F D A REPORT ON WEIGHTLOSS PROGRAMS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 22, 2008
Media Inquiries:
Rita Chappelle, 240-753-8603
Consumer Inquiries:
888-INFO-FDA



FDA Warns Consumers About Tainted Weight Loss Pills
Agency seeks recall of products that pose serious health risks
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is alerting consumers nationwide not to purchase or consume more than 25 different products marketed for weight loss because they contain undeclared, active pharmaceutical ingredients that may put consumers’ health at risk.

The tainted weight loss products are:

Fatloss Slimming
2 Day Diet
3x Slimming Power

Japan Lingzhi 24 Hours Diet
5x Imelda Perfect Slimming
3 Day Diet

7 Day Herbal Slim
8 Factor Diet
7 Diet Day/Night Formula

999 Fitness Essence
Extrim Plus
GMP

Imelda Perfect Slim
Lida DaiDaihua
Miaozi Slim Capsules

Perfect Slim
Perfect Slim 5x
Phyto Shape

ProSlim Plus
Royal Slimming Formula
Slim 3 in 1

Slim Express 360
Slimtech
Somotrim

Superslim
TripleSlim
Zhen de Shou

Venom Hyperdrive 3.0




An FDA analysis found that the undeclared active pharmaceutical ingredients in some of these products include sibutramine (a controlled substance), rimonabant (a drug not approved for marketing in the United States), phenytoin (an anti-seizure medication), and phenolphthalein (a solution used in chemical experiments and a suspected cancer causing agent). Some of the amounts of active pharmaceutical ingredients far exceeded the FDA-recommended levels, putting consumers' health at risk.

These weight loss products, some of which are marketed as “dietary supplements,” are promoted and sold on various Web sites and in some retail stores. Some of the products claim to be “natural” or to contain only “herbal” ingredients, but actually contain potentially harmful ingredients not listed on the product labels or in promotional advertisements. These products have not been approved by the FDA, are illegal and may be potentially harmful to unsuspecting consumers.

The FDA advises consumers who have used any of these products to stop taking them and consult their healthcare professional immediately. The FDA encourages consumers to seek guidance from a healthcare professional before purchasing weight loss products.

“These tainted weight loss products pose a great risk to public health because they contain undeclared ingredients and, in some cases, contain prescription drugs in amounts that greatly exceed their maximum recommended dosages,” said Janet Woodcock, M.D., director, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, FDA. “Consumers have no way of knowing that these products contain powerful drugs that could cause serious health consequences. Therefore FDA is taking this action to protect the health of the American public.”

The FDA has inspected a number of companies associated with the sale of these illegal products, and is currently seeking product recalls. Based on the FDA’s inspections and the companies’ inadequate responses to recall requests, the FDA may take additional enforcement steps, such as issuing warning letters or initiating seizures, injunctions, or criminal charges.

The health risks posed by these products can be serious; for example, sibutramine, which was found in many of the products, can cause high blood pressure, seizures, tachycardia, palpitations, heart attack or stroke. This drug can also interact with other medications that patients may be taking and increase their risk of adverse drug events. The safety of sibutramine has also not been established in pregnant and lactating women, or in children younger than 16 years of age.

Rimonabant, another ingredient found in these products, was evaluated, but not approved by the FDA for marketing in the United States. The drug, which is approved in Europe, has been associated with increased risk of depression and suicidal thoughts and has been linked to five deaths and 720 adverse reactions in Europe over the last two years.

Health care professionals and consumers should report serious adverse events (side effects) or product quality problems to the FDA’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program either online, by regular mail, fax or phone.

Online: www.fda.gov/MedWatch/report.htm
Regular Mail: use postage-paid FDA form 3500 available at: www.fda.gov/MedWatch/getforms.htm and mail to MedWatch, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852-9787
Fax: (800) FDA-0178
Phone: (800) FDA-1088
Information for consumers can be found at:
http://www.fda.gov/cder/consumerinfo/weight_loss_products.htm

To learn more about FDA’s initiative against unapproved drugs read FDA’s Compliance Policy Guide here: http://www.fda.gov/cder/Guidance/6911fnl.htm.

For drug safety information, read: FDA's Drug Safety Initiative

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SIX FIGURE INCOME ONLINE.

SUBJECT 1: Discover how a Blog can make you $10,000 a month
SUBJECT 2: The secrets of a six-figure blogger revealed
SUBJECT 3: Amazing video - you have to watch this...

If you have ever wondered how someone makes a
six-figure income online using a blog, I have
a video you just HAVE to watch.

Here's the link:

http://www.blogmastermind.com/affiliates/index.php?af=817261&u=http://www.blogmastermind.com/video

Yaro Starak, a well-respected blogger and blog
trainer, released a free video that takes you
inside his Internet business, which is based on
just one blog.

Using his blog, Yaro generates a steady $10,000 to
$20,000 each and every month.

His system is not your usual story of using a blog
and sticking AdSense on it - he's taken a much
more BUSINESS focused approach.

He calls his system "Conversion Blogging"
because it combines a blog with an email list to
create consistent income.

Inside the video you will learn -

- Why blogs are the only Web 2.0 marketing tool
you will ever need

- Exactly how Yaro uses his blog to build a
MASSIVE email list

- How just a blog can turn you into the No. 1
authority in your market

- What methods Yaro uses to translate his blog
into a steady cash-flow stream

- How you can replicate Yaro's methods using just
one blog and get started in minutes

I loved this video because it's not full of
marketing hype, just a very down to earth and
practical presentation.

I guarantee you will enjoy this and learn something
too.

Set aside 32 minutes now, grab a drink, sit down
and watch this video -

http://www.blogmastermind.com/affiliates/index.php?af=817261&u=http://www.blogmastermind.com/video

Bye for now,

Stuart

Reporter vs Expert - Why Most Bloggers Are Stuck Reporting

There are basically two types of bloggers in the world - reporters and experts - and some people perform both roles (usually the experts, it’s hard for reporters to become experts, but it’s easy for experts to report).

If you have ever taken an Internet marketing course or attended a seminar specifically for beginners, you have probably heard about the two different methodologies. Whenever the business model is based on content, and if you blog for money then the model is based on content, people are taught to either start as reporters, or if possible step up as experts.

I’ll be frank; you want to be the expert.

Reporters leverage the content of the experts and in most cases people start off as reporters because they haven’t established expertise. Experts enjoy the perks of preeminence, higher conversion rates because of perceived value, it’s easier to get publicity, people are more likely to seek you out rather than you having to seek others out, joint ventures come easier, etc… experts in most cases simply make more money and attract more attention.

Most Bloggers Are Reporters

The thing with expertise is that it requires something - experience. No person becomes an expert without doing things and learning. Bloggers usually start out without expertise and as a result begin their blogging journey by talking about everything going on in their niche (reporting) and by interviewing and talking about other experts (reporting again).

There’s nothing wrong with reporting of course and for many people it’s a necessity at first until you build up some expertise. Unfortunately the ratios are pretty skewed when it comes to reporters and experts - there are a lot more reporters than there are experts, hence reporters tend to struggle to gain attention and when they do, they often just enhance the reputation of the expert they are reporting on.

Don’t Replicate Your Teacher

If you have ever spent some time browsing products in the learn Internet marketing niche you will notice a pattern. Many people first study Internet marketing from a “guru” (for lack of a better term). The guru teaches how he or she is able to make money online, and very often the view that the student gleams is that in order to make money online you have to teach others how to make money online.

The end result of this process is a huge army of amateurs attempting to replicate what their teacher does in the same industry - the Internet marketing industry - not realizing that without expert status based on a proven record and all the perks that come with it, it’s next to impossible to succeed.

Even people, who enjoy marginal success, say for example growing an email list of 1,000 people, then go out and launch a product about how to grow an email list of 1,000 people. Now I have no problems with that, I think it’s fine to teach beginners and leverage whatever achievements you have, the problem is that people gravitate to the same niche - Internet marketing - and rarely have any key points of differentiation.

How many products out there do you know of that all claim to teach the same things - email marketing, SEO, pay per click, affiliate marketing, and all the sub-niches that fall under the category of Internet marketing. It’s a saturated market, yet when you see your teachers and other gurus making money teaching others how to make money (and let’s face it - making money as a subject is one of the most compelling) - your natural inclination is to follow in their footsteps.

If the key is to become an expert and you haven’t spent the last 5-10 years making money online, I suggest you look for another niche to establish expertise in.

Report on Your Process, Not Others

The secret to progress from reporter to expert is not to focus on other experts and instead report on your own journey. When you are learning how to do something and implementing things day by day, or studying other people’s work, you need to take your process and what you do as a result of what you learn, and use it as content for your blog.

It’s okay to talk about experts when you learn something from them, but always relate it to what you are doing. If you learn a technique from an expert it’s fine to state you learned it from them (and affiliate link to their product too!) but you should then take that technique, apply it to what you are doing and then report back YOUR results, not there’s. Frame things using your opinion - your stories - and don’t regurgitate what the expert said. The key is differentiation and personality, not replication.

Expertise comes from doing things most people don’t do and then talking about it. If you do this often enough you wake up one day as an expert, possibly without even realizing how it happened, simply because you were so good at reporting what you did.

You Are Already An Expert

Most people fail to become experts (or perceived as experts) because they don’t leverage what they already know. Every person who lives a life learns things as they go, takes action every day and knows something about something. The reason why they never become an expert is because they choose not to (which is fine for some, not everyone wants to be an expert), but if your goal is to blog your way to expertise and leave the world of reporting behind you have to start teaching and doing so by leveraging real experience.

Experience can come from what you do today and what you have done previously; you just need to take enough steps to demonstrate what you already know and what you are presently learning along your journey. I know so many people in my life, who are experts simply by virtue of the life they have lived, yet they are so insecure about what they know, they never commit their knowledge to words for fear of…well fear.

Blogs and the Web in general, are amazing resources when you leverage them as a communication tool to spread your expertise because of the sheer scope of people they can reach. If all you ever do is talk to people in person and share your experience using limited communication mediums, you haven’t much hope of becoming an expert. Take what you know and show other people through blogging, and you might be surprised how people change their perception of you in time.

Reporting Is A Stepping Stone

If your previous experience and expertise is from an area you want to leave behind or you are starting from “scratch”, then reporting is the path you must walk, at least for the short term.

Reporting is a lot of fun. Interviewing experts, talking about what other people are doing and just being part of a community is not a bad way to blog. In many cases people make a career of reporting (journalism is about just that), but if you truly want success and exponential results, at some point you will have to stand up and proclaim yourself as someone unusually good at something and then proceed to demonstrate it over and over again.

Have patience and focus on what you do to learn and then translate that experience into lessons for others, and remember, it’s okay to be a big fish in a small pond, that’s all most experts really are.

This article was by Yaro Starak, a professional blogger and my blog mentor. He is the leader of the Blog Mastermind mentoring program designed to teach bloggers how to earn a full time income blogging part time.

To get more information about Blog Mastermind click this link:

www.BlogMastermind.com

HUB PAGE ON HERBS

I've been trying to write a hub page on herbal useage in history this week, but I have been finding it difficult to concentrate. I find that if you haven't got a place and time were you arn't going to be disturbed, you will find it hard to come up with worth while content.

There has been some interesting controversy in this country this week with the truckies protesting againest the government introducing an increase in road user charges for the transport sector. So they took a leaf out of their european counterparts and put rolling blockades through our main cities for a couple of hours.It was quite a sight to see, and going by what I have heard from some of the drivers that come into work, this may not be the last. We might see an escalation of these tactics.

FREE [NO-MORE]

As you can probaly see this blog has no specific theme, I seem to ramble on about this and that every now and then. That is because I use this blog as a test site for idea's and sometimes to vent my spleen over some subject.

I have been trying to see what I can do without having to actually have to pay for something on the net, But I have decided to purchase my own site so I can expand, As my wife and I will be starting a website as a business and we want a bit more freedom of choice in what we can do,e.g. different pages-plugins-etc.

To acheive this end we applied for a creditcard the other week, but we were turned down. That I can't understand as we bring in a reasonable income each week and our out goings are not that great amount each week and they keep pushing their advertising down our throats.

So we have decided to go with plan B, A debit card,

This we will use online as well as have it as a seperate account and only have enough in there to cover small costs, but i'f we have to we can just deposit more funds- simple A.

I think I will keep this as a free site, just to play around with a few things , so if you are reading this and you have a pet peeve and want too here somebody elses veiws on it feel free to post a comment and I will do my best even if I have to research the subject if I feel I don't knbow enough.

O.D.

CLEAN & GREEN [Yea Right]

Governments go on about the Kyoto Emissions protocol shcemes, but they don't seem to put their [OUR] money where their mouths are as they seem to be scared of either loosing their support from big companies with the almighty dollar, especially if they have a election looming & they think it could cost them their cushy job's.

These CARBON EMISSIONS SCHEMES that they have come up with that they say will cut emissions & benefit the average person are a load of CODSWALLOP. All it is going to acheive is it will drive up prices of every day items so far that people will have to go deeper into debt just to survive.

So I say to all governments ,PULL YOUR HEADS OUT OF YOUR COLLECTIVE REARS and do something constructive that will be a definate benefit to mankind instead of worrying wether you have offended someone & worrying on how you will justify your cushy job.


One possible solution that springs to mind is a way to cut vehicle emissions, &one possible solution is to take a leaf out of history.Adolf hitler took a chance & he produced the VW BEETLE
& look how that turned out lasting up to now. So why can't government's either band togethor or go it alone & produce a cheap vehicle {most likely a hybrid} & run a scheme where as your car reahes a certain age they let you either swap your car for a new hybrid or trade in your old one with a discount on a new one or payment plan.

They would have to look at the possibility of operating at either a loss or just break even, either way they will have a win win situation.

But in the end it will never happen because they are too occupied with covering their own rears and trying to justify their own existance. Because without getting their name in the media often polititions seem to disappear into the wood work, and so they come up with ridiculous and unworkable laws just to exist.

O.D.

PC-ISM

PC-ISM or to use the correct term political correctness is what I call thje biggest load of codswallop that I have ever come across.

It is a term that actually means nothing, it is supposed to mean that you don't say or write something that is going to upset someone or a minority group. What I say to that is get hard because in this day and age there is no such thing as a minority as everyone is out for themselves.

I may sound cynical but just take some time and look around you especially if you live in a town or city. Everyone is looking for any way to get the advantage over every other person.

So what has happened to commen courtesy, is modern man so wrapped up in their own pathetic little world that they have to come up with these terms to either make themselves look important or justify their existence.

And as for politicions, 90% of them arn't worth the effort of even saying their names, because they just sit there in the debating chambers calling each other names when they should be discussing how to make the countries populations lives a lot easier and more full filling. what they also do is think up ridiculous new laws just to justify their exitence in government and to make it look like they are actually doing somework, when most of the time what they come up with 98% of the population say no to.

O.D.