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Zambia bans 'Viagra' energy drink it’s been exporting to Uganda
SX Energy Natural Power drink, produced by Revin Zambia, is exported around the region including to Uganda, where a consumer recently complained of a prolonged erection and profuse sweating.
What you need to know:
- The energy drink is manufactured in Zambia by Zevin Zambia Limited. The complainant, according to NDA experienced “prolonged erection for nearly six hours and abnormal heart beat” after taking the energy drink.
Authorities in Zambia have banned an energy drink after laboratory results showed that it contained the active ingredient of the anti-impotence drug Viagra.
SX Energy Natural Power drink, produced by Revin Zambia, is exported around the region including to Uganda, where a consumer recently complained of a prolonged erection and profuse sweating.
In a statement late on Wednesday authorities in the Zambian city of Ndola where the manufacturer is based, ordered "a product recall of natural high energy drink SX".
READ:
UNBS probes ‘Viagra’ energy drink
The alleged adulteration of Natural Power SX with Viagra comes at the time when NDA has warned that Viagra is being mixed in herbal medicine by herbalists
Ndola city spokesperson Tilyenji Mwanza said in the statement that results from Zimbabwe and South Africa correlated with those from tests conducted in Zambia which indicated "a positive presence of Sildenafil Citrate".
In December last year, the medicine regulatory authority said that the drink was adulterated with Sildenafil Citrate - a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction and dispensed under the brand name Viagra.
Revin Zambia officials were not immediately available to comment.
Early this year, Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) said it was investigating the energy drink over allegations of causing abnormal erections among men.
This followed a complaint from a consumer who reportedly developed an erection that lasted to six hours after taking the drink.
According to laboratory tests by Uganda’s National Drug Authority (NDA), Natural Power SX contains Sildenafil Citrate, which is branded and marketed as Viagra.
NDA in a December 28 letter signed by Mr David Nahamya on behalf of the secretary to the Authority, Ms Donna Kusemererwa, reported to the UNBS Executive Director, Dr Ben Manyindo that the complainant alleged that after taking the drink, he had prolonged erection and irregular heart beat with constant sweating.
