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Health and medicine

Two diet pills from Brazil found unsafe

WASHINGTON - The FDA warned consumers Friday not to use two illegal Brazilian diet pills because testing has revealed they may contain tranquilizers, antidepressants and stimulants.

The pills are sold over the Web as Emagrece Sim, or the Brazilian Diet Pill, and Herbathin, the Food and Drug Administration said. The pills are billed as all-natural but may contain active ingredients, including controlled substances, found in prescription drugs like Librium and Prozac.

Their use can lead to serious side effects or injury, the FDA said. The active ingredient in Librium, chlordiazepoxide, can be habit-forming. Another ingredient in the pills, Fenproporex, is a stimulant that the body converts to amphetamine.

Users of the diet pills have flunked drug tests after their urine tested positive for amphetamines, said Terry Hall, laboratory director of Toxicology Testing Service Inc. in Miami.

The pills are typically sold in kits, containing two varieties of capsules, with different "levels" to be used at different stages of a weight-loss regimen, the FDA said.

The FDA said the pills are imported and distributed by two Florida companies, Emagrece Sim Laboratories Inc. of Miami, and EMIEX Corp. of Doral. No telephone listing for Emagrece Sim Laboratories Inc. could be found.

Eduardo Ramos, president of EMIEX, said his company acted as the agent for the Brazilian manufacturer of the pills.

The company has no further plans to import the pills, said Ramos, adding that he had been told they were "100 percent natural."

"I know it works. They gave me one bottle. I lost like 15 pounds in less than a month. I had no side effects other than dry mouth," said Ramos, who slimmed down to 215 pounds but stopped taking the pills after hearing news reports on the risks.

[Last modified January 14, 2006, 01:39:15]