Big Pharma literally killing more people than GUNS
The opioid epidemic in America is killing more people than guns and the blame rests squarely on Big Pharma. Until 2007, the number of deaths by firearm was five times greater than those caused by overdoses, but in 2015 overdose deaths surpassed gun deaths for the first time – and it looks like the trend will continue. Continue reading
For doctors and the people they care for, depression can be a vexing condition. It’s common–about 16% of American adults will be clinically depressed at some point in their lives–and yet about a third of those cases won’t respond to the standard treatments of antidepressants and psychotherapy. Stubborn depression can have dire long-term effects on people’s health and well-being: those with treatment-resistant depression tend to die nine years earlier, on average, than those whose mental health is well managed, and they’re twice as likely to die after a heart attack. Continue reading
At the height of addiction: Andi Peterson from Weber County spent a year in jail on drug related charges
The first time Andi Peterson tried prescription opiates, she was 16-years-old.
Two years later, the Weber County native was prescribed Percocet by a doctor which led to a drug spiral, costing her the custody of her son.
A Buisness Insider report chronicles Peterson’s journey from taking prescription opiates for the first time to her addition to heroin.
The story is all too familiar for many Americans who suffer from opiate addiction.
At 16, Peterson tried Lortab which was given to her by her friend before she even drank alcohol. Continue reading
One dispenses legally. One does not.
The end result is the same…
A pharmaceutical company has been forced to ‘pause’ the launch of a crucial muscular dystrophy drug amid outrage over its $88,000 price-hike.
Emflaza, a steroid, is one of the only drugs believed to slow the effects of Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy (DMD), a terminal disease that disproportionately affects boys. Continue reading
It’s one of the easiest over-the-counter medicines to buy, costing as little as 19p for a pack of sixteen tablets.
But a new study claims that self-administering paracetamol can potentially be as dangerous as cancer on the liver’s function.
Scientists have discovered how the common painkiller causes damage to the body’s vital organ on par with cirrhosis and hepatitis. Continue reading
They’re a popular mealtime beverage for millions of people who believe that by drinking them, they’re avoiding the pitfalls of sugar consumption. But diet soda pop is neither healthy nor safe, as research continues to show that its primary sweetening constituent in most cases, aspartame, is a damaging neurotoxin that can lead to a host of chronic health issues, including cancer. Continue reading
While today’s pharmaceuticals are often touted as game-changers and the product of a medically advanced society, there most definitely is a dark side to having our country flooded with prescription medications. And American youth are being particularly abused by Big Pharma and the traditional medical community.
The more studies are conducted on mood-and-mind-altering medications for conditions like ADHD—perhaps one of the most over-diagnosed ‘illnesses’ among early school-aged children—the more we find they are doing lasting damage. Continue reading
President Obama declared during his (2016) State of the Union Address that he’s putting Vice President Biden in charge of carrying out a multi-billion dollar “moonshot”, to cure cancer that Biden called for in wake of his son’s death. Unfortunately for Biden, and the public in general, Big Pharma has too much to lose by curing cancer, and too much to gain by keeping it in check. Continue reading
It’s hard to believe that cancer patients with a few days to live are denied sufficient painkillers for fear of addiction. Today common sense has become an uncommon commodity
The poppy is also a flower…
How history repeats itself! Today, politicians are once again ignoring the pain of terminal cancer patients. At the same time they are shooting themselves in the foot by making illogical remarks about pain. This human folly takes me back 37 years.
In January 1979, I wrote a New Year’s resolution in this column to petition the government to legalize medical heroin to ease the agony of terminal cancer patients. I knew that heroin had been used in English hospitals for 90 years, so why not have this painkiller available in North America? But rather than being applauded for my compassion, all hell broke loose. Continue reading
Show me de monee!
Lawmakers have slammed a pharmaceutical company for raising the price of a crucial leukemia drug by 40 per cent in less than a year.
Bernie Sanders is leading the interrogation into ARIAD Pharmaceuticals in the latest battle between government and big pharma firms.
ARIAD produces Iclusig, which is used to treat chronic myeloid leukemia in some patients. The company has subtly bumped the price of the drug by at least 8 per cent every quarter – amounting to a 39 per cent increase.
Now it costs $200,000 a year – up $80,000 in just a few years. Continue reading
The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a U.S. federal research institute focused on “[advancing] science on the causes and consequences of drug use and addiction … to apply that knowledge to improve individual and public health.” Though it admits “the majority of people who use marijuana do not go on to use other, ‘harder’ substances,” it still describes marijuana as a gateway drug.
But U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch recently told a group of Kentucky high school students the role of marijuana in the national drug abuse debate has been overstated. Continue reading
‘Cancer-causing’: Sucralose, the artificial sweetener in Splenda, may raise the risk of leukaemia and other cancers, a study has found
Italian researchers found Splenda, a sweetener which containing sucralose, was linked with an increased risk of this type of blood cancer as well as other cancers.
The team, from the Ramazzini Institute, called for ‘urgent’ follow up studies to assess whether the ingredient is harmful.
However, Splenda’s makers, Heartland Food Products Group, issued a strong rebuttal, arguing a body of evidence has found the product to be safe, and calling into question the reliability of studies by the Ramazzini Institute. Continue reading
Every time you enjoy a cool, clear glass of tap water, you could be drinking a cocktail of other people’s second-hand medications.
That is thanks to the fact that today’s pharmaceuticals have been designed to be stable and long-lasting.
While that makes their doses reliably consistent, it also means that a substantial amount of the prescribed drugs that people take goes through their bodies and out into waste water. Ultimately a proportion of these drugs pours unaltered through the sewage filtering system and re-enters our domestic supply. Continue reading
When the average person makes the decision to add a nutritional supplement to their diet, a multivitamin is likely to be the first choice. That’s because to most people it feels like “taking out insurance” on their health.
In fact, multivitamin supplements are regularly used by one-third of all American adults and are the most common dietary supplement consumed in the U.S. today. Traditionally, a daily multivitamin is meant to avoid nutritional deficiency. The specific combination of vitamins and minerals is designed to resemble healthy dietary patterns, especially that of regular fruit and vegetable consumption. Continue reading