DATELINE–Washington, D.C.

A consumer group is petitioning the government to reconsider fast-track funding for Viagra research. The protests come only days after Congress passed a rider to the appropriations bill that would earmark $200 million for the study of cardiac ailments caused by long-term use of Sildenafil citrate, the drug popularly known as Viagra™.

Health in the Public Interest, a Washington, DC-based group, held a press conference late last week to publicize what it calls a “flagrant double-standard” in government funding policy. “Why are the supposed victims of the Viagra craze due better and faster treatment than women with breast cancer or the growing number of people living with AIDS,” asked HPI’s spokesperson Margaret Campbell.

By all accounts, initial sales of Viagra™, which is now being marketed by Pfizer as an anti-impotence drug, were off the charts in both the United States and European markets. Although the pharmaceutical benefits men who feel sexually inadequate because of the aging process, Viagra™ was featured as a miracle cure on the cover of America’s two largest news magazines in the same week. The drug has even received highly-publicized endorsements from such celebrities as Senator Bob Dole and his wife, prospective republican presidential candidate, Elizabeth Dole.

Although previous incidents of Viagra™-related deaths have been reported with little fanfare, the official story on the male wonder drug may be changing.

A report being published later this week by the New Mexico Journal of Medicine links the high blood pressure medicine to permanent heart damage when used as a treatment for impotence in men. The researchers based their claim on a study involving a test group of 42-78 year old white males. The study was designed to look into the clinical future of Viagra as it becomes more widely used as a recreational drug. According to the protocol, none of the test subjects suffered from chronic impotence but all did express interest in improving their sexual performance.

Surprisingly, the study projected that nearly two-thirds of men who use Viagra for recreational purposes will suffer some degree of heart damage. For some, this condition may result in dangerously low blood pressure and for others cardiac arrest.

Dr. Mark Areliusich, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center in Baltimore, Md., also warns there may be hidden costs to middle-aged men caught up in the Viagra fad. “Sildenafil will produce enhanced erectile response by inhibiting the phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) enzyme, but it also rapidly decreases blood pressure,” says Areliusich. “If you increase the dosage or frequency of Viagra intake for the purpose of greater erectile stimulation, you also increase the risk of very serious heart injury.”

Similar warnings may have prompted Congress to move quickly on the $200 million spending plan that would allocate public funds to a Viagra™ response study. The passage of the legislation marks the first time that such a large sum has been appropriated for medical spending without the benefit of public hearings. In fact, the Congressional bill may become a lightning rod for both conservative and liberal critics of Viagra™.

In New York City, where Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has waged a two year campaign on the sex industry, Viagra™ has been targeted by the vice squad of the New York Police Department. After a two month sting operation, the NYPD has closed down dozens of white collar festivities where Viagra™ was the drug of choice. After one such bust, the New York Post ran as its headline “Coppers: Viagra Het Poppers.”

Volunteers from the Virginia-based Falls Church Women’s Health Center have organized two teach-in’s at local area high schools to discuss “The Role of Women in the Age of Viagra™.” According to Aimee Isaacson-Levin, FCWHC outreach coordinator, “Viagra brings pleasure on demand to men. Are women at all a part of this equation? Is growing old a problem that needs a chemical solution?”

Even the gay community has a bone to pick with Viagra™ for what they call a media bias on sex-related issues. In a letter to the editor of Newsweek, AIDS activist Angela Melendez calls the press hypocritical on the subject. “After years of struggle to bring gay and lesbian sexual relationships out of back rooms and into the streets,” says Melendez, “it’s appalling to witness the ease with which the male sexual organ can become the focus of the entire media universe.”