(NaturalNews) Perhaps the only thing worse than a population not motivated to cut the size of its collective waistline is approving a “weight-loss” medication that may cause cancer.
A sick joke, right? Wrong.
For the first time in 13 years (thank Big Pharma and Big Lawsuits), the U.S. government has approved a weight-loss medication. The Food and Drug Administration has given the go-ahead to Arena Pharmaceutical, of Zofingen, Switzerland, to manufacture Belviq, a drug which, according to reports, can be utilized by overweight or obese adults with at least one of those conditions.
In clinical trials, the BBC reported, the drug achieved only “modest” results, helping folks lose an average of about five percent of body weight. To put that in perspective, someone who weighed 225 pounds (but maybe should only weigh about 170) only lost about 11 pounds.
But here’s the rub: Not only does the drug appear to only minimally affect obesity, it’s potentially deadly as well. It was rejected by the FDA in 2010 because officials were concerned about tumors that had developed in animals tested with the drug.
However, somehow after the San Diego-based Big Pharma resubmitted its application with more information, the FDA suddenly found “little risk of tumors in humans using the drug,” the BBC reported. Now, the medication is expected to launch in 2013.
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/036384_weight_loss_drug_FDA.html#ixzz1zm3fr95E
