The State - News from June 19, 1988

The federal government has begun seizing in California millions of dollars worth of so-called diet patches, drug-laden patches stuck on the skin that manufacturers claim cut appetite. The Food and Drug Administration says the devices have not been proven safe or effective. The FDA said Friday that U.S. attorneys’ offices in Los Angeles and San Diego had made the first seizures of patches and raw materials worth $22.5 million, branding them “the newest weight-loss gimmick.” Officials said the FDA is also concerned that the diet stickers mimic legitimate medicated patches that deliver drugs, such as anti-nausea medicine, through the skin.