Natural Life Threatening Medicines

Since the requirements to register natural supplements in Australia are far less stringent than those for pharmaceutical medicines, the Australian population effectively becomes the large scale drug testing cohort for the "natural" manufacturers. This week sees a Class One recall ("Class I defects are potentially life-threatening or could cause a serious risk to health") of a Herbal Health International product, Excite for women and Ultimates for men. Ultimates seems a most appropriate name, given the life-threatening nature of this "natural" product:

The products have been found to contain an analogue of sildenafil, a prescription only medicine, which could give rise to serious health consequences, especially for patients with existing medical conditions such as heart problems, or persons at risk of stroke.

This product was registered with the TGA. Which just shows that registration does not equate to safe, effective or necessary.