Report cites increasing unmonitored use of addictive diet pills

By Kim Boram

SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Yonhap) -- Production of addictive diet pills has increased more than 15 fold over the past five years with almost no monitoring in place against their abuse, a report said Thursday.

More than 130 million tablets of appetite-suppressant drugs, including the
chemicals phentermine and phendimetrazine, were produced last year, up from 9
million in 2003, according to the report by the Korea Food and Drug
Administration (KFDA) to opposition lawmaker Jeon Hyun-hee.
But experts say Korea's pharmaceutical watchdog has not properly monitored the
abuse or misuse of the drugs, which, if taken for more than four weeks or in
combination with other medications such as anti-depressants, could lead to
suicide or serious physical and psychological problems.
Since 2005, the KFDA has inspected 353 pharmacies and found 94 stores selling the
diet pills without explaining possible side effects to customers. The agency went
only so far as to send these pharmacies letters recommending they rectify the
problem, the report said.
The Korea Pharmacists for Democratic Society (KPDS), a civic group which
conducted research on the abuse of diet pills last year, said that 40 percent of
dieters take appetite suppressants for longer than the prescribed four weeks and
99 percent mix their usage with an average of 5.5 other kinds of medications or
supplements.
"There have been no reported cases of suicide from addictive diet pills," Shin
Hyun-keun, director of KPDS, told Yonhap. "But it is true that people may feel a
strong desire to kill themselves when taking these drugs for a long time or with
other medications."
"Mailings and recommendations are not enough to prevent the misuse or abuse of
appetite suppressants," said Jeon. "The government must come up with a long-term
and specific plan for the proper use of diet treatments and introduce systematic
management with continuous monitoring."