REFILE-Brazilians worst abusers of diet pills, UN says
01 Mar 2007 21:39:04 GMT Source: Reuters
(Refiles to add dropped word "all" in paragraph 8) BRASILIA, March 1 (Reuters) - Brazilians are the world's worst abusers of diet pills and the biggest producers of two potentially dangerous weight-loss drugs, a study by the International Narcotics Control Board said on Thursday. Per-capita consumption of diet drugs, or anorectics, is almost 40 percent higher in Brazil than in the United States, according to the INCB, which is in charge of implementing U.N. drug conventions. The top five users, in order, were Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, the United States and Singapore. "Anorectics are being used indiscriminately to feed the slimming obsession that affects some societies," INCB President Philip Emafo said in a statement. "Effective intervention by local competent authorities is a must." The INCB study came just three months after 21-year-old Brazilian model Ana Carolina Resto died of complications from the eating disorder anorexia, shocking Brazilians and feeding into a global debate over the ethics of using super-thin models in the fashion world. Thin is increasingly the fashion in Brazil, a country long known for its sensuality and skimpy beachwear. Many top models now come from Brazil and young girls from all social classes dream of the catwalk, inspired by the international success of Brazilian supermodels like Gisele Bundchen. Resto weighed just 88 pounds (40 kg), a normal body weight for a 12-year-old, when she died. Her death followed the collapse and fatal heart failure of Uruguayan supermodel Luisel Ramos during a fashion show in Montevideo. The INCB said Brazil was the world's largest producer of two of the most widely used anorectics -- fenproporex and amfepramone -- almost all of which are consumed in Brazil. Anorectics can cause panic, aggression, hallucinations, convulsions, coma and death when used to excess. Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers to avoid Brazilian-made brand-name diet drugs Herbathin and Emagrece Sim (Get Slim for Sure) after they were found to contain controlled substances, including the active ingredient of the anti-depressant Prozac.
