Big Pharma Whistles, and the Drug Enforcement Administration Comes Running

^[1]The DEA is enabling—even encouraging—a generation of opiate addicts, while the FDA tries to quash safe and helpful supplements like DHEA. Goodness, the legal drug-makers have been busy! This week the Associated Press revealed ^[2] that in 2010, US pharmacies dispensed the equivalent of 69 tons of pure oxycodone (used as ingredient in OxyContin, Percocet, and Percodan) and 42 tons of pure hydrocodone (used in Vicodin, Norco, and Lortab). That’s enough to give forty 5-milligram Percocets and twenty-four 5-milligram Vicodins to every single person in the United States.

The production and sale of both drugs has increased tremendously over the past decade; in some locations, sales have increased by 1,500 percent. Distribution is particularly high in Appalachia, the Midwest—particularly suburbia—and the Southwest.

Why the increase? Our poor diets and inactive lifestyles increase inflammation and pain. Older people are especially vulnerable in this regard. And doctors are increasingly willing to treat pain with drugs. Sales are also being driven by addiction, as users become physically dependent on painkillers and begin “doctor shopping” to keep the prescriptions coming.

Read More:

http://www.anh-usa.org/big-pharma-whistles-and-dea-comes-running/

Dr. Mercola - Is This FDA-Approved Sweetener Causing Brain Damage?

Aspartame is the most popular artificial sweetener in the United States, but I think a more apt description would be the most dangerous food additive on the U.S. market.

Used in more than 6,000 products (often sugar-free or "diet" versions), millions of people consume this toxin, believing it to be a healthy alternative to sugar.

But people would likely stop using it in droves if they only knew the truth, which is that since its discovery aspartame has been linked to brain tumors.ⁱ

And just this month, research was published in Drug and Chemical Toxicology showing yet another route by which aspartame damages your brain …

Read More:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/03/24/aspartame-affects-brain-health.aspx

“FDA Went Too Far,” Says Judge

A court has stopped FDA’s latest attempt to censor food and supplement science.

An FDA disclaimer about green tea and the risk of cancer is so strongly worded that it “effectively negates” the manufacturer’s qualified health claim (QHC) and violates the First Amendment, according to US District Court Judge Vanessa L. Bryant.

QHCs enable companies to make a health claim about a substance in relation to a disease or condition when the supporting science fails to meet the FDA’s “significant scientific agreement” standard, so long as that health claim is “qualified” in such a way as to not mislead consumers. QHCs have been permitted in the US since the 1999 landmark case of Pearson v. Shalala ^[3] (brought against the FDA by attorney Jonathan Emord on behalf of Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw, ANH-USA, and others.

Read More:

http://www.anh-usa.org/fda-went-too-far/

FDA’s Huge Conflicts of Interest with Big Pharma

^[1]Tragically, the drug they endorsed is killing the women who take it. Why is FDA doing this?

The birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin, which were endorsed by an FDA advisory committee last December, contain a drug called drospirenone. Women who take it are nearly seven times more likely to develop thromboembolism ^[2] (obstruction of a blood vessel by a blood clot, which can cause deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, stroke, heart attack, and death) compared to women who do not take any contraceptive pill, and twice the risk of women who take a contraceptive pill containing levonorgestrel. Thousands of women have filed a lawsuit against Bayer, saying they were injured by Yaz or Yasmin.

Why would the FDA approve such a dangerous drug? An investigation by the Washington Monthly and the British medical journal BMJ found that at least four members of the advisory committee ^[3] have either done work for the drugs’ manufacturers or licensees or received research funding from them. The members reported their industry ties to FDA, but FDA decided it didn’t matter and didn’t make the disclosures public.

Each of those four panelists who received money from the pill’s manufacturer voted in favor of the pill. Interestingly, the committee’s ruling that the drug’s benefit outweighs the risks was decided by a four-vote margin.

Read More:

http://www.anh-usa.org/fda-huge-conflicts-of-interest-with-big-pharma/

Ethan A. Huff - FDA admits mercury in cosmetic products is extremely toxic - so how is it safe in dental fillings, vaccines?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an updated warning about skin care products that may contain mercury, including many anti-aging, smoothing, skin-lightening, and beauty lotions and creams sold at ethnic beauty shops and online. Some of the tainted personal care products, most of which are imported, have been found to contain mercury levels far higher than acceptable limits, including one product that reportedly contained 131,000 times the acceptable limit of mercury.

According to the FDA, more than 35 products tested over the years have been found to contain levels of mercury beyond the one part per million (ppm) maximum standard for cosmetic products. The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), for instance, tested 27 skin products recently and discovered that 11 of them had levels of mercury far higher than one ppm.

You can view a list of the mercury-contaminated products tested by MDH here:
http://www.health.state.mn.us/topics/skin/

Read More:

http://www.naturalnews.com/035229_cosmetic_products_mercury_toxicity.html

Gary Null, Ph.D, and Nancy Ashley, VMD - The Politics of Medicine Part II: FDA Pimping for Big Pharma

Gary Null - Politics of Medicine Part II: FDA Pimping for Big Pharma

FDA Weighing Non-Prescription Status for Chronic Disease Drugs

The Food and Drug Administration is weighing whether to let consumers buy medicines for some chronic conditions without a prescription while speeding approvals of drugs for infection,Alzheimer’s disease and rare conditions.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg and the agency’s director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research yesterday outlined ways to get drugs in patients’ hands faster. The House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee today will hold a hearing on ways to expand the agency’s accelerated approval program and encourage drugmakers to develop antibiotics.

The FDA plans to expand its accelerated approval program based on relaxed standards for effectiveness, which is now largely limited to AIDS and cancer drugs, said Janet Woodcock, the agency’s top drug evaluator. The agency will also hold a two-day public meeting this month to evaluate whether to reclassify drugs for high blood pressure, cholesterol, migraines and asthma so patients can get them without a prescription.

Read More:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-08/fda-weighing-non-prescription-status-for-chronic-disease-drugs.html

Gary Null, Ph.D., and Nancy Ashley, VMD - The Politics of Medicine

THE POLITICS OF MEDICINE

By Gary Null, PhD and Nancy Ashley, VMD

March 5, 2012 

In 2012, America has become the most overmedicated society in history. Indeed, there is a medication for every condition, and we believe these medications will make us happy, slender, full of energy, and attractive like the people in the television ads.  We are even told that we don’t take enough medications as the list of made-up diseases grows longer and longer:  restless leg syndrome, social anxiety disorder, overactive bladder, pre-diabetes, adult ADD.  We never stop to question why we need all these drugs.  We never even notice that they aren’t making us better, or that we can’t get off them once we start taking them.  Why do we refuse to see that despite all these medications we are nevertheless the sickest industrialized nation on earth?

America doesn’t profit from prevention.  There are no preventative programs for cancer, heart disease, arthritis, dementia, Alzheimer’s, or diabetes, for a simple reason:  it would compete with the massive profits of the medical industrial complex.  So instead we have become a nation of gluttons -- we sublimate our anxiety and fears with comfort foods and the government encourages it instead of offering us an honest look at cause and effect.  Protecting the financial interest of the fast food industry, the makers of potato chips, soft drinks, hamburgers, steaks, desserts, genetically engineered corn, and pesticides are a compliant FDA and USDA whose leaders have been hand-picked by the White House to represent the interests of manufacturers. There will be no advocacy from Congress whatsoever to help the health of Americans.  But what is the likely outcome if we continue with our current lifestyles?

We are witnessing a watershed of dysfunction.  The American media has assisted in creating this mythology.  They have not only protected the American medical paradigm and the pharmaceutical industry, but they have actually attacked physicians, scientists, whistle-blowers, and parents groups that have run into the medical bureaucratic juggernaut.  As a nation we have sunk so low as to allow our legislators to create laws based on what they are told by big business through the American Legislative Exchange Committee (ALEC), laws that mandate the Gardasil vaccine for girls and now boys or they can’t go to school, and laws that require that health care workers get the flu vaccine or lose their jobs.  All of this without the major media ever raising a single question:  is this real science, or science for sale?

We have decided to explore the politics of medicine and the consequences of therapies, physicians, scientists, advisors, government agencies, the media, and a vulnerable public who are unaware of how malignant the system has become – how pernicious, widespread, and in fact, endemic, the self-interest, greed and  bad science actually is.   Part I of our in-depth investigative report will show that American medicine is not only broken, but contributes to unnecessary injury and death into the millions of victims per year.  It has morphed into an extension of the pharmaceutical industrial complex – the friendly face with the white coat and the stethoscope.  We will now deconstruct this myth.

Click to read more ...

Ethan A. Huff - FDA monopoly enforcement goes after Google for $500 million in online pharmacy ad profits

(NaturalNews) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently snagged a hefty $500 million forfeiture, one of the largest in history, from search engine giant Google for running advertisements on its AdWords service for Canadian pharmacies. The agency claims these ads, which were also viewable by Americans, facilitated the illegal shipment of prescription drugs into the U.S. in violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, as well as the Controlled Substances Act.

A trophy in the FDA's trophy case of strong-armed regulatory enforcement actions, the $500 million forfeiture demonstrates the agency's intolerance for the sale of any drug that is not officially FDA-approved. But what it also embodies is a whole new level of government reach into private business practices, which in this case did not necessarily constitute a violation of the law on Google's part.

Read More:

http://www.naturalnews.com/034930_FDA_Google_online_pharmacies.html

Heidi Stevenson - Neotame, New Neurotoxic Sweetener: FDA Says No Label Needed, Not Even in Organics

Monsanto developed Neotame as their Aspartame patent was expiring, and had no trouble in gaining FDA approval in 2002. They added 3-dimethylbutyl, a chemical listed as hazardous by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to Aspartame, making it both sweeter and more toxic.

Toxicity

Both Aspartame and Neotame contain substances that are metabolized into formaldehyde, a highly toxic poison, and an excitotoxic amino acid that agitates, thereby damaging, nerves.

At the time Neotame was originally approved by the FDA, Feingold.org, which battles the addition of many dodgy food additives, stated:

We did a search of MedLine to find studies of adverse effects or side effects of Neotame. Only four studies appeared, two of which were not studies, and the other two of which were actually a single study done by NutraSweet company researchers.

Read More:

http://articlesofhealth.blogspot.com/2012/01/new-acidic-neurtoxic-sweetener-from.html