"All animals are equals, but some animals are more equal than others" (G. Orwell - "Animal Farm")

To date Max Rombi - Arkopharma's ex-CEO and founder and current chairman of the supervisory board - of which he has ensured the transfer of 5,992,696 shares in february 2005 to its family holding Imarko - is still pursued for "unintentional" homicides and injuries, misleading advertising and frauds. He's already exploited a juridic void by importing herbs not traditionally used in french drugs preparations and which effects were known in their country of origin and which are not even traditionally used for the purpose of weight-loss as advertised by Arkopharma for their asiatitrat pills. As if this wasn't enough, the sentences pronounced by the french correctional courts are ridiculously "light" considering the gravity of the offences. And as a cherry on top of the cake, Max Rombi and Arkopharma still denying the facts and not assuming their responsabilities and have appealed the correctional courts sentences. He's still participating in conferences and states (...)people must always be educated so they can handle their health(...). Indeed - with its company Arkopharma and its asiatitrat - that is an amazing example of philantropy Max Rombi gives us all!

1. Max Rombi is found guily of the charge of fraud but found not guilty of the charge of "unintentional" injuries by Toulouse (France) correctional court on July the 5th 2006.
2. In October 2005 he's sentenced to serve 2 years in jail and to a penalty of 20,000 euros for "unintentional" homicides by Nice (France) correctional court.
3. In 1998 Max Rombi is found guilty of the charges of misleading advertising and fraud. He had commercialized another "weight-loss" product, Bio 2000, without labelling legal notices.

Pills to lose weight containing plants not traditionnally used for weight-loss purposes

Asiatitrat pills were supposed to contain Han Fang Ji (Stephania Tetrandra) for its hypothetical "weight-loss" effects. Hang Fang Ji (Stephania Tetrandra) was substituted with Guang Fang Ji (Aristolochia Fang Ji). Now according to the article "Aristolochia and Your Health" available at Louisville Traditional Chinese Medicine website, Han Fang Ji (Stephania tetrandra) is not traditionally used, alone or in combination, for the purpose of weight loss. The author also says (...)Guang Fang Ji (Aristolochia fangji) is never a traditional nor an appropriate choice for purposes of weight loss.(...) Furthermore (...)all of the herbs in question belong to the "Drain Dampness" category of Chinese herbs, which are traditionally contraindicated for long-term use. ... Guang Fang Ji (Aristolochia fangji) is the only crude herb commonly encountered in the West containing aristolochic acid, and distributors have voluntarily removed this herb from their catalogs. (...) [BTW the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has identified aristolochic acid as a carcinogenic agent] In other words Han Fang Ji (Stephania Tetrandra) and Guang Fang Ji (Aristolochia Fang Ji) are not traditionally used, alone or in combination, for the purpose of weight loss in traditional chinese medicine. This didn't prevent Max Rombi - Arkopharma's ex-CEO and founder - from importing these herbs which effects were and are still known at least in their country of origin exploiting a juridic void in the french law. The article also refers to other "ingredients" such as amphetamines, laxatives, diuretics and tranquilizers involved in preparations. Therefore did asiatitrat pills contain one or more of these compounds which interaction with the chinese herbs extracts...? Were the packages containing Arkopharma's asiatitrat pills properly labelled (ingredients, posology, indications, side-effects, etc.)? That's the less to expect from products officially recognised as drugs in 1986...

Another Pangloss on the run...

If new pawns are moved by Max Rombi and Arkopharma to feed such polemica, nevertheless strict control procedures along with in-depth traditional chinese medicine was and is still mandatory when dealing with chinese herbs. If - as Max Rombi should know as a (...)veterinary fond of phytotherapy(...) - one cannot prepare and sell to the public drugs without a licence as a General Practitioner (GP) cannot practice without being a member of the General Medical Council (GMC), can on handle compounds not traditionnally used in western drugs preparations without an in-depth knowledge of these and their context gained after years of training and experience?

The cause-to-effect relation a motive for a sterile polemica

In despite of a determining report ruled out during April the 19th 2006 lawsuit, in despite of a summary and evaluation of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) on "Herbal Remedies containing plants species of the genus Aristolochia" and although Nice (France) correctional court acknowledged its reality, the cause-to-effect relation between the absorption of the Arkopharma chinese herbs based pills and its nefast effects is still being denied by Max Rombi and Arkopharma. This even constitutes a new battlefield where experts fight each other around an undeniable reality: Some women have absorbed asiatitrat pills commercialized by Arkopharma - Max Rombi's company - and have lost their kidneys if not their lives.

How many more victims?

(...)Toulouse (France) (AP) - July the 5th of 2006. Arkopharma (e.g. Health From The Sun) phythotherapy group's ex-CEO Max Rombi has been sentenced this wednesday to pay a penalty for fraud but has been acquited of the charge of "unintentional" injury on two women whom have absorbed chinese herbs based products by the correctional court of Toulouse (France).(...)

Fourteen years of interminable procedures and ongoing sufferings to reach a complete 180 degrees turn of the sentence pronounced by the correctional court of Nice (France) in October 2005 (2 years in jail and 20,000 euros of penalty for homicides), and Max Rombi appealing the decision again.

Fourteen years of interminable procedures where the victims have been treated like if they made some kind of abomination by absorbing the pills Arkopharma sold and where the inculped are converted in "victims". After all why on hell did they absord those pills?

A little reminder then (src. AGMED lang. fr):

7 cases of renal failure including 2 deaths / 2,000 to 3,000 people exposed in France

110 cases reported in Belgium in March 2000

2 cases reported in the UK in 1999

17 cases in China including 12 deaths

10 cases in Japan

And these are only the cases officially reported of women having absorded aristolochia herbs (probably in the form of pills). There are certainly other women whom having absorbed pills commercialized by Arkopharma - Max Rombi's firm - and lost their kidneys are not fully aware of the cause of their renal failure. Some of these women might also be developing a urinal cancer and should be diagnosticated ASAP...