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have known ahead of time of problems |
| In the Dallas Associated Press is a story that the company American Home Products knew that components in the Fen Phen diet drug they produced was causing serious health problems. Internal company memos from 1996 showed the company knew of illnesses and deaths from a rare lung disease linked to their product. At that same time a maker of one of the drugs lobbied the US Congress to ease restrictions on the use of several of the drugs components. At present the company is attempting to negociate a mammoth settlement with thousands of fen phen users to the tune of more than 3 billion dollars. |
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| Several articles and stories have recently come to light concerning a connection between certain antidepressant drugs such as Prozac and Zoloft, and suicides. In the May 15th 2000 issue of the Boston Globe appeared a story that revealed the links between these drugs and suicide. This article cited internal documents from Eli Lilly and Co., showing that the makers of Prozac had known for years that its best selling drug could cause suicidal reactions in a small but significant number of patients. According to Lillys own numbers, 1 in 100 previously non-suicidal patients who took the drugs developed a severe form of anxiety and agitation causing them to attempt to commit suicide during the study. Dr. David Healy, an expert on the brain and director of the North Wales Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Wales estimates that, "Probably 50,000 people have committed suicide on Prozac since its launch, over and above the number who would have done so if left untreated.” Lillys own figures from 1984 indicated that severe agitation which can lead to suicide occurs in at least 1 in 100 cases. It should be noted that Lilly got more than 25% of its $10 billion income in 1999 from Prozac. |
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| Reported in Reuters March 12, 2001 is a story that links Viagra usage to blindness. Dr. Howard Pomeranz, a US ophthalmologist and director of neuro-ophthalmology at the University of Maryland Medical Center, says there appears to be a risk that men taking Viagra, the impotence drug, could suffer permanent vision loss or even blindness. "We know that Viagra regulates a chemical in the body to constrict the arteries. The constriction may cut off the blood flow to the optic nerve, especially in people with a low cup-to-disk ratio, where the blood vessels and nerves are tightly bundled,'' Pomeranz said in his release. A spokesman for Pfizer, the company that makes the drug, said that the reports are not conclusive. However, Pomeranz concluded, "People who take Viagra who have this particular configuration of their optic nerve at least need to be aware that this is a potential problem that may occur if they use this medication. Whether this is a significant increased risk, I don't have the statistics to back that up.'' |
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affects for both young and old |
| In two separate studies steroids were shown to be harmful for each of two separate age groups even though these drugs are common treatments. From the October 23rd issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine comes the first report that states, "that men and women older than 60 who take corticosteroids for longer than 6 months are at greatly increased risk of deformities of the bones in the spine." This report was based on a study of 229 patients who had taken corticosteroids for longer than 6 months and was compared with 286 people the same age who did not take the drugs. The results showed that 28% of the corticosteroid-treated patients had at least one deformity of the vertebrae in the spine. The second study on steroids was on their usage in children for asthma and related problems. This study was published in the October 12, 2000 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. In that article it was stated that studies showed that long-term administration of systemic corticosteroids is a cause of impaired growth in children. The study showed that children treated with inhaled corticosteroids had less growth in height (1 to 1.6 cm [23 to 27 percent] less) than those assigned to other treatments. One of the concerns of the study was that they were unable to predict if this change in growth rate of the skeletal system was also accompanied by a change in organ system growth, including the brain. The authors urge caution. The NEJM article did not mention or take into account the studies showing the benefits of chiropractic for children with asthma. Such studies concerning chiropractic included a 1996 study published by the Michigan Chiropractic Council and one from the Alberta Childrens Hospital in Calgary, Canada. |
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| From the October 11, 2000 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, comes an article reporting on a study of historical data related to the use of oral contraceptive by women. The conclusion of the researchers was that, "These results suggest that women who have ever used earlier formulations of oral contraceptives and who also have a first-degree relative with breast cancer may be at particularly high risk for breast cancer." The family relations also played an important role. The authors conclusions again stated, "Among sisters and daughters of women with breast cancer, users of the pill were three times more likely than nonusers to get the disease." |
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