No Joke: Stimulus Money Went to Study Erectile Dysfunction In Obese Men

Via Drudge comes news that we here at Reason saw coming years ago. Really. Just look below.

NBC's Bay Area affiliate reports that $250,000 in stimulus funds sent to University of California-San Francisco ended up lining the pockets of researchers looking into links between obesity and erectile dysfunction:

The University declined to provide an expert to talk with the NBC Investigative Unit about the erectile dysfunction grant. In a written statement provided they said in part, "Obesity related health issues currently cost $147 Billion per year in direct medical costs in the United States….. Health providers therefore continue to search for incentives to encourage people to live a healthier lifestyle, to benefit both indviduals and society…. Preliminary analysis indicates that is is feasible to enroll men in this type of research, they successfully lose the expected weight over a 12-week period, and they see an improvement in ED symptoms."

While UCSF played coy about the ED study, they did cop openly to getting over $1 million to figure out how to get more accurate responses while doing sex surveys.

More here.

Read "How Stimulus Fails" for more reasons not to fund shovel-ready projects. Or any other projects.

Back in February 2009, Reason.tv advertised for Stimulis, the perfect drug for economies with performance issues:

 

Needless to say, I missed Katherine Mangu-Ward's original post on exactly the same story with exactly the same video. Read her better commentary here.

Comments

[Alan Vanneman]

No joke, Katie M-W already blogged this.

Also no joke, Reason is a stalwart defender of the right of all Americans to turn themselves into scale-busting porkers. Fat guys still have urges, don't they? And they still have the right to get it on, don't they? Or doesn't Reason believe in rights any more?

[wareagle]

having the right - and in this case, it does not mean what you think it means - and having the ability are different things. Wanting to get laid and being able to are not the same. And if people choose to turn themselves into "scale-busting porkers", why is that your business? Don't say public health or its attendant costs or some such bullshit because the framework of a remedy already exists. Insurance carries a higher premium for smokers; it can do likewise for self-created lard asses.

[Pound. Head. On. Desk.]

Don't say public health or its attendant costs or some such bullshit because the framework of a remedy already exists. Insurance carries a higher premium for smokers; it can do likewise for self-created lard asses.

So you think people are obese because they don't pay a high enough price for gaining weight? I'll be sure to pass that assessment along to the UCSF investigators looking into the recent increase in obese 6 month old babies. They can tell those diapered-wrapped gluttonous sloths to put down the spoon and take another lap around the neighborhood, huh?

[Joshua]

Get the FDA out of the diet recommending business get the government out of the farmer welfare business etc. and then we can talk about what the government should do for fat people. (very little)

[Pound. Head. On. Desk.]

That's the page I'm on!

[Anal Vanneman]

STOP SPELLING MY NAME WRONG!!!

[R C Dean]

Also no joke, Reason is a stalwart defender of the right of all Americans to turn themselves into scale-busting porkers.

Yup. Of their own free will and at their own expense, of course, and free from interference by government.

And they still have the right to get it on, don't they?

Yup. Of their own free will and at their own expense, of course, and free from interference by government.

That's what I mean by "right". What do you mean, Alan?

[Lord Humungus]

don't confuse the narrative in Alan's head!

[Randian]

He means a word that starts with "e" and ends with "ntitlement"

[wareagle]

badly as I want make a smart-ass comment, this sort of thing so typifies the rule rather than the exception that all this news really does is reinforce numbness.

[Alack]

Man, Reason really wants us to know about this. Trying to tell us something about our physique and performance, guys?

[Gojira]

They want to make sure everyone gets their "problems" solved before the Reason Cruise.

[Alack]

But I thought there was no cure for herpes!

[Gojira]

That's just what Big Pharma wants you to think, so you keep buying their supressing drugs your whole life. More profits!

[fried wylie]

I still don't understand how herpes-outbreak suppressants are legal. Isn't there a public health concern to assisting people in spreading disease?

[Atanarjuat]

I think you're slightly less contagious when there's no outbreak maybe?

[fried wylie]

well, sure, without the fluid discharge from sores you're certainly less contagious. how much less...paging groovus.

[Groovus Maximus]

paging groovus.

Depends on the type of simplex virus you have. Do keep in mind just because you have external symptoms that are absent (i.e. no oozing sores or pustules) doesn't mean you can't spread the disease by other bodily fluids, like semen, blood, and saliva. Herpes infections are not called "the gift that keeps on giving" for shits and giggles, and are pretty virulent, like shingles, for example.

Dormancy =/= Can't Infect.

[fried wylie]

With record sales of boner pills, i would think boner science is a field that definitely doesn't need tax-funded assistance.

[Almanian's Evil Twin]

boi-oi-oi-oi-oing!!

[Brandon]

What's "need" got to do with anything?

[Pip]

Big Boner needs the stimulus because they are TBTF.

[Pound. Head. On. Desk.]

Too... Big... To... F...

FAIL! Oh, to big to fail! OK, took a minute to find the right F-word for that.

[CloneOfThrawn]

Big Boner sounds like a sub-lobby of porn. This should be called Big Chub.

[Doctor Whom]

need, v.t. to want, and to have the political clout to get

[fried wylie]

don't get all transitive with me.

[dorothyhiggin]

In 2008 for example, researchers from the University of Florence in Italy published a study in the Journal of Sexual Medicine that showed that out of a group of 2435 men being treated for impotence, almost 60 percent were in the 'overweight' to 'morbidly obese' categories.In summary, they concluded that obesity was undoubtedly the biggest key physical contributor to the development of erectile dysfunction. If you are suffering from erectile dysfunction, try sildenafil citrate. It works.

[alphonsoarmstrong]

A new study states that obese men with erectile dysfunction (ED) are shown to have low levels of hormones, such as testosterone. The findings also show that certain conditions associated with obesity, particularly hypertension, are the most important determinants of obesity-related ED. The study was published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, the official journal of the International Society for Sexual Medicine. Try sildenafil citrate if you have erectile dysfunctiion.

[PaulMark]

Are you guys serious? Well, I don't think so, that things have been done like this.

Thanks
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