May 24, 2006
Your Dangerous Drugstore
Marcia Angell in the New York Review of Books:
On April 5, 2006, a New Jersey jury found that Merck's arthritis drug Vioxx caused John McDarby, a seventy-seven-year-old retired insurance agent, to suffer the heart attack that left him debilitated in 2004. (The drug was not blamed for the heart attack of a second plaintiff in the same case.) The jury also found Merck guilty of consumer fraud for not warning doctors and the public of the drug's cardiovascular risks. McDarby and his wife were awarded $4.5 million, plus another $9 million in punitive damages because the company was found to have misled the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Merck now faces about ten thousand similar lawsuits, and has vowed to fight every one of them. So far, there have been verdicts in four cases—two for Merck and two against (the McDarby case and an earlier one in Texas, in which the plaintiff was awarded $253.5 million, which under Texas law must be cut to $26.1 million).[1] If there are more losses, and the chances are there will be, Merck, despite its defiant talk, may ultimately have to try to reach a settlement instead of fighting each case.[2]
The defeat was not just a loss for Merck, but for the industry as a whole, which has seen its reputation plummet in the past few years. Polls show that among American businesses, the pharmaceutical industry now ranks near the bottom in public approval—above tobacco and oil companies, but well below airlines and banks and even insurance companies. This situation contrasts sharply with the generally high regard in which the industry was held just a few years ago.
More here.
Posted by Abbas Raza at 01:09 AM | Permalink
Comments
The dupes in the American Public have been fooled and betrayed by their government and elected "leaders". The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, instead of using their tyrannical powers granted to them by Congress and the President or a former president, to guaranted the food supply to be safe, nutritious and effective, had done the exact opposite. It has been corrupted by a five letter word called money, by big business, which has been permitted to insert virtually anything into the food so long as an immediate death or disease cannot be proved. It is very difficult to prove long term consequences of anything; just witness the current debate over evolution.
The U.S. supermarket looks good, the food is packaged beautifully, it is air conditioned, the "food", if you can call it that, is relatively low in cost, but rather than being true nutritious food, to increase the vitality of the cell of the human body, most of it is chemically tainted garbage at best, or poison at worst. The foods in the average U.S. supermarket are slow poisons, which taste good, may even be addictive as some drugs, but over time, are likely responsible for the destruction of human health, from cancer, to heart disease, to most other degenerative diseases. This is documented in numerous books. A recent book "The HIdden Story of Cancer" by Brian Peskin and Amid Habib, Pinnacle Press, Houston, 2006 demonstrates this for cancer. Many books indict the FDA and the Federal Trade Commission as well, as the recent book by Keven Trudeau "Natural Cures". While this book is short on natural cures, it has a excellent indictment of the FDA and the FTC and their tyrannical and illegal activities against anyone seeking to challenge the large corporations and drug companies. Both agencies should and must be disbanded. They are criminal, racketeering enterprises operated by government, misusing all the powers of government against the most fundamental interests of citizens. The food supply poisons the citizens and causes various diseases, which the drug companies then profit from and further kill and harm victims with toxic drugs. Most drugs are totally uneffective, and the so-called "testing" of them is meaningless. Just think of a multiple choice examination: There is always a chance you get the right answer without knowing anything at all! This is the case with drug testing.
This country was created on the principle of individual freedom and individual liberty and individual responsiblity. Let's get back to these principles and stop looking to corrupt government agencies to do all our thinking for us. They have failed. Wake up Americans. If a patient dies or is harmed by drugs, is any doctor going to write that as the "cause" on the death certificate or tell the loved ones "drugs" caused the harm? Absolutely not: They will say, "Sorry, we did our best".
These corrupt government agencies have, however, been misusing their tyrannical powers to intimidate the only competition for the corrupt drug companies and the corrupt medical system of the U.S., and great efforts are underway, to have virtually everything declared a drug. Is it a coincidence that "food" and "drugs" are regulated by the same agency?
At bottom all this illustrates a fundamental failure of the system of education in the U.S., because, after all, the U.S. FDA is run by thousands of people who are graduates of that system is it not? What kind of graduates are these? They are not the drop outs. They are likely the A and B students. So if A and B students have degenerated to this type of totally unprofessional and illegal conduct toward their other compatriots, it is obvious thed educational system of the U.S. is a total failure. Remember, this deals with the most fundamental aspect of human life: Food and nutrition.
Posted by: Winfield J. Abbe | May 24, 2006 8:57:48 AM
I applaud your blog,i took zyprexa which was ineffective for my condition and gave me diabetes.
{Only 9 percent of adult Americans think the pharmaceutical industry can be trusted right around the same rating as big tobacco}
Zyprexa, which is used for the treatment of psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, accounted for 32% of Eli Lilly's $14.6 billion revenue last year.
Zyprexa has been linked to causing diabetes and pancreatitis.
Did you know that Lilly made nearly $3 billion last year on diabetic meds, Actos,Humulin and Byetta?
Yes! They sell a drug that causes diabetes and then turn a profit on the drugs that treat the condition that they caused in the first place!
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Daniel Haszard http://www.zyprexa-victims.com
Posted by: Daniel Haszard | May 26, 2006 3:15:02 PM
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