The Department of Health appealed yesterday to the public to temporarily refrain from using drugs containing phenylpropanolamine (PPA) after the US took steps to remove PPA from all drug products on Monday.
"We need to understand more about the side effects of PPA and let the public know whether Taiwan will ban PPA or not," said Oliver Hu (
The US Food and Drug Administration issued a public health advisory concerning the risk of hemorrhagic stroke -- or bleeding into the brain -- associated with PPA hydrochloride. Scientists at Yale University School of Medicine conducted a study in which researchers found an association between PPA use and strokes in women. An increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke in the three days after taking the medicine was detected among women using the drug for weight control and for nasal decongestion. Men may also be at risk.
Hu said European countries and Japan are also considering the matter, but have not yet followed America in banning drugs with PPA.
"In the interests of public health, we appeal to the public not to use drugs containing PPA before the department's research comes out," he stressed.
According to the department's statistics, there are around 460 drugs for weight loss and colds containing PPA. In the past, all approved diet drugs contained PPA.
The department held a press conference yesterday to announce the approval of a new medicine, Orlistat, as a prescription diet drug that contains no PPA.
"This drug is not over-the-counter and has its side effects. But many people are interested in it. That's why we'd like to remind people to use it with care," said Lee Ming-liang (
Lee said Orlistat can be used for up to two years, but patients need to replenish Vitamins A, D, E and K while taking the drug.
Pregnant women, the elderly and people whose liver, kidney or digestive functions are weak, or whose bile secretion is insufficient are advised not to use Orlistat, Lee said.
"Over 90 percent of users will have gastrointestinal problems and their excrement will become very oily," said Larry Ho (
Ho said the resultant flatulence and anal seepage when using the drug could also lead potentially to hygiene problems. The function of Orlistat is to prevent the intestines and stomach from absorbing fat from food. Unabsorbed oil is then excreted from the body.
Ho said clinical experiments in other countries had been conducted to prove the effect of Orlistat. Forty-one people in Taiwan have also tested it. "Average weight loss was around 4kg," Ho said. "But diet control, as well as the drug, plays an important role in losing weight."
"Its optimum effect is to reduce 10 percent of body weight," Ho said. "Any medicine which claims to lose more than 10 percent of weight is misleading customers."
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2