccer teams denied they are considering combatting the effects of playing at high altitudes during Copa Libertadores by using Viagra, a drug being studied by the World Anti-Doping Agency for its potential use as a performance enhancer.
The issue emerged this week when Brazilian reporters asked a Gremio trainer, Alarico Endres, about possibly using Viagra -- the blue pill commonly associated with treating sexual dysfunction in men -- during the South American championship.
Viagra, or sildenafil citrate, suppresses an enzyme that regulates blood flow and allows vessels to relax and widen. It also was used to treat pulmonary hypertension by relaxing the arterial wall.
In the case of athletes, increased cardiac output and more efficient transport of oxygenated fuel to the muscles can enhance endurance.
"We're going to analyze everything that could benefit the players in (high) altitude," Endres responded.
But Gremio physician Marcio Bolzoni said Endres was misinterpreted.
"Gremio would never use professional athletes to experiment with a drug," Bolzoni said. "If it is proven that it enhances an athlete's performance, its use will be immediately considered as doping."
Palmeiras team doctor Claudio Pavanelli told the GloboEsporte Web site: "Viagra may be a potent vascular dilator, but it is no use pumping more blood to the muscle if it does not have the capacity to receive it. It would be like equipping an old car with a bigger gas tank but keeping the same engine."
WADA is sponsoring a study to determine whether Viagra should be banned from sports.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Viagra May Shield Heart From Blood Pressure Damage
Viagra May Shield Heart From Blood Pressure Damage
Mon Jan 5, 5:03 pm ET
Drugstores Online
MONDAY, Jan. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Tests in mouse hearts show that sildenafil, the key ingredient in Viagra, may shield hearts from damage caused by high blood pressure, a new study suggests.
Investigators said that sildenafil appears to influence RGS2, a single protein essential in the reactions that initially protect the heart's blood-pumping function from spiraling into heart failure. The findings, published online Monday in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, suggest that sildenafil may prove useful in the treatment or prevention of heart damage due to chronic high blood pressure.
"Sildenafil clearly prolongs the protective effects of RGS2 in mouse hearts," senior investigator Dr. David Kass, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Heart and Vascular Institute in Baltimore, said in a Hopkins news release.
After a week of inducing high blood pressure in the mice, the team found that the hearts engineered to lack RGS2, or regulator of G-protein signaling 2, expanded in weight by 90 percent, and almost half of the experiment animals died of heart failure. In the mice with RGS2, the dangerous muscle expansion, known as hypertrophy, was delayed, growing by only 30 percent, the researchers found, and none of those mice died.
Later testing showed that treating hypertensive mice that had RGS2 with sildenafil showed enhanced buffering, less hypertrophy, and stronger heart muscle contraction and relaxation. In addition, these mice showed as much as 10 times lower stress-related enzyme activity compared to their untreated counterparts. The study also found that sildenafil had no effect in mice lacking RGS2.
The study involved more than a half-dozen experiments, all performed within the last three years, designed to zero in on RGS2's role in stalling hypertrophy.
"The evidence is piling up that unbridled Gq signaling is driving a central biological chain reaction in heart failure, and that by extending the protective effects of RGS2 or by developing a test for its presence, researchers can develop new therapies or improve existing ones, including ACE inhibitors and possibly sildenafil, for people with heart failure who will benefit most," Kass said.
Doctors currently use so-called ACE inhibitor and ARB inhibitor drugs to block Gq signaling. These drugs are the most common treatment for heart failure, which afflicts more than 5 million Americans each year, killing more than a quarter million of them, according to the study.
Mon Jan 5, 5:03 pm ET
Drugstores Online
MONDAY, Jan. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Tests in mouse hearts show that sildenafil, the key ingredient in Viagra, may shield hearts from damage caused by high blood pressure, a new study suggests.
Investigators said that sildenafil appears to influence RGS2, a single protein essential in the reactions that initially protect the heart's blood-pumping function from spiraling into heart failure. The findings, published online Monday in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, suggest that sildenafil may prove useful in the treatment or prevention of heart damage due to chronic high blood pressure.
"Sildenafil clearly prolongs the protective effects of RGS2 in mouse hearts," senior investigator Dr. David Kass, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Heart and Vascular Institute in Baltimore, said in a Hopkins news release.
After a week of inducing high blood pressure in the mice, the team found that the hearts engineered to lack RGS2, or regulator of G-protein signaling 2, expanded in weight by 90 percent, and almost half of the experiment animals died of heart failure. In the mice with RGS2, the dangerous muscle expansion, known as hypertrophy, was delayed, growing by only 30 percent, the researchers found, and none of those mice died.
Later testing showed that treating hypertensive mice that had RGS2 with sildenafil showed enhanced buffering, less hypertrophy, and stronger heart muscle contraction and relaxation. In addition, these mice showed as much as 10 times lower stress-related enzyme activity compared to their untreated counterparts. The study also found that sildenafil had no effect in mice lacking RGS2.
The study involved more than a half-dozen experiments, all performed within the last three years, designed to zero in on RGS2's role in stalling hypertrophy.
"The evidence is piling up that unbridled Gq signaling is driving a central biological chain reaction in heart failure, and that by extending the protective effects of RGS2 or by developing a test for its presence, researchers can develop new therapies or improve existing ones, including ACE inhibitors and possibly sildenafil, for people with heart failure who will benefit most," Kass said.
Doctors currently use so-called ACE inhibitor and ARB inhibitor drugs to block Gq signaling. These drugs are the most common treatment for heart failure, which afflicts more than 5 million Americans each year, killing more than a quarter million of them, according to the study.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
US offers Viagra to win over Afghan warlords: report
US offers Viagra to win over Afghan warlords: report
Sat Dec 27
Drugstores Online
WASHINGTON (AFP) – CIA agents are offering the potency drug Viagra and other gifts to win over Afghan warlords in the US-led war against Taliban insurgents, the Washington Post reported.
Paying for information is nothing new for the Central Intelligence Agency, but officers have started employing unusual incentives to persuade Afghan local leaders to share intelligence about the Taliban's movements, the Post wrote, citing unnamed sources in the spy service.
"Whatever it takes to make friends and influence people -- whether it's building a school or handing out Viagra," one CIA operative who has worked in Afghanistan was quoted as saying.
CIA agents have offered pocket knives and tools, toys and school equipment, travel visas, medical services including surgeries and sometimes the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra for Afghan chieftains, the paper said.
The aging chieftains often have up to four wives and are open to the Viagra pill as a way to "put them back in an authoritative position," said another official.
More customary bribes such as cash and weapons can create problems, because guns fan fall into the wrong hands and a sudden influx of cash can draw too much attention, agents told the paper.
Four Viagra pills transformed the attitude of one influential 60-year-old warlord who had been wary of the United States.
"He came up to us beaming," one official told the Post.
"And after that we could do whatever we wanted in his area."
Sat Dec 27
Drugstores Online
WASHINGTON (AFP) – CIA agents are offering the potency drug Viagra and other gifts to win over Afghan warlords in the US-led war against Taliban insurgents, the Washington Post reported.
Paying for information is nothing new for the Central Intelligence Agency, but officers have started employing unusual incentives to persuade Afghan local leaders to share intelligence about the Taliban's movements, the Post wrote, citing unnamed sources in the spy service.
"Whatever it takes to make friends and influence people -- whether it's building a school or handing out Viagra," one CIA operative who has worked in Afghanistan was quoted as saying.
CIA agents have offered pocket knives and tools, toys and school equipment, travel visas, medical services including surgeries and sometimes the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra for Afghan chieftains, the paper said.
The aging chieftains often have up to four wives and are open to the Viagra pill as a way to "put them back in an authoritative position," said another official.
More customary bribes such as cash and weapons can create problems, because guns fan fall into the wrong hands and a sudden influx of cash can draw too much attention, agents told the paper.
Four Viagra pills transformed the attitude of one influential 60-year-old warlord who had been wary of the United States.
"He came up to us beaming," one official told the Post.
"And after that we could do whatever we wanted in his area."
CIA offers Viagra for information on Taliban militants
27 December 2008
CIA offers Viagra for information on Taliban militants
Drugstores Online
CIA agents are offering the potency drug Viagra and other gifts to win over Afghan warlords in the US-led war against Taliban insurgents, the Washington Post reported yesterday.
Paying for information is nothing new for the Central Intelligence Agency, but officers have started employing unusual incentives to persuade Afghan local leaders to share intelligence about the Taliban’s movements, the paper wrote, citing unnamed sources in the agency.
"Whatever it takes to make friends and influence people — whether it’s building a school or handing out Viagra," one CIA operative who has worked in Afghanistan was quoted as saying.
As well as the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra CIA agents have offered Afghan chieftains dental work, pocket knives and tools, toys and school equipment, travel visas and medical services including surgeries, the paper said.
The aging chieftains often have up to four wives and are open to the Viagra pill as a way to "put them back in an authoritative position," said another official.
More customary bribes such as cash and weapons can create problems, because guns fan fall into the wrong hands and a sudden influx of cash can draw too much attention, agents told the paper.
The newspaper said the use of Viagra had to be treated with sensitivity as the drug was not always known about in rural areas.
A retired agent was quoted in the report as saying: "You didn’t hand it out to younger guys, but it could be a silver bullet to make connections to the older ones."
Four Viagra pills transformed the attitude of one influential 60-year- old warlord who had been wary of the United States.
Four days later he revealed details of Taliban movements in return for more.
"He came up to us beaming," one official told the Post. "He said, ‘You are a great man’.
"And after that we could do whatever we wanted in his area."
CIA offers Viagra for information on Taliban militants
Drugstores Online
CIA agents are offering the potency drug Viagra and other gifts to win over Afghan warlords in the US-led war against Taliban insurgents, the Washington Post reported yesterday.
Paying for information is nothing new for the Central Intelligence Agency, but officers have started employing unusual incentives to persuade Afghan local leaders to share intelligence about the Taliban’s movements, the paper wrote, citing unnamed sources in the agency.
"Whatever it takes to make friends and influence people — whether it’s building a school or handing out Viagra," one CIA operative who has worked in Afghanistan was quoted as saying.
As well as the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra CIA agents have offered Afghan chieftains dental work, pocket knives and tools, toys and school equipment, travel visas and medical services including surgeries, the paper said.
The aging chieftains often have up to four wives and are open to the Viagra pill as a way to "put them back in an authoritative position," said another official.
More customary bribes such as cash and weapons can create problems, because guns fan fall into the wrong hands and a sudden influx of cash can draw too much attention, agents told the paper.
The newspaper said the use of Viagra had to be treated with sensitivity as the drug was not always known about in rural areas.
A retired agent was quoted in the report as saying: "You didn’t hand it out to younger guys, but it could be a silver bullet to make connections to the older ones."
Four Viagra pills transformed the attitude of one influential 60-year- old warlord who had been wary of the United States.
Four days later he revealed details of Taliban movements in return for more.
"He came up to us beaming," one official told the Post. "He said, ‘You are a great man’.
"And after that we could do whatever we wanted in his area."
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