The U.S. Marshals have seized several dietary supplements that the FDA says contained Sibutramine, the active ingredient in Meridia, a drug that was withdrawn in the US in 2010.
According to an FDA video, "the ingredient sibutramine , which was pulled from the prescription drug market for increased risk of heart attack and stroke, has been found in weight-loss products. "
But despite warnings, the FDA says a company called Globe All Wellness was distributing dietary supplements containing Sibutramine from their Hollywood warehouse. The business was raided by the U.S. Marshals this week.
On the company's Facebook page they have pictures of the products that were seized by the government including, SlimXtreme, SlimXtreme Gold, Slim Plus, Slim Lee, Gel Slim, Slim Drops and Colonew.
Last year, the Department of Health and Human Services warned the owner of Globe All Wellness that he was violating the law by selling supplements that contained the banned substance but he allegedly continued selling them.
After many attempts to reach Globe All Wellness' owner, Eran Hamami, he told NBC 6 counterfeit versions of his product are giving him a bad name and that most of the pills seized by the government did not contain sibutramine.
The FDA warns that this is serious.
Howard Sklamberg, Director of the Office of Compliance for FDA's Center of Drug Evaluation and Research says: "companies that distribute products containing undisclosed drugs are not only breaking the law, they are putting consumers at risk."
The Chief of Emergency Medicine for Broward Health says consumers need to be aware of what ingredients are in the supplements they take. Dr. Nabil El Sanadi says sometimes unsuspecting consumers see advertisement for supplements and don't really know what is in them. "That's where the danger lies," says El Sanadi.
The FDA says so far no illnesses have been associated with Globe All's products but any side effects can be reported by calling 1-800-FDA-1088.