:Drugs:

:Just say no to drugs, kids. Children aged 10 to 14 are the most frequent users of stimulants, while SSRI anti-depressants are most commonly prescribed for 15- to 19-year-olds. Government studies are far more likely than industry-funded studies to find that antidepressants do
not work well for children. When drug makers conduct trials in preparation for FDA review, they routinely withhold studies that is damaging, submitting only studies that encourage FDA approval.

Just say no to Doctors who want to push stimulants and mind-altering drugs now banned for use on children in England because of increased suicides. The long-term effects of drugs on the developing nervous system are not known. Adults could cut back, too. Americans filled 3 billion prescriptions last year, at a cost of $132 billion.

David Willman, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for the Los Angeles Times, who recently concluded a five-year investigation of the inner workings of the NIH. In an NIH study of a drug to treat kidney inflammation related to lupus, one of the subjects receiving the drug died of a complication that was believed to be related to the drug. But the senior NIH official connected to the study didn't stop the study, nor did he attempt to warn the medical community of the potential danger of the drug. That official was a paid consultant for the company that produced the drug. And in the past 10 years, he received well over half a million dollars in consulting fees from various drug companies and biomedical firms. NIH has the lowest percentage of employees filing reports of "consulting" income of any federal agency. A 1998 legal opinion that provides a loophole by which more than 90% of NIH officials are allowed to keep their consulting income confidential, despite the obvious conflict of interest. When Dr. Ruth L. Kirschstein (the NIH deputy director who approved many of the consulting arrangements) was asked about the results of the Willman investigation, she told the LA Times that NIH staff members are "highly ethical" and have "enormous integrity." At $28 Billion a year, NIH is an enormous fiction.

Pseudo-ephedrine (Sudafed), the synthetic analog of ephedrine (as found in the herb ephedra) is available in high dose over the counter with no limit. The F.D.A. is removing low dose natural ephedra, the best natural bronchodilator for asthma, from the market, while continuing to promote synthetic high dose pseudo-ephedra. An herbal asthma or allergy formula with 50 mg of ephedra may contain 0.5 mg of ephedrine, while an OTC pseudo-ephedrine may contain 20 mg: 40 times as much. Announcing a ban against all ephedra and ephedrine products (but not synthetic Pseudo-ephedrine), FDA Commissioner Dr. Mark McClellan stated that the herb presents, "an unreasonable risk of illness or injury." About 100 deaths have ever been linked to overdose of ephedrine isolated from the whole ephedra herb.

Meanwhile, thousands of people die every year due to what are tacitly judged reasonable risks from approved drugs aspirin and acetaminophen. Last year an FDA review estimated that there are more than 14,000 unintentional overdoses of acetaminophen every year, with about 100 identified deaths each year. N-acetyl Cysteine (NAC) is an effective
antidote for acetaminophen poisoning and is especially effective
within 8 hours of ingestion of the overdose. Milk thistle and Turmeric are beneficial hepatoprotective herbs.

According to a genetics expert from the largest European pharmaceutical corporation in the world, GlaxoSmithKline, 90 percent of drugs only work in 30-50 percent of people. Geneticist Allen Roses said that "drugs in the market work, but they don't work in everybody."

Mr. Roses also quoted research results by a medical diagnostic, Brian Spear, who three years earlier, had found that different drugs had vastly different success rates in treating patients.

The consequences of this finding are real and form the basis of what is termed "business with disease" in an astounding complaint filed with the International Criminal Court that names President George Bush, members of his staff, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and some of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, including GlaxoSmithKline.

However, this information seldom reaches the patients who are prescribed these drugs. Whether they work or not, these drugs are paid for by the patient or government programs that supplement the cost.

Just recently, President Bush signed a $400 billion healthcare bill which, according to Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, will set aside $139 billion for drug companies. Despite questions on their effectiveness, the pharmaceutical companies get paid.

The medical term describing the adverse effects of drugs administered by doctors is "iatrogenetics." In fact, any adverse condition resulting from the care of a physician or surgeon, especially in cases of infections acquired by the patient during the course of treatment, is termed "iatrogenetic."
"It is evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the United States," declared a medical group that released a study entitled, "Death by Medicine."

The researchers of the study found that as many as 7.5 million unnecessary medical and surgical procedures are performed annually, and that 8.9 million patients may have been exposed to hospitalization unnecessarily.

Three independent studies of iatrogneic deaths concluded that 106,000 deaths resulted from adverse drug reactions; 98,000 deaths were caused by medical errors; and more than 115,000 cases of bedsores ended in death. The economic cost of medical intervention in these cases totaled almost $70 billion.

These figures, the study continued, represent only a one-year period. However, if these stats were to be multiplied by 10 years, the total number of iatrogenic deaths would exceed all the casualties of the wars in which America has fought. The projected figure is approximately 7.8 million iatrogenic deaths.

"What we must deduce from this report is that medicine is in need of complete and total reform. We are fully aware that what stands in the way of change are powerful pharmaceutical companies, medical technology companies and special interest groups with enormous vested interests in the business of medicine," the study acknowledged.

An herb is dangerous; Drug contaminants are ignored:

In the early 1990s, over 100 patrons of a Belgian weight-loss clinic suffered kidney failure "after consuming Chinese herbs adulterated with Aristolochia." Consumer Reports calls Aristolochic acid (AA) from Aristolochia vines a "powerful kidney toxin" that may be carcinogenic in high doses. What is being covered up is that the "Chinese herbs" also contained drugs such as the stimulants fenfluramine and diethylpropion. No one knows if it was the herb, the drugs or the combination that caused the rash of kidney failures, but AA is off the market, while the drugs are never mentioned by Consumer Reports.