Karma at Work: Baldness Cure Linked to Impotence

A civil suit has been filed by men in Canada and the United States again Merck & Co., makers of the baldness drug Propecia, which the plaintiffs say has killed their sex drive. Propecia contains the ingredient finasteride, originally used to fight prostate enlargement and now commonly found in products to slow effects of male pattern baldness, is known to have sexual side effects. But plaintiffs claim the pharmaceutical company failed to warn users of that fact in North America.

"...in some men - not all - these side effects are persistent," Boston University biochemistry and urology professor Abdulmaged M. Traish told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

What finasteride does is it blocks testosterone production, thus protecting hair follicles whilst simultaneously stunting sexual function. The company insists that impotence, should it occur, is usually temporary, and that only about 2% of users experience it. However, some researchers have seen men suffer the effects for at least 10 years, hardly a temporary condition.

The Sweden Medical Product Agency has issued a public warning for Propecia, while warning labels in the United Kingdom and Italy have also been altered.

The lawsuit is in part a class action suit led by a young Vancouver man.

"After about three weeks all hell broke loose. I more or less became completely impotent," a 26 year old man from Edinburgh, Scotland sad to the BBC.






...As a woman, it may seem insensitive to laugh at someone's pain. As a fan of Seinfeld, however, this just cracks me up!