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Dr. Kim Mulvihill ReportingIf you're taking a natural or herbal product to enhance your sex life, you may want to listen up.
The FDA is warning consumers not to use certain dietary supplements, and if they have, to see their doctor.
These products are promoted and sold on websites as dietary supplements. The FDA says they contain illegal drugs, and are dangerous.
Up to thirty million men suffer from erectile dysfunction. Some get a prescription for the little blue pill. Others let their fingers do the walking on the internet to find a solution.
Dr. Ira Sharlip/Urologist: "The reason is that men are embarassed by erectile dysfunction and they like purchasing these products anonymously."
On the web you can find lots of so-called solutions to intimate problems. Many products claim to help erectile dysfunction or to enhance sex. But the FDA found many of them, sold as dietary supplements, contain illegal, potentially dangerous drugs.
The FDA warning concerns products with names such as Zimaxx and Libidus, Vigor-25, Nasutra, Actra-RX, Neophase and 4Everon.
They're all marketed as natural, herbal, or non prescription. But they're anything but.
A chemical analysis reveals all contain drugs similar or identical to what you'd find in prescription drugs meant for erectile dysfunction. Not one label discloses the fact.
Dr. Sharlip: "These products that have illegal substances in them are a great danger to many patients."
Dr. Ira Sharlip is a urologist at CPMC. He says men may unwittingly use these products in combination with nitrates, found in other prescription drugs.
That combination can lower blood pressure to dangerous levels.
Dr. Sharlip: "I wouldn't be surprised at all if there have actually already been some deaths."
As of today, some of these products are no longer available online, or no longer in stock. But others like Libidus are still filing late mail orders.
The FDA sent warning letters to the firms marketing these products on their websites, saying they are in violation of federal law. The firms were told they must correct these violations immediately. If not, they may be subject to criminal prosecution.
