Safety of new sleep medication challenged by watchdog group
Public Citizen is charging that the FDA inappropriately expanded the approved use of Vanda's drug, Hetlioz, for the disorder beyond its original indication for use in blind people.
View ArticleMilk marketing to children raises questions
Milk is rarely seen as a health food. Why is it marketed to children when other sources of calcium exist?
View ArticleThese medications cost what?
It is no secret that the pill profit party is over for drug companies. Bestselling pills like Lipitor, Seroquel, Zyprexa, Singular, Concerta, Cymbalta and Abilify have gone off patent and Wall Street...
View ArticleDrug company-funded anti-suicide groups on campus raises questions
Many are baffled why the suicide rate in the United States is rising despite antidepressant use being at an all time high. Suicide has risen to 38,000 a year, says USA Today, after falling in the 1990s.
View ArticleNew Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease cases raise questions
Mad cow disease (BSE or bovine spongiform encephalopathy) and the related Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) found in humans are back in the news. In the southern Italian region of Puglia, two people died...
View ArticleIf off-label marketing is 'speech,' why even have the FDA?
It has always been legal for U.S. doctors to prescribe drugs for off-label uses but marketing of off-label uses has been illegal.
View ArticleIndustry links to FDA commissioner nominee are questioned
Drug company links to Duke University researcher Robert Califf, nominated by the Obama administration to be FDA commissioner, are not hard to find. Califf has "served as a director, officer, partner,...
View ArticleControversial growth drug removed from some pork
US pork producers have debuted a label that assures consumers their meat was not made by giving animals ractopamine, an asthma drug-like beta agonist that increases protein synthesis
View ArticleDirect-to-consumer advertising — selling drugs or diseases?
"Are there periods of time when you have racing thoughts? Fly off the handle at little things? Spend out of control? Need less sleep? Feel irritable? You may need treatment for bipolar disorder," read...
View ArticleFrom flame retardants to Paxil, perceptions of “safety” often come from industry
“Research” establishing the flame retardant chemical deca (Deca-BDE ) as safe can be traced to just 12 blood samples obtained in 1988 and “spun” by a consulting company hired by chemical makers. The...
View ArticleExperts: Antibiotic resistance worsening
A University of Iowa study found MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) in 70 percent of hogs on farms studied and in 64 percent of workers; resistant bacteria were found on an unopened...
View ArticlePrecocious puberty in girls is increasing and alarming
Sixteen percent of U.S. girls now experience breast development by the age of 7 and 30 percent by the age of 8.
View ArticleMarine life shows disturbing signs of pharmaceutical drug effects
Like canaries in the coal mine, the first signs of drug effects from the water often manifest in the fish
View ArticleDo Drug Industry Perks Affect Prescribing? Yes Says Recent Study
A recent study found that more than one free meal increased the likelihood of doctors prescribing the drug of the meal provider
View ArticleNew warnings about fluoroquinolones
In May, the FDA warned that fluoroquinolone antibiotics, because of common and sometimes permanent side effects, should only be used as a last resort. The agency followed up in July with language for...
View ArticleFDA orders antibacterial agents removed from soaps
Cleaning products with antibiotics do not get you “cleaner” than soap and water but they do encourage antibiotic resistance and “superbugs” and disrupt endocrine systems in humans and animals.
View ArticleAre Cloned Animals on the U.S Dinner Table?
When Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was asked point-blank, during a 2010 trade mission in Canada, if “cloned cows or their offspring have made it into the North American food supply,” his answers...
View ArticleYes, too much sugar is harmful but are artificial sweeteners the answer?
Most Americans consume at least twice the recommended amount of sugar and few people who have the soda “habit” only drink one soft drink a day as recommended
View ArticleFDA Approved Drugs May Become Riskier
Speedier approvals and the legalization of "off-label marketing" have drug safety activists worried.
View ArticleFrom flame retardants to Paxil, perceptions of “safety” often come from industry
“Research” establishing the flame retardant chemical deca (Deca-BDE ) as safe can be traced to just 12 blood samples obtained in 1988 and “spun” by a consulting company hired by chemical makers. The...
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