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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
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2 2 - 1 1 - 2 0 0 7 Corporate-sponsored drug abuse
Manila Standard Today
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, a company named Allergan [Webstek] developed a drug to cure eyelid spasms and other neuromuscular problems. Effective as the drug may be, it was more profitable in the cosmetic market as a wrinkle smoothener.
The controversial drug was called Botox and it would become both famous and infamous. A woman whose face looked like it would crack in a thousand different places every time she attempts a smile became the Botox symbol.
Today, Allergan is steeped in controversy once more.
In 1996, a specialist name Murray Johnstone noticed a strange side effect among patients using Lumigan, Allergan’s drug for treating glaucoma—they grew longer eyelashes. Bimatoprost, a type of prostaglandin, or PGF, is the active ingredient of Lumigan. He also noticed the same side effect among patients using other brands of glaucoma drugs containing prostaglandin.
Johnstone applied for a patent for his discovery and thereafter granted the license to Allergan.
The problem is, before Allergan could start selling Lumigan in earnest as a cosmetic for growing longer eyelashes, in much the same way that it marketed Botox as an anti-wrinkle treatment, seven other companies beat Allergan to it.
So Allergan sued Cayman Chemical, PhotoMedex, Athena Cosmetics, DermaQuest, Intuit Beauty, Jan Marini Skin Research and Civic Center Pharmacy—all United States companies—for patent infringement.
The bigger problem is that all seven companies had been selling the eyelash lengthener, some since 2005, without the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration. When Allergan sued all seven companies, a crackdown followed and the USFDA seized $2 million worth of Jan Marini’s Age Intervention Eyelash Conditioner. It appears that when used the wrong way, bimatoprost may cause nerve damage that can lead to blindness. And using it like a mascara is the wrong way.
You’re probably thinking—right, who would want long eyelashes if it means going blind? Probably the same kind of people who would rather look like china dolls suffering from facial paralysis.
It’s drug abuse, all right, but of a different kind. Botox and Lumigan are not even unique cases. Drugs have been used for purposes other than what they were intended for in the more distant past and users, especially abusers, have brushed aside concerns about possible side effects.
Think steroids.
Anabolic steroids, at least the ones that athletes commonly use, are synthetic modifications of hormones, specifically of the male hormone testosterone. Medical uses include the treatment of certain kinds of anemia, replacement therapy for testosterone deficiency among men, helping Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome patients maintain muscle mass and reduce muscle wasting. And precisely because the effect is to build muscle tissue and increase body mass, steroid became the “juice” of athletes.
Although the long-term effects of steroid abuse have not been the subject of thorough study, it is common sense to realize that taking drugs—any drug—other than for their intended use, and especially when the body does not need them, can be more harmful than beneficial.
All that got me thinking. Every day, we read, see and hear advertisements for all kinds of multi-vitamins and supplements in tablet form most of which, if not all, contain synthetic ingredients— chemicals, in other words, that are introduced to the body.
If we stretch it even further, we should include infant formula, too, which is saturated with so-called growth enhancers and brains developers which, in truth, are chemicals too rather than naturally extracted vitamins and minerals.
It’s easy to say it’s stupid for women to ignore potential hazards of a drug just to feed their vanity. It’s just as easy to say it’s stupid for athletes to risk their lives for a few years of glory.
But what about the rest of the people who take tablets and formulas day in and day out because they genuinely believe that is the path to healthy lives? Are they being duped?
Look at it this way. You take a calcium tablet that says it contains all the calcium that an average person requires for an entire day and you take the tablet every single day for, say, a year.
Sounds good? Okay, let’s say you’re a post-menopausal woman who drinks high-calcium milk as well because adverts and media are screaming all over that you’re likely to succumb to osteoporosis and it scares you shitless to walk with a stick and your back bent before reaching the age of 60. Well, it’s not as though you don’t eat regular food. It’s not like you don’t get any calcium at all from a normal healthy diet.
It might be relevant to point out that most people who are so into vitamin and mineral supplements are the same people who cannot be too careful about the food they eat. The logical result is the intake of more calcium than the body requires.
You think that’s good? You should read up on what happens to people who overdose on calcium. I know, I know—all those adverts on calcium supplements and high-calcium milk do not even hint that there is such a thing as calcium overdose. Oh, but there is. There most certainly is and the symptoms are not negligible. In fact, they can lead to serious complications.
So, okay, we hear all about every modern government’s campaign against manufacturers, dealers and users of drugs like cocaine, heroin and even marijuana. But is there a campaign against drug companies who misrepresent the benefits of their products and who do not inform the public of the dangers of misuse and overuse? It doesn’t make matters any simpler that the line between drugs and cosmetics is getting fuzzier and fuzzier every day.
Well, criminals come in every shape and size. Some operate from dark basements; others, from swanky office buildings. Some associate exclusively with shady street characters; others, with high government officials. Some drug dealers sell their stuff illicitly on streets corners; others, in stores, hospitals and even in doctors’ clinics.
Whoever said that the world is a black and white affair must have been using eyelash lengtheners for far too long.
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