FDA & Big Pharma in Bed Together!

[Sassy]

Bayer Caught Deceiving the FDA

Lots of other good links in this article.  As a nurse, it really makes me question whether the medication I give a patient will cause harm...  :-/ So often patients will read or hear about a new medication that has been advertised & insist on getting it.  One thing good about the VA system is that, probably due to money constraints, they do not hop on the bandwagon with every new drug on the market.  Sometimes, by the time the VA decides to start carrying the drug, it is pulled from the market for due to adverse events/side-effects.  

Trying to convince the patient that they don't want the newest drug on the market is another thing, altogether!  :-/

[Miedrn]

Well Sassy, thanks for bringing another issue to light. This one has implications for those of us who are nurses. I just double checked that I wasn't taking Bayer aspirin and I'll refrain from buying anything they manufacture in the future.

I'm going to investigate the FDA further. Isn't it a crime that the very government entity that we trust to protect us is untrustworthy. I've been aware of the increased approval of drugs without regard for proper testing for some time but I've not run across articles actually documenting it.

Do you have other sites or info regarding the FDA?

It makes me want to research every common drug we give - and especially those that are recently approved - but then, derogatory info would be hidden anyway.

I would encourage people to only take drugs that have been on the market long enough to prove safety.

More and more, I want another career!

[glenn kangiser]

Here's one that should be a drug- this has been out there a while and a search of     -rumsfeld aspartame-    on Google should bring you lots more information  - to make up your own mind about.  Remember to follow the money when deciding which way to think about these things.


http://chroniclewest.blogspot.com/2006/07/rumsfeld-aspartame-and-monsanto-oh.html

[CREATIVE1]

http://www.democracynow.org/print.pl?sid=05/02/22/1527238

An interesting article/interview with the author of Worst Pills Best Pills --a must-read book.

A related site: http://www.worstpills.org/

[Sassy]

Creative, excellent article - I'll have to look for that book.  

Miedrn, I've been reading about the FDA & the passage of different medications & chemicals like aspartame for several years. Remember a few years back, there was a diabetes medication - it wasn't roglitazone (sp) but I think in the same family - anyway, it was only on the market for a year & had to be taken off the market due to adverse reactions & deaths.  I was doing a lot of diabetes teaching at the time & had patients mad because we wouldn't give them the medication, when their outside, private MD's, were writing them Rx's (they didn't want to pay the high price on the outside).  

I remember back in 1991 my parents had some diet soda with Nutrasweet (aspartame).  They'd had it in the heat & it probably was a few months old - anyway, it didn't have any sweetness at all & we were thinking they forgot to put in the sweetner.  Later I read that you are supposed to keep soda with aspartame within a certain temperature range - especially keeping it from getting too hot, otherwise it forms a poison (can't remember what type).  How many people keep their sodas out in the garage or in their cars until they are ready to put them in the fridge or on ice?

But, even so, most of John Q Public won't believe the facts... I work with some nurses who drink gallons of diet soda or Crystal Light with aspartame - I've printed up articles on it for them to read & tease them everytime they are drinking it... I work with one doctor who thinks I am definitely a "conspiracy theorist" & he is always teasing me.  I was mentioning something about the arthritis I have & he joked "it must be those RFID (radio frequency identification) chips they implanted into you!"  

Each person has to do what they think is best for them...  hey, another good project to research would be the new wonder food - SOY, check out how difficult it is for the human body to digest & look at what it has to go through before it can be eaten (& still not easily digested...) I was shocked!  

[Sassy]

Drug Find Shocks Researchers: In Antipsychotics, Newer Isn't Better October 3, 2006, Washington Post

[CREATIVE1]

The truth does come out, but it takes such a long time and the damage is done.  Luckily one of my clients, a "wellness nurse," told me all the facts about soy, transfats, drugs to avoid, etc., etc.--15 years ago. The news about most of this is just coming out now.

I changed my habits then.  But when I mentioned this stuff to doctors or people who considered themselves well-informed about health, I was the "crackpot."

One particular area of concern is all the people with fibromyalgia, mutiple sclerosis, lupus, and other autoimmune diseases.  The medical establishment has an AWFUL track record in dealing with these problems.  I personally worked with a friend with MS, did some research, and practically changed his life in about six months with what we learned and applied.  The doctor was amazed at his test results, but just said "keep doing what you're doing."  WRONG!  Find out what the patient did and use that information to help others.

MS site:  www.swankmsdiet.com

[Amanda_931]

And then there's the Medicare prescription benefit--with the infamous doughnut hole.  September 22 was the day that the average person paying into the drug coverage ended up in it.  Paying full price for their drugs for several thousand dollars, then back on a somewhat more comprehensive coverage.   And paying the premium all the way through.

It's not a bad idea to check the date on Aspatame-laden foods either.

(At last report--five years ago--Diet Coke from Singapore was still made with saccarine, both because it was shipped lots of places slow boat, and because it might well be subject to heat)

[CREATIVE1]

It's amazing how much we need to know just to survive!

[Sassy]

Bird Flu Vaccine  US to stockpile 20 million doses "A federal advisory committee on Tuesday recommended approval of the first bird flu vaccine for humans, despite concerns about its safety and evidence that the shots won't protect most people."  LA Times (I guess you have to register to get this article)  

Here's another link to "Peers Want to Know"
http://www.wanttoknow.info/070303newsenergystandardspoverty

[Amanda_931]

Oh, phooey, the old all-purpose user/password combination no longer works for the LA Times.

Testing is good. Egg allegies are--or used to be--a good reason not to have flu vaccines.  That's easy enough to predict.  Some of the other potential problems, especially those caused by shortcuts and costcutting, are not.

I think the flu predictors failed again this year to guess right.  But we are overdue for a "big flu."  It's likely to be one of the H5N1 varieties--since they haven't been around for a good long while, and none of us have much if any residual protection.

I keep a handful of the "all-natural" alleged antivirals around--elderberry extract, for instance--just in case.

[Sassy]

I guess I'll have to get me some elderberry extract - so that's good for the flu?  I refuse to get flu shots!  

[glenn-k]

Seeing as to how a US gov. financed agency mailed a flu virus unlabeled all around the world to various labs without notifying them, there is probably a good chance we will get it one of these days.  Faux stupidity is one of their methods of assisting with population control as desired by the global elite.

"We've invested billions of dollars into alleged bioterrorism preparedness and to alleged preparedness for avian and pandemic influenza," she said. "This is a sorry indicator of how well the money has been spent."  

Mistake or by design??? :-/  How much more profit would be made off of Tamiflu if this thing really got going.?  Follow the money.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4440541.stm

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=22900

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/04/13/flu.recall/index.html

[Sassy]

FDA poised to approve cattle antibiotic despite warningsAgency likely will approve antibiotic despite fears it could harm people

[Amanda_931]

I saw that.  

Several times when one of my cats had to have an antibiotic, we end up checking to see what ones that can be used, where there are not already resistant organisms in their systems.

The listings have been outrageous.  Not more than one or two available that are going to work.

I'm not sure I phrased that correctly, but....

These are cats who in most cases had never had an antibiotic before, rarely eaten raw foods.

I'd hate to see the workup for me.

So the antibiotic people whining about how it's certain to be OK unless we can prove that we--or our animals--got the resistant bugs from the cows fed the antibiotic makes absolutely zero sense to me.

The obvious solution, though, is to remain as healthy as possible.

The rumor is, although it has to be qualified into nothingness, is that our ancestors were healthier and basically longer lived than we are.  Except for young children, pregnant women, diseases like TB....  Who knows.

[glenn-k]

We have 2 friends and relatives who recently had to quit all (multiple, all with side effects and more prescribed to fight the side effects - which is what doc's and pharma Companies love) medications to get a near clean bill of health.  One had been on them for a year or so and the other for the last 20 or so years.

[Amanda_931]

Come to think of it, I could easily have been one of those children who died without antibiotics.  To which I promptly became allergic.

[Sassy]

Yeh, I had pneumonia, whooping cough, croup & tonsillitis when I was a kid - got the big shots of penicillin everyday for 2 wks when I was about 4 y/o - boy, did those hurt!  Now allergic to penicillin, but, thankfully, don't have any type of respiratory disease.

[Amanda_931]

I do.

Probably had asthma all my life, but cold weather, "chemicals" (occasionally even including essential oils, not lavender, though), and a virus act as triggers.  So moving back to the mainland, working in a (automotive type) paint department hasn't helped much over the years.

[Sassy]

My son & daughter-in-law (Jennifer) had new windows installed in their manufactured home - they sawed out the old windows - my granddaughter was sweeping the sawdust outside & started throwing it around (she's 4) so Jennifer went out to stop her & got he sawdust all over herself.  

A short while later she started itching, her face swelled, she got hives & became short of breath - had an anaphylactic reaction - had to rush to the doctor.  Now her liver function is terrible, she's jaundiced - BEWARE!
There must be some pretty awful chemicals.  Now one else in the family was affected - she's doing better.  

I'm really sensitive to different scents - a lot of perfumes will give me a migraine - within 5 minutes!  Think of all the chemicals we are exposed to in our everyday life - breathing, touching, eating...