The United Nations drug control board says a growing
number of women desperate to lose weight are buying these drugs on the
internet. The warnings come after the death of 21-year-old anorexic Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston. She is believed to have been taking slimming pills and painkillers.
The UN 's International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) calls for stricter enforcement of control measures and public education campaigns about the risks from the misuse of prescription drugs, including painkillers and tranquillisers. Their abuse has already outstripped that of heroin and cocaine in some parts of the world, says its report.
President of the INCB, Dr Philip Emafo explained that appetite suppressant drugs, also known as anorectics, have a use in the treatment of life-threatening obesity when prescribed and monitored by doctors. "However, they are instead being used indiscriminately to feed the slimming obsession that affects some societies."
Growing trade
The scale of the problem is not clear. Last year, a study found more than half of 1,230 UK women surveyed by Closerdiets.com admitted using slimming pills.
There are 14 different appetite suppressants that have
been developed to treat obesity and other conditions, including
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy.
Professor Hamad Ghodse, former president of the INCB and
chairman of addiction psychiatry at London's St George's Hospital,
said: "We need to know the size of the problem in the UK. We think probably in the UK there are adequate
regulations in place, but there needs to be the implementation of these
regulations."
Dr Emafo said: "It is important for consumers to realise that what they think is a cut-price medication bought on an unregulated market may however have potentially lethal effects whenever the consumed drugsare not the genuine product or are taken without medical advice. "Instead of healing, they can take lives."
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said the global availability of counterfeit medicine had increased in recent years, through unregulated web sites operating on the internet.
A spokesman said that in the past 12 month, the MHRA had
taken action against 30 web sites illegally supplying medicines,
including counterfeits.
SOURCE: BBC
I can't reiterate strongly enough the advice not to buy any medicines from the Internet, because their quality is not controlled. You could cause serious harm to your health.
For some people, and in fact many nowadays as we are all very well informed, even the younger ones, Life itself is not worth living if they don't get what they want. It's becoming slimmer, and there is nothing else that compares to it, not even life, for life is not worth living if they are not slim as they wish, so, they have no fear, they want the result or they don't care. We just have to accept the fact that we can't stop every one doing what for them is meaningful. For me, I wish I could go into those very expensive clinics and be prescribed those medications that all the celebs get to thin themselves up in two months. Fed up to be fat'ish. This is just life, those who produce, those who consum. There is no solution, not even knowledge.
ReplyDeleteI'm okay with being overweight, but I'd really like them to make tranquilizers OTC. Sometimes a girl just needs a lil help....
ReplyDelete~Amy
For most people it's just a case of educating them as to what foods are nutricious and low in fats and sugars. Most convenience foods are full of either fat, sugar or salt, all bad for your health if not taken in moderation. Jeannette xx
ReplyDeletesounds bad Guido!
ReplyDeletehugs,nat
This sounds terrible...so much controversy over those pills, and if they actually work at all. Diet, exercise, make cut backs, stay away from pills. That program, without the use of pills works...take care,
ReplyDeleteJoyce