Times Of Swaziland: Deadly diet pills in local market

Deadly diet pills in local market
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 ZWELIHLE SUKATI on 16/02/2009 00:00:00


MBABANE – The local market is flooded with dangerous weight loss products and
diet pills claiming wonders for women.
These products are contaminated with substances that are not tolerated by the
human body and may cause debilitating side effects and even death.
Even worse is that most of these herbal products claiming to do wonders for
women wanting to lose weight are written in Chinese. You never get to know what
ingredients were used.
These are the same products that the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
has called upon pharmaceutical companies to remove from their shelves. South
Africa has issued the same warning.
It has been determined that most, if not all of these so called ‘natural’ or
herbal weight loss supplements, are manufactured in China.
This publication paid a visit to some pharmacies between Mbabane and Manzini and
what was even more worrying was that some drugs were written only in Chinese,
including the ingredients.
Most of these shops selling these products trade as herbal pharmacies operated
by Asians.
Some of these products claim to be ‘natural’ or to contain only ‘herbal’
ingredients, but actually contain potentially harmful ingredients not listed on
the product labels.
The products have been found to contain many pharmaceutical ingredients that put
consumers’ health at risk while some exceed the recommended levels. As a
result consumers who have used these products have been warned to stop taking
them and consult their healthcare professionals immediately.
"The ingredients are undeclared meaning the packaging doesn’t mention them,"
said one medical expert in the capital city who did not wish to be identified.
Warnings have since been circulating in the internet calling upon consumers to
always seek guidance from doctors before taking any weight loss products or diet
pills. Some of the ingredients found in these products include Meridia,
Rimonabant, Phenytoin, Phenolphthalein, and Sibutramine.
A Japanese health official is on record according to information sourced online
saying: "Diet pills and herbal supplements aren’t subjected to tests because
they aren’t supposed to contain the synthetic components of prescribed drugs,
which can often take a decade to win Japanese government approval."
The Swaziland Standards Authority’s (SWASA) Marketing, Training and
Communications Officer, Ricardo Kruger, said: "Irrespective of whether the
products are safe or not, it is just not allowed to sell products written in any
other language that the consumer does not identify with."
He said the Testing and Laboratory Services were already conducting
investigations on the said products. "We will also be engaging the Ministry of
Health and other stakeholders to see to it that such products are wiped out from
the country’s market," he assured.