Israel Matzav

Friday, August 30, 2013

Why is the IDF ordering viagra?

The IDF has asked for bids for 1,200 Viagra pills. No, it's probably not for what you think.

Like other ministries, the Defense Ministry periodically publishes tenders in the daily press through the Government Advertising Bureau. One such tender recently published seeks 1,200 tablets of 100 mg. sildenafil citrate, the active ingredient in Viagra, to be used by Israel Defense Forces soldiers suffering from erectile dysfunction. The tender is signed by the Medical Corps, so the tablets are not meant for anyone other than IDF soldiers, such as Defense Ministry employees or people being served by the Rehabilitation Branch. Nor, apparently, is this the first time the ministry has sought price quotes for Viagra to be supplied to the military.

In 2005, an article appeared in the Hebrew journal Aviation and Space Medicine, published by the Aerospace Medicine Research Center, about a decision by the Israel Air Force to forbid their pilots from taking Viagra before flying, out of concern it could affect their color perception. The researchers recommended that no pilot should fly within six to eight hours after taking the drug.

The Defense Ministry responded that due to privacy issues, it could not comment.

...

A previously published study by Israeli researches has demonstrated that the drug Cialis (from the same family of Viagra ) effectively deals with altitude sickness. According to results of a study conducted on 51 Israeli tourists climbing Mount Kenya or Kilimanjaro, those who incorporated Cialis in their treatment against altitude sickness reported suffering less from the effects of their high climb. According to details of the study, published in the Journal of Travel Medicine, more of those taking Cialis managed to reach the summit of the mountain.

Hmmm.

Labels: IAF, viagra

Thursday, June 09, 2011

Gadhafi distributing viagra to troops to encourage rape

This post is probably going to earn me a lot of spam comments.

Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi has been distributing viagra to his troops in a bid to encourage them to rape opposition women.

The rape allegation is not new. It was raised in the UN Security Council in April by US Ambassador Susan Rice, who said some of Gaddafi's troops had been issued with the impotency drug Viagra. Moreno-Ocampo said in an interview with Reuters on May 2 he was investigating the allegation.

At a UN news conference on Wednesday, he said the question until recently had been whether Gaddafi himself could be associated with the rapes "or is it something that happened in the barracks?"

"But now we are getting some information that Gaddafi himself decided" to authorize the rapes, "and this is new," Moreno-Ocampo said.

"It never was the pattern he used to control the population. The rape is a new aspect of the repression," he said. "Apparently, he decided to punish using rapes."

Moreno-Ocampo repeated the allegation of use of impotency drugs, saying his team was finding "some elements" confirming the purchase of "Viagra type of medicaments." He said there was evidence of Libya acquiring "containers" of such drugs "to enhance the possibility to rape women."

The prosecutor said it was difficult to know how widespread the rape was but he had received information there were several hundred victims in some areas.

Gadhafi could have accomplished the same thing by handing out copies of the Koran. It advocates raping captive women too. Maybe the troops were too tired.

Labels: Libyan civil war, Muammar Gaddafi, rape, viagra