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

[Guest guest]

Dearest Rogene:

I have his book and it has some good information in it. They do not mention

Combivent, this drug is used for Asthma and it can cause heart enlargement

in some people. My respiratory specialist gave us a peer reviewed article on

this, he took me off this drug because my heart was enlarged. I wonder about

the Rat poison (Coumadin) that I am taking, I wish that I could come off

this drug.

Rogene, I did have the replicon, it was one of the older polyurethane breast

implants.

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

> Trewhitt, spokesman, Pharmaceutical Research and

> Manufacturers of America.

>

>

>

>

>

> Opinions expressed are NOT meant to take the place of advice given by

> licensed health care professionals. Consult your physician or licensed

> health care professional before commencing any medical treatment.

>

> " Do not let either the medical authorities or the politicians mislead you.

> Find out what the facts are, and make your own decisions about how to live

> a happy life and how to work for a better world. " - Linus ing,

> two-time Nobel Prize Winner (1954, Chemistry; 1963, Peace)

>

>