Negligence, or a Well-organized Crime?

Let’s hear the story of Dr. Michael Wilkes:

“Mrs. Cream never even considered that she could slip on the rug in her own living room--a rug that by she had walked on a thousand times. But her fall caused her to hit a table and fracture her hip.

After surgery and a hospital stay, Mrs. Cream, 77, was sent home with a prescription for a pain reliever called Darvocet. Not only did the medicine not control her pain, she found it also made her confused and sleepy.”

Here is an interesting fact about this drug:

"Research has shown that Darvocet (and Darvon and Wygesic too) is far less effective than ibuprofen and is no more effective than Tylenol or aspirin, but there is also data showing that it is no more effective than a sugar pill!"

Why? Because the active ingredient in Darvocet (Darvon and Wygesic)--propoxyphene is ineffective as a painkiller. Worse yet, it is dangerous.

"Propoxyphene can cause serious cardiac problems, including inhibiting the heart from pumping blood. Propoxyphene also causes harmful effects on the brain (sedation and confusion) that can lead to the types of problems many people experience, such as difficulty standing, loss of balance, and difficulty thinking clearly.”

This raises the logical question, why do the pharmaceutical companies (such as Mikart, Eli Lilly & Company, and AAIPharma) push drugs on the market if they know they are ineffective?

Despite the fact that they don't work, the pharmaceutical companies are making huge profits from these drugs. One of the main reasons for this phenomenon has been hidden from the public—some pharmaceuticals (the mentioned Darvocet, Darvon and Wygesic; etc.) are addictive. Once people get "hooked" on these medicines, they become dependent on them, just as they would on narcotics, and it’s very hard to get off them.

The bitter truth is that addictive drugs are widely sold in drug stores, and chemicals that cause food addictions are added to what people eat. This virtually guarantees high profit margins for pharmaceutical companies and the food industry. In my opinion, this practice should be classified as illegal and prohibited by the law. Do you agree?

“Drugs containing propoxyphene can be toxic even at normal doses. Over the past two decades, they are estimated to have been responsible for at least 2,000 deaths in the United States. Their toxicity is greater in the elderly, suggesting that this drug may have been particularly inappropriate for Mrs. Cream. Yet, these pills are prescribed for millions of senior citizens in emergency rooms, nursing homes, and in hospitals after surgery.

Information about propoxyphene's dangers and ineffectiveness is not new. These facts are at least 20 years old.”

Fortunately, many countries around the world removed these ineffective and unsafe drugs from the market. However, what steps were taken by the U.S. FDA with respect to this very profitable pharmaceutical fraud? None! Maybe they did not read the Federal law, which requires the FDA to remove unsafe products; or maybe they read it, but the growing bank accounts of the drug companies caused them to forget about the law? Nevertheless, propoxyphene continues to be among the top 25 most-prescribed generic drugs in America.

Michael Wilkes, M.D., a professor of medicine at the University of California, Davis, reports the following conversation: “I asked how much time it could take to determine if a drug was unsafe. She refused to comment. I contacted her supervisor, who also was unwilling to comment on whether the FDA was worried about the drug's safety. I asked if the FDA felt the public had any reason to worry. Again she would not comment.” I guess now, the reason of the FDA denial is pretty obvious.

Consider what President Reagan said when he was inaugurated to his first term of office: “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

The FDA is a part of the government.

Here is Another example of what the FDA worries about most--your health or the pockets of pharmaceutical companies:

May 21, 2007--FDA Issues Safety Alert on Avandia:

Safety data from controlled clinical trials has shown that there is a potentially significant increase in the risk of heart attack and heart-related deaths in patients taking Avandia. Later in the same year, the FDA added to the list another drug, Actos (for treatment of Type 2 diabetes), which has the same side effects as Avandia. The estimated number of Americans usings Avandia (rosiglitazone) and Actos (pioglitazone) is about 18 to 20 million.

Note: According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), 54 million Americans have pre-diabetes, and about 20% of all North Americans over the age of 65 have Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes occurs when cells try to reject insulin (a pancreas hormone necessary for blood sugar utilization), resulting in high blood sugar. Symptoms of Type 2 diabetes include increased thirst and hunger, fatigue, increased urination (especially at night), weight loss, blurred vision, and sores that do not heal.

According to the FDA's website, Avandia gained approval in 1999 for treatment of type 2 diabetes. This means that one-fifteenth of the Americans were put in danger of having a heart attack, and a good chance of dying. For eight years, the FDA was okay with this, but then “suddenly” changed its opinion and issued a safety alert on the drug. Neither the FDA nor the manufacturers of the drug, who withheld information about its dangers from the public, were ever punished.

Are the manufacturers of these dangerous drugs (GlaxoSmithKline and Takeda Pharmaceuticals) the only pharmaceutical companies to "get away with" this type of wrongdoing? Judge for yourself. According to statistics, more than 50% of the FDA-approved drugs were removed from the market because they were deemed to be dangerous. However (and this is the kicker), they were not taken off the market until they had been damaging people's health for about 10 years. During that 10-year period, a pharmaceutical giant can cover all its expenses and receive enormous profits. Thus, it seems that we are dealing with well organized crime.

Ask yourself--is it possible that after more than $500 million spent on clinical trails for each medicine, the pharmaceutical companies did not notice the serious side effects of their drugs? Of course, this is not possible. How, then, would you classify such an action by the pharmaceutical companies and the FDA, who have been willingly and knowingly selling of lethal drugs for decades? This is terrorism, worse than 9/11. Every year, pharmaceutical drugs kill three times more Americans than were killed in the Vietnam War (which covered a 10-year period).

And worse yet, FDA prosecutes (sometimes, with jail sentences) those who try to treat sick people with safe, natural remedies. I am not claiming that every doctor who treats patients with natural, safe medicines always helps them, but at least, natural, safe remedies do not kill or cause harm to people.

Statistics show that prescription drugs are 16,400% more deadly than terrorists. Maybe people need to make some changes. If you agree with this, tell it to your congressmen and other government officials. Even if they don't listen to you, your voice will increases the chance of raising the power of someone who can make the difference.

Finally, think about that the "doomsday" scenario that the Mayans and The Book of Changes (I Ching) predicted will occur in five years from now, and how it might be prevented if YOU will try to make a difference by doing the right thing.

“The time is always right to do what is right.”
--Martin Luther King, Jr.

P.S. -- All day long, people hear that enemies of the U.S. around the world want to destroy freedom, kill democracy, and blah, blah, blah... In response, I offer this (rephrased) folk aphorism: “Those who are screaming, 'catch enemies,' are themselves the enemies we have to watch out for.” (Or, put another way, logical speaking is the enemy of illogical screaming.)

The article was written by Dr. Vladimir Gouliaev, July 16, 2008.