Penis Pills a health hazard?
 

Seekers of manhood in a bottle could be gulping down E. coli
By Julia Angwin
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

NANAIMO, British Columbia - On the main street of this former coal-mining town is the headquarters of Performance Marketing Ltd., one of the world's purveyors of so-called penis-enlargement pills.

Once relegated to the back pages of dirty magazines, Performance Marketing and its rivals - with help from e-mail marketing partners - are now among the pushiest of all pill pushers.

But don't bank on the promised "3 inches." There is no scientific evidence that any pill can enlarge the penis, says Franklin C. Lowe, professor of clinical urology at Columbia University.

"If it were legitimate," he says, "I'd be a billionaire."

What some customers might get from Performance Marketing's pills is a less-than-sexy dose of bacteria and other contaminants. Commissioned by The Wall Street Journal, Flora Research of San Juan Capistrano, Calif., conducted an independent laboratory analysis of a composite sample of 10 Performance Marketing pills and turned up significant levels of E. coli, yeast, mold, lead and pesticide residues.

The amount of E. coli bacteria - 16,300 colony-forming units per gram - appears to be particularly high, experts say.

"I think it's safe to say it has heavy fecal contamination," said Dr. Michael Donnenberg, head of the infectious-diseases department at the University of Maryland. Although E. coli won't necessarily make you sick, Donnenberg says fecal matter, which might have come from animals grazing near herbal ingredients harvested for the pills, is prime breeding ground for all sorts of viruses, parasites and bacteria.

When presented with the test results, the company said it would investigate the quality of the pills provided by its third-party manufacturer.

Performance Marketing President Kevin Atkinson said, "Performance Marketing is dedicated to ensuring only the highest quality."

Many buyers of Performance Marketing's pills are in the United States, where the Food and Drug Administration doesn't regulate such supplements. Canada, which requires that any product making health claims must be approved by the government, hasn't approved sales of the pills.

In March, Canadian authorities blocked Performance Marketing from receiving a shipment of product until it removed all claims regarding sexual impotence from its Web site. Once the company complied, the shipment was allowed to go through, said Krista Apse, spokeswoman for the national health department.

Performance Marketing, which markets its pills on its Web site Americas-Drugstore.
com and distributes its pills through a subsidiary called American Pharma, has grown to 25 employees from just one in the past year and a half, and employees work in shifts shipping out bottles of pills around the clock.

"Before we got started four years ago, I thought the Internet was over," says the company's 32-year-old founder, Duane Gartman. "Now I realize it's just the beginning. ? I think this is a gold rush, and I want to stake my land."

The company was incorporated in 1999, and for 2000 it reported sales of $311,000 at current exchange rates, according to records kept by Dun & Bradstreet. Gartman declined to comment on current sales figures.

The Optimum pills are advertised as containing herbs such as ginkgo biloba, Korean red ginseng and saw palmetto. "Optimum penis enlargement products are a 100 percent safe and natural penis enlargement pill that is guaranteed to increase penis size by an average of 28 percent," the Web site proclaims.

The Journal's independent analysis concluded that the capsules did contain ginkgo and ginseng. (In the proper doses, both can increase blood flow to the penis to help treat impotence, said Mark Blumenthal, executive director of the American Botanical Council.) The results on saw palmetto were inconclusive. However, the analysis also revealed the presence of bacteria, heavy metals and pesticide residues.

The pills far exceed suggested limits set by ConsumerLab.com LLC, an independent rating agency for the nutritional-supplement industry, for coliform, a type of bacteria that can indicate contamination from water or feces.

"You'd probably be spending more time in the bathroom than the bedroom with this product," says Tod Cooperman, president of ConsumerLab.com. Yeast and mold counts also exceeded
ConsumerLab.com's limits.

The amount of lead in a daily dose of three Optimum pills surpassed the limit set by California's strict labeling laws for "chemicals causing reproductive toxicity."

If they were really a Health Hazard...wouldn't the FDA have stepped in by now? Seems like a pretty big thing for them to have overlooked, or am I missing something here?

That's a pretty Damning report. Fortunately the article actually does say that it will increase blood flow to the penis. All Performance Marketing has to do is clean up the contaniments. Also, my biggest concern about the increased blood flow would be it you got in a car wreck or something. But I guess if you lost your arm you could just cut your penis off and attach it to your shoulder.

Supplements have very little regulation and selling penis pills is fraud because they dont perform as promised and it reflects badly on all of us. Everytime they mention these do nothing and harmful to you penis pills the adult industry is mentioned in the same breathe.

well fucking DUHHHHHH :-P

if it ain't endorsed by the FDA I don't touch the shit.

and those who sell penis pills that give cancer to everyone could probably expect some massive lawsuits in the future :2cents

I love how some draw moral lines. Sell penis pills bad /Sell teen porn cool/ Everything has social or health repercussions its just a matter of to what degree.
The article states "third party manufaturer" so in this case the pep company purchased from a sorce that they trusted. No one in thier right mind would sell "e-coli pills " so they got burned by a maufacturer. Lets see you get a fake ID OHH MY she's fucking 15 yrs old did you know? Was that your fault, or does it come with the teritory.
Penis pills deliver a result /wether its increased confidence or moderate gains.
Cheaters in any industry are going to go down.

The article also clearly says internet marketers not the online adult business. Many market on the net that have nothing to do with porn Pep pills are a crossover product the majority who by are fitness types those with vanity issues and are familiar with suppliments.

I have had a great relationship with adultwebmasters and will continue to do so. I also feel that a bad seed is a bad seed no matter what the product or industry. I have my products tested from time to time to see that what i get delivered is what i ordered. Once two testers came back with different results from the same capsule. After much confusion it was the testers fault so you can only do your best. (Like check the ID twice and keep your records but if it gets by you ?)

rant* thanks

shit, just buy some ginkgo and ginseng!

They just gave out the receipe! !:1orglaugh

:eek7

good point, unless FDA come out with their own investigation, enlargement pills will keep on spamming us :1orglaugh

The ingredients in them do have certain qualities that have been noted for hundreds of years. However, this grow 3 inches shit is retarded. It's the same exact stuff in that pill as the one that is like herbal viagra. The get a bigger dick is a lie.

Either way they are pretty dangerous.

Snake oil was sold in the 1800's and it will be sold for years to come-

Penis pills...the most ridiculous thing since the pet rock. Regarding actual penis growth anyway.

wasnt punkworld on some challenge regarding this?

hows the test coming along punkworld?

good point, he was meant to be using our system, meant to reporting to me daily... not heard a word since.

It's got LEAD in it. That's awful! bad bad bad. But if people buy things like that and expect them to work...?

I signed up for your program yesterday, really nice looking stuff man, unique and clean.

:winkwink:

tks man

just launched www.200sexpositions.com as well, recurring site :)

Super nice man.

:thumbsup