Re: Fw: Watchdog Group: Avoid 181 Prescription Drugs...182

[Guest guest]

Dear Lea,

Coumadin has been used successfully for a long time

now. . . The reason it kills rats is because it thins

their blood until they hemorage. . . They're not going

to give you doses anywhere near that large . . . Just

enough to keep your blood from clotting too fast.

I know you'd love to get off it, but, considering all

the drugs you could take, this is probably one of the

better ones.

Love,

Rogene

--- Lea <devans@...> wrote:

>

> Watchdog Group: Avoid 181

> Prescription Drugs

> >

> >

> >>

> >> http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/99/105189.htm

> >>

> >>

> ---------------------------------------------------

> >>

> >> Watchdog Group: Avoid 181 Prescription Drugs

> >>

> >> Public Citizen Cites Poor Safety, Safer

> Alternatives

> >> for Most

> >>

> >> By Todd Zwillich

> >> WebMD Medical News

> >> Reviewed By , MD

> >> on Wednesday, January 12, 2005

> >>

> >>

> >> Jan. 12, 2005 - There are 181 popular

> prescription

> >> drugs on a " Do Not Use " list issued by the

> watchdog

> >> group Public Citizen on Wednesday.

> >>

> >> The drugs, including the cholesterol-lowering

> drug

> >> Crestor, the birth control pill Yasmin, and

> >> controversial pain relievers Celebrex and Bextra,

> are

> >> condemned by the group because their potentially

> >> dangerous side effects far outweigh their

> benefits or

> >> because there are safer alternatives that work

> just as

> >> well, says Sidney Wolfe, MD, director of the

> Public

> >> Citizen Health Research Group.

> >>

> >> The group is a longtime critic of the U.S. drug

> >> industry and a watchdog over the FDA. The agency

> has

> >> largely failed to adequately police the safety of

> new

> >> drugs coming on the market or to track potential

> >> dangers once they are already on sale, Public

> Citizen

> >> contends.

> >>

> >> " This is a massive public health problem, " Wolfe

> says.

> >>

> >>

> >> Wolfe says the list, contained in a larger volume

> of

> >> consumer-oriented information on 536 drugs called

> >> Worst Pills, Best Pills, is necessary because the

> FDA

> >> has been slow to take action against potentially

> >> dangerous medications.

> >>

> >> " We asked FDA four years ago to put a black box

> >> warning on Vioxx and Celebrex, but they didn't do

> it, "

> >> says Wolfe, referring to two popular arthritis

> drugs

> >> that have come under intense scrutiny because of

> >> evidence that they increase the risk of heart

> attack.

> >> Vioxx was pulled from the worldwide market by

> >> manufacturer Merck & Co. in September, and last

> month

> >> the National Institutes of Health halted a trial

> of

> >> Pfizer's Celebrex because of similar concerns.

> >>

> >> Risks associated with Celebrex have only been

> seen at

> >> high doses of the medication - 400 mg a day.

> Heart

> >> problems with Bextra have only been seen in

> patients

> >> undergoing heart bypass surgery.

> >>

> >> Nearly 100,000 Americans die each year because of

> >> adverse drug reactions, Wolfe says. That number

> was

> >> quoted in a 1998 University of Toronto study

> >> estimating that 106,000 people died in U.S.

> hospitals

> >> in 1994 because of drug reactions.

> >>

> >> The list warns against using Crestor, a

> >> cholesterol-lowering statin, because of what

> Public

> >> Citizen says is an increased risk of the muscle

> >> disorder rhabdomyolysis. Women should avoid using

> the

> >> contraceptive pill Yasmin, it says, because it

> can

> >> cause elevations in blood potassium while

> offering no

> >> advantage over other birth control pills. If

> severe,

> >> high potassium levels can cause heart rhythm

> problems.

> >>

> >>

> >> Wolfe says the list was not intended to scare

> >> consumers away from using prescription

> medications,

> >> but to help them cut through what Public Citizen

> sees

> >> as misleading drug industry ads directed at

> patients

> >> and doctors.

> >>

> >> " There are people, organizations, that think all

> >> prescription drugs are terrible. We are not one

> of

> >> them, " he says.

> >>

> >> Jeff Trewhitt, a spokesman for the Pharmaceutical

> >> Research and Manufacturers of America, the drug

> >> industry's largest lobbying group, calls the book

> >> " another source of information " for consumers and

> >> doctors to use.

> >>

> >> Trewhitt declined to comment on individual drugs

> but

> >> says fewer than 3% of all pharmaceutical products

> >> approved by the FDA have been pulled off the

> market

> >> because of safety problems. He adds that patients

> >> should not stop taking a drug without first

> checking

> >> with their doctor.

> >>

> >> " There may be some room for improvement " in the

> FDA's

> >> regulation of drug safety, Trewhitt says. " But we

> >> believe the FDA has struck exactly the right

> approach

> >> to the risk-benefit interpretation. "

> >>

> >>

> >>

>

-------------------------------------------------------

> >>

> >> SOURCES: Wolfe, S. Worst Pills, Best Pills: A

> >> Consumer's Guide to Avoiding Drug-Induced Death

> or

> >> Illness, Pocket Books, Jan. 4, 2005. Sidney

> Wolfe, MD,

> >> director, Public Citizen's Health Research Group.

> Jeff

>

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