Big Pharma, the Medical Machine and our health...

[Guest guest]

http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/Newsletter/archive/newsletter_2009_12_dec_18.htmlDecember 15, 2009Antidepressants linked to increased stroke risk Middle-aged women who take antidepressants are at an increased risk of stroke, a major study has found. A large study of women who have been through the menopause found those taking antidepressants were 45 per cent more likely to suffer a stroke than those of the same age not on the medicines. The research also found that overall death rates were 32 per cent higher in women on the drugs. Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)December 14, 2009Glaxo Said to Have Paid $1 Billion in Paxil Suits GlaxoSmithKline Plc has paid almost $1 billion to resolve lawsuits over Paxil since it introduced the antidepressant in 1993, including about $390 million for suicides or attempted suicides said to be linked to the drug, according to court records and people familiar with the cases. As part of the total, Glaxo, the U.K.’s largest drugmaker, so far has paid $200 million to settle Paxil addiction and birth-defect cases and $400 million to end antitrust, fraud and design claims, according to the people and court records. Read article at bloomberg.comDecember 11, 2009Merck loses effort to dismiss 24 Fosamax cases NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Manhattan federal judge has rejected Merck & Co's effort to dismiss 24 cases alleging that its Fosamax drug treatment for osteoporosis causes jaw damage. In an opinion released Wednesday, U.S. District Judge John Keenan ruled that the plaintiffs could introduce testimony by two doctors to show that the drug can cause jaw damage after less than three years of continuous use. Keenan said the evidence is sufficiently reliable to allow a rational jury to establish such a connection. Read article in the Montreal Gazette (Canada)December 9, 2009GAO: FDA yet to make safety changes post-Vioxx The Food and Drug Administration still hasn't restructured its staff to better monitor drug safety, more than three years after experts recommended key changes in the wake of the Vioxx scandal. That's according to congressional investigators who found that the FDA has yet to follow through on changes suggested in 2006 to help the agency detect problems with drugs taken by millions of Americans. Those recommendations came after the embarrassing and dangerous episode with Vioxx, a blockbuster pain drug the FDA approved in 1999, only to pull from the market in 2004 after linking it to heart attack and stroke. Read article at physorg.comDecember 9, 2009An exclusive interview with Dr. Barbara Starfield: Medically Caused Death in America On July 26, 2000, the US medical community received a titanic shock to the system, when one of its most respected and honored public-health experts, Dr. Barbara Starfield, revealed her findings on healthcare in America. The landmark Starfield study, “Is US health really the best in the world?”, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, came to the conclusion that the medical system is the third leading cause of death in the US, behind heart disease and cancer. The Starfield study is the most explosive revelation about modern healthcare in America ever published. Read Jon Rappoport's interview with Dr. Barbara Starfield at jonrappoport.wordpress.comFor more pharma "business with disease" news, December 14, 2009Europe enters a nutrition science dark age As the clock strikes 12:01AM on January 1, 2010, Europe will enter a nutrition science Dark Age. The stultifying effects of that backward movement will hit food and dietary supplement companies hard all around the world. The movement toward replacing private choice with government fiat proceeds apace internationally. Europe’s condemnation of food supplements and claims about them is among the latest examples of that movement. Read article by Attorney Jonathan Emord at newswithviews.com =====In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.