The Fake Herbals Are Back

By Author: Steven Johnson
Total Articles: 494
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Sometimes, paranoia is good for you. You can be just about to do something unwise or actively dangerous, and the suspicions kick in. What if? you ask yourself. And this hesitation saves you from making a mistake. So what's the problem here? Well, some men are alarmed by all the stories going around the news media and the internet suggesting the online pharmacy industry is run by thieves who will take our money and fail to give us the drugs we need. As a note of explanation, ask yourself who owns many of the news media? Either the same corporations that also own pharmaceutical manufacturers, or the corporations that rely on all the advertising dollars spent by the manufacturers. So they have a direct interest in frightening you out of buying online.

Remember, there are always one or two black sheep in every trade or industry. This does not make the whole industry suspect. All these scare stories are placed to protect the profits of Big Pharma. Anyway, some men seem not to draw the right lesson from these stories. They accept the lie that the online pharmacies, many of which are regulated by governments around the world, ...
... are unsafe. So they sign up to buy sex-enhancement remedies from random websites. This is not one of those out of the frying pan, into the fire decisions. This is abandoning a safe harbor to go for a swim with crocodiles. If the pharmacies, many of which have been trading for years, are criminal, what does that make the fly-by-nighters offering to turn you into stallion overnight?

One of the less-well-advertised functions of the FDA is to police the market for supplements and non-pharmaceutical remedies. Although the manufacturers don't have to get a license to sell their magic products, they do have to be truthful in what they claim for them. So, if the FDA finds misleading ads, they can order the ads removed and, in bad cases, the product pulled from the market. What then counts as the "bad" cases?

Let's say the manufacturer claims this herbal product will produce the most enhanced erection you have ever seen or felt. Making allowances for the usual exaggeration, the FDA might get suspicious if the business seemed to be growing. Although the placebo effect can persuade some men to produce erections, most herbal and "alternative" products don't work. So repeat orders and good word-of-mouth would persuade the FDA to test samples. In the case of "ExtenZe", the FDA found the herbs were supplemented by Cialis. It's relatively easy to make your own product effective when you include the best of the erectile dysfunction drugs as a secret ingredient. Yet it's this failure to warn men that makes this product so dangerous.

When we buy a prescription-only drug, we are given clear instructions on safe dosages. If we don't know we are taking a drug, we may believe it safe to take several tablets at once. This can produce an overdose which, if not treated properly, can be dangerous. Any drug, including Cialis, can be dangerous if you overdose. The FDA has therefore ordered the manufacturer of "ExtenZe" to cease selling their drug-enhanced product.