To many people, it seemed suspicious from the beginning:  inject botulinum toxin into my face?  Paralyze my muscles?  And this isn't, you know, dangerous?

Now, Public Citizen, a U.S. consumer group, is asking the FDA to order manufacturers of Botox and Myobloc, a similar medication, to put strong warnings on their labels, as well as to send out letters to doctors.  Sixteen deaths and almost two hundred cases of botulinum toxin complications - including muscle weakness, difficulty swallowing and aspiration pneumonia - have been blamed on these drugs so far.  Such complications occur when the botulinum toxin spreads from the face, where it was injected, into the esophagus.  Partial paralysis of the esophagus can result.

Public Citizen believes that better educated patients and their doctors will more quickly recognize botulinum toxin complications when they occur, increasing the likelihood that they can be redressed before becoming fatal.

On a positive note, if you die following a Botox injection, you will doubtless look ravishing at your viewing.