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FAKE Cialis Pills Killed 2 Men In Singapore April 13, 2008 Reported From Straits Times Fresh blitz on dangers of fake sex drugs HSA to place print ads in mass media, put up posters in red-light districts By Teo Cheng Wee A public education campaign is about to be launched to save foolish men in Singapore from fake sex drugs that may kill them. One victim of the unscrupulous peddlers has died, one is still in a coma and several others - among 30 confirmed victims - are seriously ill. Despite widespread media attention since Power 1 Walnut reports surfaced in February, two more lethal concoctions have been detected in the past week, with more men falling seriously ill. The two new fakes are Santi Bovine Penis Erecting Capsule and Zhong Hua Niu Bian. To warn people against taking such fake drugs, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has told The Sunday Times it will place print advertisements in the mass media and put up posters in high-risk areas such as red-light districts. Earlier, after the Power 1 Walnut cases emerged, the HSA swung into action by putting up more than 3,000 posters in late February. These A3-size posters - in Mandarin, Bengali, Tamil and Thai - targeted foreign workers. About 30 per cent of the 89 victims so far are foreign workers. The posters were distributed to 91 dormitories housing foreign workers and 2,000 sub-contractors' offices. The recent discovery of two more illegal drugs brings the total number of such drugs to four, including fake Cialis pills detected last Tuesday. All contain the diabetes prescription drug glibenclamide in dangerous dosages. One pill may have up to five times what diabetic patients take to lower their blood sugar level. Glibenclamide does not have sexual enhancement properties. Worse, consumed in the form of the fake drugs, dizziness, cold sweat, loss of consciousness and even death can result. There are now 30 confirmed victims and 59 suspected ones, up from 26 confirmed and 54 suspected cases just five days ago. Twelve peddlers were nabbed recently. The spike in the number of cases and discovery of new fakes are a 'setback' to the efforts to contain the problems caused by Power 1 Walnut, said Ms Chan Cheng Leng, assistant director of HSA's pharmacovigilance, communications and research division. 'We thought we had broken the cycle in late March when numbers dipped and only one case was reported in that particular week,' she added. Ms Chan said that due to the potent dosages of glibenclamide, it is likely that the number of patients who have been reported so far represents the actual number of those who took affected pills. The HSA said that, from its interviews with victims, many cited cost and convenience as reasons for buying these fake drugs off peddlers. At $1 a pill, the illegal drugs are much cheaper than the $20 a pill for legal ones like Viagra, which require a prescription. A few buyers claimed they were unaware of the publicity surrounding Power 1 Walnut. Others said that they knew, but believed 'it won't happen to me'. Such ignorance is worrying because it comes despite increased raids on drug peddlers and warnings, said HSA's chief executive officer John Lim. As for the presence of glibenclamide in the fake drugs, Dr Lim said it made no sense, since the ingredient does not aid sexual function. He thought that there could be one factory making these different illegal products, or there was a faulty source of raw materials given to different illegal makers. It is also unclear where the pills are made. There is no evidence these pills were made in China, although the packaging is in Chinese. The HSA has found that the addresses in China printed on the labels were bogus. The renewed HSA blitz is timely, given how there are diehards like one 60-year-old man who told The Sunday Times that he started using Power 1 Walnut three months ago. He thinks it worked for him and has no plans to stop. 'It is cheap and I will use one a week when I need it to improve my performance,' he said. 'I cannot believe people can die from the drug.' ARTICLE LINK - http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_226669.html

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