“Can You Really Trust FDA Approved Diet Pills?”

The Phen-Fen Catastrophe

Phen-Fen is a combination of two drugs – fenfluramine and phentermine.  They were marketed separately during the 70s, but in the 90s a “study” showed it provided long term successful weight loss when both drugs were combined.  Although there are claims that Phen-Fen was distributed without the sanction of the FDA, it is difficult to believe that claim.  Supposedly, doctors began dispensing the drug without permission from the FDA.   Phen-Fen worked to decrease appetite and at the same time give you a feeling of fullness (a dieter’s dream).  It suddenly became a dieter’s nightmare.  Thousands of people began dying of heart attacks and strokes because of the drug and many lawsuits ensued.  Can you really trust the FDA after that?  I didn’t.

The Aftermath

When they took the FDA approved diet pill off the market, many attorneys began placing ads to represent all those who had suffered serious injury as a result of the ill fated FDA approved diet pill, Phen-Fen.  But whom do you sue?  The FDA who ignored the original research findings, the doctors who dispensed the medication, or the clinics that eagerly dispensed the medication?  Do we blame society and the media for creating unrealistic ideas of beauty so that women and men flock to their physicians in the hope of a magic pill that will make them “acceptable?”  How about the media that aggressively advertised the product?  Where does the buck stop?

The Buck Stops Here

I think the responsibility lies with the FDA and the “researchers” who conduct the “studies” of these FDA approved diet pills.  The FDA should be held accountable because it has the last says so on all medications.  It is the FDA’s responsibility to employ its own unbiased set of scientists (if such a group exists) to double check the credibility of the research done by the doctors.   I think the doctors and scientists who have done the “research” should be held accountable as well, since they are obviously lying about the safety of the product.  The bottom line is can you really trust the FDA?  The answer is an emphatic “no.”  The FDA is run by people who have money.  Wherever large sums of money are involved greed plays a factor.  The FDA is no different.