Viagra Drug

Scientists have found a performance-enhancing drug that could be exploited by endurance athletes at high altitudes and soldiers in the mountains of Afghanistan: Viagra. One group of research subjects -- riding stationary bicycles and breathing through masks to simulate the low-oxygen conditions found at 12,700 feet -- improved its times for six kilometers by an average of 39% after taking the erectile dysfunction drug, researchers at Stanford University and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System reported Thursday.

When 43-year-old porn actor Tyce Bune goes to work these days, he makes sure to pack something extra in his briefcase along with the usual script and change of clothes: a vial of Viagra tablets.

Life is violent, minds are frayed and the little blue pill is selling big on Sadoon Street. "People are depressed, so they need Viagra and other drugs to give them interest in sex," said Talid Abdul-Amir Shebany, a balding pharmacist who tracks the changing ailments of Iraqis in a worn ledger on his desk.

The simple e-mail posting on an Internet discussion group about sexual impotence asked an intriguing question. "My insurance is paying for eight Viagra pills every 30 days," read the message from "Theodore.

An investigation into whether Viagra and other popular impotence drugs may cause permanent eye damage is unlikely to lead to a recall, federal officials and medical experts said Friday, but could prompt new warnings.

Three doctors were charged Thursday with giving large amounts of Viagra and other anti-impotence drugs to mob members in return for construction and auto repair work done by Mafia-controlled businesses.