Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, is asking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to immediately ban the anti-obesity drug Meridia, blaming it for twenty-nine deaths and hundreds of cases of serious side effects. In a petition filed with the FDA yesterday, Public Citizen described Meridia as "needlessly dangerous." The government watchdog says the drug contributes to major cardiovascular disease and is ineffective in lowering obesity.

The petition comes just days after two patients in Britain taking Meridia died of heart problems. Earlier this month, Italy's Health Ministry suspended the sale of products containing sibutramine, the primary ingredient in Meridia, after fifty "adverse events" were associated with the drug. Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, says the drug should never have been allowed on the market. Meridia was approved in 1997 even after a FDA panel voted 5-4 that the benefits of the drug did not outweigh the risks. An estimated 9 million patients have taken Meridia since the drug's introduction.