The drug's maker Pfizer says it is considering submiting an to European regulatory authorities to clear it for sale in pharmacies.

An estimated 27 million men have already used the little blue pill for erectile on prescription.

Medics said a change would be welcome but might mean other linked diseases were missed with no health check ups.

Ups and downs

Often, men with erectile dysfunction have underlying health problems such as diabetes, which can be spotted by their GP at the time they come for an anti-impotence prescription.

“If men can buy Viagra and rival anti-impotence drugs over-the-counter without a prescription, this opportunity is missed,” said Dr David Ralph from the Institute of Urology at University College London.

But there would be benefits too, he said, such as combating the problem of Viagra sold illegally on the internet from unknown sources, which may be fake and if taken with some medicines could be fatal.

He said it would be safe to buy over-the-counter provided the pharmacist did the necessary checks to ensure the medication was suitable for the patient.

Embarrassment factor

It might also be a more attractive option to men as going to see the GP about sexual problems can be embarrassing, he added.

But he cautioned: “There is more to sexual relations than an erection. There may be other problems.”

Viagra works by relaxing the blood vessels in the penis. This allows blood to flow into the penis causing an erection.

However, the drug is not an and does not increase sex drive.

It is licensed only as a treatment for men who have been diagnosed by a doctor as having impotence.

Also, some men, such as those with severe heart disease or low blood pressure, should avoid it because of possible risks and side effects.

Viagra is not licensed for use in women and its safety in women has not been established.

A Pfizer spokesman said: “As with many of our products, Pfizer has routinely evaluated a number of options including different formulations, new indications, over-the-counter and continues to do so.”

He added that despite speculation there were no plans to pursue a spray version of the drug.

Source:

One of the government-funded images carries the strapline “Your penis thinks you should stop smoking” to highlight the risk of impotency.

Ministers say fears about fertility and are stronger for young people to quit than health.

A survey suggests one in two smokers would quit to improve their sex appeal.

The NHS Smoking Helpline questionnaire also revealed that more than two-thirds of young men and women believe smoking makes them less attractive.

Half of men said they associated smoking with wrinkles, bad skin and less enjoyable kissing.

Another of the ads shows stark images of the effect of smoking on women&39;s bum mouth”.

Websites called “Staying Hard” and Ugly Smoking” will also be launched, alongside a sticker campaign in pub and club toilets.

Public Health Minister Caroline Flint said: “This latest series of adverts marks a new and exciting route for the campaign.

“A key part of our drive to reduce overall smoking prevalence is getting the message to harder-to-reach young adult audiences.

Hard-hitting

“We know 70% of smokers want to stop smoking; however, with younger people, fears about attractiveness and fertility can be a stronger to quit than fears about health.

“It is hoped that the hard hitting messages in this new campaign will make young people quit smoking for good.”

Smoking can damage your teeth

Smoking increases the risk of erectile dysfunction by around 50% for men in their 30s and 40s and up to 120,000 men from the UK in this age group are impotent as a direct result of smoking, experts estimate.

Clive Gingell, chairman of the Sexual , said: “By making men aware of how smoking can affect their sexual performance in middle age, hopefully this new campaign should provide men with an additional and compelling reason to quit.”

Dr Bav Shergill, from the British Skin Foundation, said: “Giving up smoking can not only add years to your life, it also adds years to your appearance and can help stop premature aging before it&39; lobby group Forest, said: “To try and suggest that smoking is a major cause of impotence is a scare tactic.

“It's nasty because it is not only setting out to de-normalise smoking, but really to make smokers feel incredibly guilty about their habit.”

, and more another.

Dr Moloy Prakash Sahu, who worked at the Wellman Clinic, 57 Harley Street, for a year, faced several allegations.

These ranged from providing treatment without medical justification to “irresponsible “.

The General Medical Council said his practice was “less than satisfactory” but did not amount to serious misconduct.

&39;

The four-day hearing was held after three patients at the clinic complained to the GMC.

It heard that the average patient was given a three-month course of impotence treatment made up of vitamins, creams and washes, costing 1,500 to 2,000 - many of which were “useless if not dangerous”.

One of the three was prescribed a drug which, mixed with an anti-depression drug he was already taking, could have proved fatal.

That patient was also treated for a condition he did not suffer.

Dr Sahu denied it was “irresponsible” to prescribe the drug Yohimbin to one man, saying: “He had erectile problems and it is a medicine you can give.”

He also said his employers at the clinic insisted vitamin injections be given as a matter of policy.

Dr Sahu admitted the “harmless” injection was a placebo and that he never told patients it had no medical justification, but said it could give a patient “a bit of a boost”.

&39;

Dr Sahu, of , east London, worked at the clinic as medical officer between July 2000 and June 2001.

He said he became “dissatisfied” and quit the post because the clinic was badly managed and poorly equipped.

Dr Sahu was cleared of failing to ensure his patients were given sufficient information about their conditions, and failing to keep proper drug records.

The doctor was also acquitted of treating patients without the required expertise and failing to make sure patients gave proper or informed consent for treatment.

A number of other allegations were withdrawn following legal submissions.

The hearing's chairman John Shaw said: “These shortcomings taken together did not cross the threshold of serious professional misconduct.

“The committee therefore finds you not guilty of serious professional misconduct.”

The move comes after an audit found 198 convicts in New York state had been by Medicaid for the drug between January and March 2000.

Their crimes included offences against children as young as two.

The Medicaid programme, whose cost is shared by states and the federal , provides health care for the poor.

The federal Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services said they should not pay for erectile dysfunction drugs for sex offenders.

Spokesman Gary Karr said “states already have the power to determine if a drug is not medically appropriate for a certain patient or certain class of patients”, the Associated Press news agency reported.

“Public risk”

The New York audit, conducted by Comptroller Alan Hevesi, did not cover other states, but Mr Hevesi said states are required by law to include Viagra in Medicaid programmes covering prescription drugs when medically necessary.

He said the policy raised “serious policy and has the potential to place the public at risk” and asked the government to take action or amend the Medicaid law.

On Monday, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist said that Medicaid had paid $93,000 to provide Viagra to 218 sex offenders in that state over the last four years, AP reported.

New York Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton have both indicated they back a change in policy.

Sen Schumer said: “It is just to think that Level 3 sexual offenders can get Viagra, which may indeed help them perpetrate other horrible crimes.

“Giving convicted sex offenders government-funded Viagra is like giving convicted murderers an assault rifle when they get out of jail,” Schumer said.

The rise and rise of Viagra has created a 1.5bn worldwide market in anti-impotence pills.

Now rivals are fighting for a share of the spoils and it is becoming a drug of choice for some in the party generation.

Last week, Pfizer&39;s authorities to clamp down on the copycats.

New research

Pfizer, the world&39;s top Urological Surgeons, based in Bristol.

He had spent his whole career trying to treat and improve the lives of thousands of men suffering from impotence.

In those days, commonly used treatments included the fitting of implants directly into the penis, a vacuum pump and self injection.

Most sufferers were thoroughly put off and consigned themselves to a life without sex.

Viagra arrives

Mr Gingell ran a new series of trials, and the results impressed him.

Pfizer chief executive McKinnell says copycats pose a threat

He describes Viagra as “a wonder drug”.

“The thought of having a pill that would cure impotence was amazing to me,” he says.

“I never thought I would see it in my lifetime.”

“There has been a kind of Holy Grail idea associated with curing impotence,” Pfizer&39;s share price doubled. It was apparent that there was a huge previously untapped market out there.

Doctors claim that half of all men over 40 become impotent at some point in their lives.

That is more than 150 million worldwide, with two million sufferers in Britain alone, so the potential market for drugs like Viagra is colossal.

Overnight Viagra made Pfizer famous. “We discovered the mass production of penicillin, yet it was Viagra that put Pfizer on the map,” says Ms Caprino.

Embarrassing subject

Nevertheless, despite the highly successful launch, the company faced a huge potential problem in selling Viagra.

Men were simply not willing to talk about impotence, they were ashamed.

If they were not prepared to discuss their impotence, how could they be persuaded to ask their doctor for a prescription?

Ray Reynolds, who suffered from impotence for 30 years, had simply given up hope of ever being able to have sex again.

“I thought well, I&39;s top spectator sport

Parents in parts of northern Pakistan told the BBC news website they feared an “American conspiracy” to cut the fertility of the next generation.

Pakistan is one of four countries the World Health Organisation (WHO) says is a source of polio.

The WHO has led a $196m-a-year campaign to control the disease in Pakistan.

At least 39 cases of polio were reported in 2006, 15 of them in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). The NWFP and the tribal areas account for 20% of those targeted for .

Worldwide 1,902 cases of polio were reported during the year, a recent WHO report said.

A WHO meeting in Geneva last October heard that children paralysed by polio around the world were infected by viruses from Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nigeria.

Radio rumours

The main opposition to the drive in Pakistan came from local clerics who run illegal FM radio channels in many NWFP districts and the tribal areas, say officials.

Amirullah Khan, a resident of NWFP&39;s aim of making the world polio-free.