People want to trust that their so-called elected government is doing the right thing when it passes regulations to enhance public safety. When the Pure Food and Drug Act was passed in 1906 a new watchdog agency, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), was born. It would be many years before we as a nation had such luxuries as refrigeration, sanitary food processing standards, and good manufacturing processes (GMP), so in many respects, this law was necessary. So, what exactly does the FDA do? Continue reading
Category Archives: PHARMACEU’TIC: A Spoonful of Sugar
Ellison: Skeletons in the FDA’s Closet
It is time that the actions of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) speak for themselves and Americans began to question their own absorbent use and blind-loyalty to FDA approved drugs. If not, you too may become a FDA statistic. The FDA’s financial ties to “big-pharma” have caused millions of preventable deaths over the last 30 years.
In 1996-97 the FDA approved a drug known as Posicor (a chemical called mibefradil dihydrochloride) for the treatment of high blood pressure (hypertension). Prior to approval, the data from the congestive heart failure trials presented at a FDA Advisory Committee meeting on Posicor showed that more patients treated with Posicor died than those taking a placebo! Continue reading
Bacteria are winning fight against drugs
Antibiotic resistance is increasing swiftly among the bacteria that cause meningitis, pneumonia, bloodstream infections, sinusitis and childhood ear infections, a new survey shows.
Researchers say that at the current rate of increase, more than 40 percent of all such infections will be resistant to at least two widely used antibiotics – penicillin and erythromycin – by the middle of next year. That’s up from about 9 percent in 1996. Continue reading
Douglas: A big problem that’s only getting bigger…
Anyone with fully-grown kids will remember being made to watch Saturday morning cartoons. You know, those animated shows about super-heroes or even classic characters like Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner. They were fun, right? Real, quality time with the kids (or grandkids)…
But what you may not remember so well are all those ads for frosted breakfast cereals and sugary fruit punch drinks and fast-food restaurants that were crammed in between these shows. Continue reading
Ellison: ADHD – Politics, Money, Or Science?
As a medicinal chemist I’ve had the opportunity to see a shockingly different side of Ritalin (Methylphenidate) and ADHD than the media exposes.
The Experimental Pharmacology Department of the American Cyanamid Company and the Merck Index report that Ritalin is no less toxic or safer than Amphetamine and Methamphetamine. They continue, by stating that upon administration of these drugs, motor activity decreases. Continue reading
Blumenfeld: Can Ritalin Kill a Child?
On March 21, 2000, 14-year-old Matthew Smith dropped dead of a heart attack while skateboarding. The ninth-grader had been on Ritalin since the first grade. Lawrence Smith, father of the youngster, has testified that he and his wife were forced by Michigan Social Services to put their child on Ritalin or else be charged for neglecting their son’s educational and emotional needs.
“His last report card was his best,” says Lawrence Smith. “But it wasn’t worth it for us. Putting him on Ritalin was the worst decision I’ve ever made.” And that’s because no long-range study had been made of the effects of Ritalin on children who take it over a number of years. Continue reading
O Meara: Ritalin Could Cause Long-Lasting Changes?
~Foreword~
Anybody with an ounce of common sense knows it is insane to give young children drugs like Ritalin to “modify” their behavior. Doing that creates a psychological gateway to illegal and prescription drug dependency in adult life. Why not just give them heroin and cocaine now – and get it over with?
It has always been my assertion that a lack of exercise and an excess of sugar in the diet is the cause of the so-called ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) in children. I can “modify” a twitchy-kid’s behavior by having him show up for school one hour early, report to the gym and run him around the track for 2-5 miles before he showers up and heads to class. Do that with your hyperactive brats and you won’t need Ritalin.
Now comes the following report that strongly suggests Ritalin can cause long-lasting or permanent changes in the brain. Gee, what a shock. – Carl F. Worden Continue reading
O’Meara: Medical Research To Die For – ‘Snake Oil’
Step right up, little lady, and get your serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to treat anything and everything that ails the mind and body – social phobias, eating disorders, insomnia, headaches and depression, to name but a few.
This “medication,” guar-an-teed safe and efficacious by the phantasmagoria of federal science, is prescribed to reduce the symptoms of whatever ails you and to assure healthy and happier lives. Continue reading
Are you paying attention?
Right now, your child or grandchild might be taking a substance that could label him a drug user for the rest of his life. And chances are the people who are supposed to be protecting him – his doctors, teachers, and parents – are the ones giving it to him. I’m talking about the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) “wonder drug,” Ritalin.
It is not generally known that Ritalin is classified as a schedule II controlled substance, along with morphine, cocaine, and other narcotics and amphetamines. If you wonder why Ritalin, a drug given to millions of children, is considered dangerous enough to be classified with the schedule II narcotics, consider some of the consequences of taking this drug, which include heart attacks, growth problems, psychosis, blood disorders and even death. Continue reading
Regush: The Sleeping Pill Nightmare
Doctors Continue To Prescribe Dangerous And Addictive Sleep Drugs
Millions of patients each year tell their doctors that they can’t sleep. Their insomnia may be due to the habitual downing of ten cups of coffee a day or to being a “regular” at Sally’s Bar. Or they may be so stressed out that counting sheep or thousand-dollar bills doesn’t do it. Depression and other illnesses also cause sleepless nights.
The effects of insomnia can be wicked. Some individuals can’t function properly on the job; others are strapped into an emotional roller coaster. Those deprived of sleep for longer than a month may even hallucinate. Continue reading
Disorder in Diagnosing Attention Deficit
Critics claim some doctors and entrepreneurs are exploiting the behavioral disorder and the dissatisfaction with Ritalin for their own financial gain. (Ed.)
(CNSNews.com) – Parents seeking a way to help their children overcome attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have increasingly resorted to the prescription drug, Ritalin. Continue reading
Jarvis: Brave New America
Certain periods in history are characterized according to the dominant trends and behaviors of the time. For example, the 1920s are called the “Lost Generation” and the 1950s are described as the “Beat Generation.” When posterity looks back on our contemporary society, I suspect it will classify us as the “Medicated Generation.”
Since the 1980s, the use of psychotropic drugs has increased more than 40%, primarily to treat depression. Anti-depressants are being prescribed to allay symptoms such as sadness, anxiety, hopelessness, agitation, mood swings, apprehension, grief, feelings of panic, and lethargy. In other words, the day-to-day symptoms that prior generations learned to cope with. Continue reading
Moore: Now The Government Wants To Be Your Doctor
Hail the Hippocratic Oath! Approved by the American Medial Association, this document states: “That into whosever house you shall enter, it shall be for the good of the sick to the utmost of your power..”
Never mind that today to be treated, the sick have to go to the doctor’s “house” instead of the doctor coming to see the sick. As for the caring of the sick to the utmost of your power, one might well wonder if all the doctors took the same oath. Continue reading
If children drop Ritalin, should camp drop them?
Summer quandary for counselors
For increasing numbers of children, summer camp has become a vacation from Ritalin, much to the chagrin of their camp counsellors.
With at least 200,000 Canadian children on prescriptions for the pills and sales of the drug up 9% since last year, camp directors have devised strategies to either exclude from their camps children who are off Ritalin, or learn to cope with them. Continue reading
The Myth of ADHD and Other Learning Disabilities
Parenting Without Ritalin
The idea of Learning Disabilities, and therefore also of ADHD, has become such an established “scientific fact,” that many people may raise a skeptical eyebrow when they see or hear this title. One should never lose sight of the fact, however, that science is practiced by human beings–and human beings are prone to err. However, when we consider the destruction and devastation, that notions like “Learning Disabilities” and “Attention Deficit Disorder” have over the past few decades brought to children throughout the whole world, I think it is high time that, for the sake of our children, we start thinking again and stop acting like lemmings. (Ed.) Continue reading