Case reports of liver toxicity linked to Herbalife dietary supplements
@ 11:10 am As I’ve always promised to suppositorise their wares to the pyramid-marketing assclowns trying to peddle their soap and supplements, I had a moment of “I told you so” when I was reading this.
Magic pills don’t make you thinner. And the more magic pills you take the more you’re bound to get sick - and then you’ll be on a magic diet.
Well, of course herbs cause effects on man. You can get high or you can get low or you can wake up dead - or with a squeaky liver. The iHealthBulletinNews blog writes:
A recent issue of the Journal of Hepatology reports on over 14 cases of acute hepatotoxicity in users of in Israel and Switzerland. The researchers found it difficult to interpret the findings as they could not ascertain the exact composition of the proprietary formulas, the composition of which can even vary from country to country. Thus, they could not state definitively whether or not the weight loss supplements caused the liver injury, but they thought it important to warn the public that herb-induced severe liver injury might be more common than previously thought. It is interesting to note that “ten cases of hepatotoxicity implicating Camellia sinensis [ed - tea, such as in green tea extract] have been reported†also.
Ah, so in Finland all medicine must go through arduous testing and its ingredients listed and it can only be sold at a pharmacy. But as “herbal extracts” are not “medicine” but “foodstuffs” they don’t have to be pre-screened. So next time you go popping in a pill, do ask yourself do you believe in marketing or knowledge?
Who care’s. The liberal welfare state will put them in line for a new liver.
Comment by winter “Yea, Proton Power, now in remission†— Thu, Dec 27th, 2007 @ 3:21 pm
Finns need new livers because of ALKO stores..DUH!
Comment by infinndel — Thu, Dec 27th, 2007 @ 3:23 pm
Where is my Lapin Kulta…HICK!
Comment by infinndel — Thu, Dec 27th, 2007 @ 3:25 pm
Hank, unfortunately this is a result of placing regulation of products in the hands of a government body, which ultimately bears no responsibility for its wrong decisions. In this case, these problems have been known since before 1985. Yet in 1986…
“In 1986 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration thoroughly evaluated the Herbalife Program and issued a statement declaring that all of the Herbalife products were safe.”
http://www.lifemana.com/herbalife-faq.html#beentested
According to Stephen Barrett, M.D.,
“Vigorous FDA enforcement action at that time might well have stunted Herbalife’s growth.”
http://www.mlmwatch.org/04C/Herbalife/herbalife03.html
Yet testing monies still get diverted to these politically controlled government agencies—agencies that are obviously NOT unbiased.
I would much rather see money diverted to private testing organizations like Consumer Reports or Stiftung Warentest. These organizations already test thousands of products with results that inspire consumer confidence.
Not only are the tests more credible, but we could also expect a broader range of products to be tested; not merely what is deemed necessary according to politicians, whose decisions are usually influenced by drug companies.
In this case, it might have saved some lives. Very sad.
Comment by Kristian — Thu, Dec 27th, 2007 @ 4:08 pm
Helsingin sanomat, Kaleva and taloussanomat reported today. Old damaged livers may be useful in food called liverbox.
Product base Pyramid-marketing distributors claim that it is old little report by farmacian industry and only few case of millions.
- Are there millions users in ISR and SUI?
In Helsinginsanomat.fi news forum many ex herbalife users told their liver and also kidney problems. I hope this serious problem will take world wide warning.
Comment by anti-MLM Finn — Thu, Dec 27th, 2007 @ 4:20 pm
Aamulehti is reporting that cannabis is going to be made legal for medicinal use.
Comment by JG — Thu, Dec 27th, 2007 @ 5:46 pm
Did the poor bastards even lose weight?
Comment by Freeridin' Franklin — Thu, Dec 27th, 2007 @ 6:43 pm
Kristian:
“I would much rather see money diverted to private testing organizations like Consumer Reports or Stiftung Warentest.”
Not such a bad idea, but how would you ensure their impartiality? Let’s assume for a moment a market leader with $5 trillion of capital and a competitor with $5M.
And this might sound a bit harsh, but we need natural selection to slow our accelerating decline into idiocracy. Deadly MLM scams provide one mechanism.
Comment by Freeridin' Franklin — Thu, Dec 27th, 2007 @ 9:05 pm
“Not such a bad idea, but how would you ensure their impartiality? Let’s assume for a moment a market leader with $5 trillion of capital and a competitor with $5M.”
The testing organization can be sued, by consumers and companies alike, for disseminating false information. For example, if a $5M company feels that the private testing agency gave a $5T company an advantage, then the $5M can sue the testing agency in court.
Here are some other examples:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Reports#Lawsuits_vs._Consumers_Union
It’s worth considering that nearly EVERYTHING we use—toasters, components of cars, jet airplanes, etc.—are tested by private agencies.
So why can pharmaceuticals only be tested by a government agency, with politicians involved? Is it because we trust politicians?
Of course not. But we adhere to the illusion that it’s part of the ‘democratic process.’ In reality though, neither politicians nor governmental agencies suffer consequences from their errors of judgment, malfeasance or even from favoritism toward certain competitors.
That’s because when you vote for/against a politician, you vote for/against a ‘package deal’; not just because he drafted the right or wrong law pertaining to some particular pill or medication. In this regard, governmental testing is inherently flawed and provides the wrong solution.
Only testing by private agencies (more than one !) can provide impartial results.
Comment by Kristian — Thu, Dec 27th, 2007 @ 10:34 pm
“Did the poor bastards even lose weight?”
I’m sure they did. People in hospital usually do, especially if their liver is damaged, they turn yellow and have all time this nauseating feeling like the one you get by eating too much licorice.
There was similar case around here in Oulu. They sold some damned herbal product to a mother of a newborn. It was supposed to increase lactation but instead the mother ended up in hospital due to liver problems. They didn’t catch the cause on the first round. She got well, went back to home and started taking these pills again and almost died.
Yeah, it’s organic and natural so it can’t be dangerous. Just like the botulinum toxin, gyromitrin and curare.
Comment by Antti rn — Thu, Dec 27th, 2007 @ 11:05 pm
Gee, Darwin effect in full force. Can’t we just let it happen?
If I drink salt, or even sugar in bulk, what happens? Do I need mother government to tell me when I can buy salt by going in to see a doctor first?
Well, its off to McDonalds.
Comment by winter “Yea, Proton Power, now in remission†— Thu, Dec 27th, 2007 @ 11:47 pm
winnie:
“Gee, Darwin effect in full force. Can’t we just let it happen?”
I take it that you support complete legalisation of all currently illegal drugs? I have understood that you are not a nanny state supporter.
Comment by Freeridin' Franklin — Sun, Dec 30th, 2007 @ 4:41 am
Kristian:
“The testing organization can be sued, by consumers and companies alike, for disseminating false information.”
And if you have enough money, you can sue anyone into oblivion regardless of whether you have a case or not. Just ask the $cientologists. Isn’t the Free Market nifty?
Comment by Freeridin' Franklin — Sun, Dec 30th, 2007 @ 5:11 am
“And if you have enough money, you can sue anyone”
I recently spoke with some German acquaintances that sued the City of San Diego because their teenage son crashed his bicycle on some haphazardly placed railroad tracks. He broke some teeth and maybe a cheekbone.
They won. The lawyer took 25%. No costs (except for travel expenses) if they had lost. They are ecstatically singing the praises of the American system—they’re eastern Germans no less.
So, you think you’d have trouble finding a lawyer to sue a major private testing agency, based on contingency??? Me thinks you’d find teams of lawyers who’d compete for a high-profile case like that.
Comment by Kristian — Sun, Dec 30th, 2007 @ 5:48 am
For that matter, your company or product would benefit from the publicity, too. You really can’t lose.
Comment by Kristian — Sun, Dec 30th, 2007 @ 5:51 am
Kristian:
“For that matter, your company or product would benefit from the publicity, too. You really can’t lose.”
You can lose all your money and your business as you go bankrupt during the extended litigation. That’s what suing to oblivion means. Who cares if you’d eventually win as you run out of money years before that. You obviously didn’t get it at all.
Congratulations for you German friends on succesfully suing a public sector entity. They can be happy they didn’t sue the Church of Scientology.
Comment by Freeridin' Franklin — Mon, Dec 31st, 2007 @ 12:11 pm
“You can lose all your money and your business as you go bankrupt during the extended litigation. That’s what suing to oblivion means.”
Except that in this case, it’s your lawyers’ problem; you’d carry almost no expenses yourself, which places you in the stronger position.
Most likely though, the product testing agency would settle the dispute quickly to avoid bad publicity.
“You obviously didn’t get it at all.”
And you’ve never experienced anything like what we are discussing. I have.
Comment by Kristian — Mon, Dec 31st, 2007 @ 3:17 pm