Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Please Donate and Help US Today



Dear Potential Donor,
I'm sure you are aware of the important role that Stop Foundation Inc. plays in helping people whose lives are impacted by Antidepressants. Our important work is supported largely by the support of generous donors who contribute to our annual capital campaign. This year’s goal is $50,000 which will allow Stoprx.org to continue providing much needed help to those in around the world who are in need of assistance, and to be aware of the deathly effects of psychotropic drugs. Without the continued support of generous donors like you, these needs will likely not be met.
In order to continue making a difference in the lives of individuals affected by the work of Stop Foundation Inc. it is vital for this year's capital campaign to be a success. Can we count on you to make a donation to this important cause? By making a tax deductible donation to our campaign, you'll be directly contributing to helping people struggling to cope with thoughts of suicide, and BigPharma drug induced aggressive behavior.
Stop Foundation Inc. (stoprx.org) is depending on your assistance and generosity. Please visit www.stoprx.org to pledge your support by using the Paypal Donate button on the contact us donate page, or mail a check to Stop Foundation Inc. 1450 Sutter Street San Francisco, Ca. 94109. Your donation is fully tax deductable in the US as we are a 501(C) 3. We are happy to accept even small donations of $10, $15, $20 and more, which helps our mailing campaigns. Larger donations will help us expand and spread the word about the true effects of antidepressants.

Thank you for your consideration and continued support.
Stop Foundation Inc

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Some Global Reports of Suicide Just The Last Few Months Directly Attributed to Anti-depressants



New Zealand
New Zealand man 26, was found dead on Mount Victoria in March 2008 a month after leaving his home without his wallet or shoes.
He had been suffering depression after a he had diagnosed himself as having Aspergers syndrome, a form of autism. His father told the coroner he believed that the initial mental health intervention of a prescription for an anti-depressant, Citalopram (celexa) maybe the cause for his son to effectively committing suicide by fire. His family is now taking up their case with the New Zealand Health Minister. According to reports from (voxy.co.nz).

UK
In Bristol England the news site thisisbristol.co.uk A twenty year old woman who had to move out of home because of the destructive impact she was having on her family killed herself by taking a huge drug overdose. A toxicology report showed that she had 21.4mg of Clozapine a powerful anti-psychotic drug which she had not been prescribed in her system. Assistant deputy coroner Terry Moore said: "The quantity she took satisfies me she knew what she was doing." He recorded a verdict of suicide.

A court inquest determined that an Ipswich England man jumped to his death from a bridge. The Greater Suffolk Coroner, Dr Peter Dean recorded the verdict that he took his own life. EADT.co.uk indicated that on June 25, it was reported he appeared to be a “lot calmer” and was put on anti-depressants. He was also advised to contact the doctor if he had any thoughts of self-harming. He committed suicide on Sept 30th.

Walesonline.co.uk reported Oct. 12th that a Wales teenager was found hanging in a sports club in December of 2008. The inquest results show he was on medication for depression.

USA
Washington: King5.com news reported that a twenty year old University of Washington women death was ruled a suicide by hanging by the medical examiner. She was found dead near a fraternity house on October 6th. Reports indicate she was prescribed Zoloft.

Pennsylvania: (goerie.com) A teenagers family remembers and Walks for Depressed Teens. Their daughter in April died of an overdose of anti-depressants.
Ohio: News reports indicate the Carroll County Coroner Mandal Haas in northeast Ohio found that a woman suspected of killing her two young children before taking her own life had been taking medication for depression.
Unfortunately there were likely more and more will be reported until this madness is stopped!

Friday, November 26, 2010

Love (Sex) and Other Drugs The Movie and Medicaid Fraud

The new movie Love & Other Drugs depics the unethical and illegal marketing activities of BigPharma. It shows mainly how Pfizer and Lilly pharmacuetical agents bribe doctors and medical practices with trips, money, alcohol and orgies all for thier products that don't work. It should be more of an eye opener to the general populace about fraud and pharma drug pushing for increased quotas and pharma agent perks. It is sick to see that Zoloft and Prozac have been marketed just like soup, or telecom services. It is all marketing for shelf space and personal income. This goes along with massive prescriptions by doctors across the US in an ongoing medicaid fraud investigation.

The following is a recent article from Lincoln Journal Star regarding massive prescriptions from doctors in Nebraska
The Cost of Mental Health? Pricey
November 24, 2010
By Mark Andersen
Lincoln Journal Star

Excerpt:
One Lincoln psychiatrist. Six mental health medications prescribed to Medicaid patients over two years. Cost to taxpayers: $2,927,872.
Newspapers around the country have picked up on the lists of Medicaid providers requested last April by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who suggested large numbers should spark official inquiries… In May, state Medicaid Director Vivianne Chaumont reported which Nebraska Medicaid providers wrote the most prescriptions for 11 types of medications during 2008 and 2009. Six of the drugs -- Abilify, Seroquel, Zyprexa, Geodon, Risperdal and Risperidone -- accounted for the bulk of the costs on Nebraska's lists.

Four Lincoln mental health providers were among the top 10 for those six drugs:

* Dr. Walter Duffy, a Lincoln psychiatrist, $2,927,872 (9,010 prescriptions), including more than $1.5 million for Abilify alone.

* Dr. Rafael Tatay, a Lincoln psychiatrist, $1,503,998 (3,998 prescriptions), including $473,700 for Abilify.

* Dr. Stephen Paden, a Lincoln psychiatrist, $587,917 (1,695 prescriptions), including $426,257 for Abilify.

* Dr. Pratap Pothuloori, a Lincoln psychiatrist, $545,487 (1,751 prescriptions), including $192,277 for Abilify.

In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Grassley cited the example of a Florida doctor who wrote 96,685 prescriptions for mental health drugs in 21 months.

"This trend is found again and again across the states," Grassley wrote, "suggesting that top prescribers stand out not only against other providers in their state, but against the very top prescribers in those states."

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Pharmaceutical Companies and the FDA Fraudulently Conducting Clinical Trials


The FDA attacks homeopathic treatments as they push for scientific evidence of these natural ingredient remedies. Yet BigPharma and the FDA are fraught with fraud in their own “scientific studies” which are far from using science. It is more payoffs to academic researchers and choreographed drugs trials versus placebo results.

Firstly, Bigpharma endows Universities to perform their “independent studies”, yet they pay enormous amounts of grants to complete these so called “independent” studies. Most would call that unethical. Pay a University to do a study, and if they came up with bad results would BigPharma use that University again? We think not.
That is outright fraud and coercion, and totally allowed by the FDA. Drugging a population keeps the population dumped down. It is a classic government conspiracy.

Clearly, these clinical trials are rife with fraud. Most of the clinical trials used by Pharmaceutical Companies to win FDA approval are funded by pharmaceutical Companies. It has been verified that most clinical trials tend to find results that favor the financial interests of whatever organization paid for them.

Secondly, these trials are typically preformed with pharma’s drugs versus a placebo. Yet, placebos are provided by the same company that funded the clinical trial. This provides the perfect scheme to supply the weakest placebo versus pharma’s drug. Can you see the clear room for unethical behavior and outright fraud? In our opinion when large amounts of money is involved then fraud is not far behind.

Thirdly, there are no standards for placebos as recently reported by Mike Adams of Natural News. A placebo is the “sugar pill” but could the trial use real sugar versus a diabetic drug in a trial. Yes they can, since there are no regulations on which type of sugar pill to use. The diabetes drug would clearly win against a real sugar pill. But, these trials don’t always use sugar in other cases they use olive oil which may actually improve heart health in a trial versus a cholesterol drug. Other placebo pills could use partially-hydrogenated oils which harm a hearts health. Yet less than 10 percent of the clinical trials list the placebo ingredients at all, Natural News reports. That doesn’t sound like scientific detail to us. Wouldn’t a pharmaceutical company want to boast if their trial drug beat olive oil in a head to head test? Or are they hiding something?

Natural News article also indicated that placebo performance strongly influences whether drugs are approved by the FDA. As the key piece of information on its regulatory approval decisions, the FDA wants to know whether a drug works better than placebo. That's the primary requirement. If they work even 5% better than a placebo, they are said to be "efficacious" (meaning they "work"). This is true even if the placebo was selected and used specifically to make the drug look good by comparison. As Natural News states, if there are no regulations or rules regarding the placebo, then none of the placebo controlled clinical trials are scientifically valid.

Yet homeopathic remedies have more stringent requirements for scientific evidence. Can you believe the irony here? The FDA in essence pushes away natural remedies, and embraces pharmaceutical drugs. Is the FDA really protecting you?

Contact your Congressional representative today and demand that these pharmaceutical companies at the least disclose which placebo they used in a test. Would you race a Porsche against a Pinto? Clearly that is not a true comparison, so the consumer should know how a drug preformed against a natural alternative. Go to stoprx.org site to contact Congress to address this blatantly obvious issue that the FDA should have a remedied already. Please feel free to also donate, so we can continue to keep you informed.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Almost $Billion Fine in DOJ GlaxoSmithKline Fraud Case, Whistle Blower Gets $96 Million



Bloomberg News By Justin Blum, David Voreacos and Andrew Harris Oct 26,2010
This is the complete Bloomberg article
GlaxoSmithKline Plc agreed to pay $750 million to settle a U.S. government false-claims lawsuit over the sale of defective drugs.

Glaxo, the U.K.’s largest drugmaker, and the U.S. Justice Department announced the accord today, resolving a lawsuit first filed in 2004 by Cheryl D. Eckard, a former global quality assurance manager for the London-based company.

“This is not something I wanted to do, but because of patient safety it was necessary,” Eckard, 51, told reporters following a Justice Department press conference in Boston. As a whistleblower, she will receive $96 million from the settlement money.

Glaxo was accused in court papers of selling tainted drugs under false pretenses. The medicines, made at a Glaxo plant in Cidra, Puerto Rico, were misidentified as a result of product mix-ups, according to papers filed in federal court in Boston. The affected drugs included the antidepressant Paxil CR and the diabetes treatment Avandamet.

The settlement includes a criminal fine and forfeiture totaling $150 million and a $600 million civil settlement under the False Claims Act and related state claims, the Justice Department said in a statement.

“We will not tolerate corporate attempts to profit at the expense of the ill and needy in our society -- or those who cut corners that result in potentially dangerous consequences to consumers,” Carmen M. Ortiz, the U.S. Attorney in Boston, said at today’s news conference.

Guilty Plea

SB Pharmco Puerto Rico Inc., a Glaxo unit, agreed to plead guilty to charges relating to the manufacture and distribution of adulterated drugs made at the now-shuttered plant, the Justice Department said. Glaxo said in July it had agreed in principle with the U.S. to pay 500 million pounds ($791 million) to resolve the investigation.

“We regret that we operated the Cidra facility in a manner that was inconsistent with current Good Manufacturing Practice requirements and with GSK’s commitment to manufacturing quality,” PD Villarreal, a Glaxo senior vice president, said in an e-mailed statement.

Eckard’s take is the largest ever for a single whistleblower, said Patrick Burns, spokesman for Taxpayers Against Fraud, a nonprofit Washington group that publicizes the use of legal means to combat fraud against the U.S. The federal government will receive $436.4 million from the settlement and participating states will split as much as $163.6 million, the Justice Department said.

‘Serious Deficiencies’

Other drugs made at the plant include Kytril, an anti- nausea medication, and Bactroban, an ointment used to treat skin infections, the Justice Department said.

“The false claims arose out of chronic, serious deficiencies in the quality assurance function at the Cidra plant and the defendants’ ongoing serious violations of the laws and regulations designed to ensure the fitness of drug products for use,” the government said in court papers.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2005 seized some Paxil CR lots after it was discovered that the pills sometimes split inappropriately, according to court papers. Some of the pills lacked an active ingredient.

“We did not uncover any evidence that patients were harmed from these adulterated batches,” Ortiz said today. “It is critical we keep pressure on companies to follow FDA standards and play by the rules.”

Eckard’s complaint was joined by the states of California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia, Chicago and New York City.

The case is U.S. v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., 04-10375, U.S. District Court for Massachusetts (Boston)

To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Blum in Washington at jblum4@bloomberg.net; Andrew M. Harris in Chicago at aharris16@bloomberg.net; David Voreacos in Newark, New Jersey, at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Who has the Number One U.S. Ranking in Criminal Fraud Cases? BigPharma of Course


This is a portion of the New York Times article Oct. 2nd 2010 by Duff Wilson “Side Effect may include Lawsuits”.

The new generation of antipsychotics has also become the single biggest target of the False Claims Act, a federal law once largely aimed at fraud among military contractors. Every major company selling the drugs Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson has either settled recent government cases for hundreds of millions of dollars or is currently under investigation for possible health care fraud.
Two of the settlements, involving charges of illegal marketing, set records last year for the largest criminal fines ever imposed on corporations. One involved Eli Lilly’s antipsychotic, Zyprexa; the other involved a guilty plea for Pfizer’s marketing of a pain pill, Bextra. In the Bextra case, the government also charged Pfizer with illegally marketing another antipsychotic, Geodon; Pfizer settled that part of the claim for $301 million, without admitting any wrongdoing.
The companies all say their antipsychotics are safe and effective in treating the conditions for which the Food and Drug Administration has approved them — mostly, schizophrenia and bipolar mania and say they adhere to tight ethical guidelines in sales practices. The drug makers also say that there is a large population of patients who still haven’t taken the drugs but could benefit from them.
AstraZeneca, which markets Seroquel, the top-selling antipsychotic since 2005, says it developed such drugs because they have fewer side effects than older versions.
“It’s a drug that’s been studied in multiple clinical trials in various indications,” says Dr. Howard Hutchinson, AstraZeneca’s chief medical officer. “Getting these patients to be functioning members of society has a tremendous benefit in terms of their overall well-being and how they look at themselves, and to get that benefit, the patients are willing to accept some level of side effects.”
The industry continues to market antipsychotics aggressively, leading analysts to question how drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration for about 1 percent of the population have become the pharmaceutical industry’s biggest sellers despite recent crackdowns.

“It’s the money,” says Dr. Jerome L. Avorn, a Harvard medical professor and researcher. “When you’re selling $1 billion a year or more of a drug, it’s very tempting for a company to just ignore the traffic ticket and keep speeding.”

Contentions that the new drugs are superior have been “greatly exaggerated,” says Dr. Jeffrey A. Lieberman, chairman of the psychiatry department at Columbia University. Such assertions, he says, “may have been encouraged by an overly expectant community of clinicians and patients eager to believe in the power of new medications.”
“At the same time,” he adds, “the aggressive marketing of these drugs may have contributed to this enhanced perception of their effectiveness in the absence of empirical evidence.”
Others agree. “They sold the story they’re more safe, when they aren’t,” says Robert Whitaker, a journalist who has written two books about psychiatric medicines. “They had to cover up the problems. Right from the start, we got this false story.” End of NYTimes exerpt.

The antidepressant pharmaceutical industry takes in $14.6 Billion in revenue selling these drugs that don’t work. If a firm is taking in this type of money it is easy to settle multi-million dollar fraud lawsuits. The media, government, and medical industry are all working together to cover up the facts that antidepressants don’t work at all so the public is just dumbed down and uninformed on the subject. We commend the NYTimes for doing the research for this article. A truely ethical and independent FDA could stop this madness.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Bad Science: Antidepressants Found to Lower Serotonin Levels and Increases Suicide Rates, Yet they are Marketed to Increase “The Feel Good Chemical"

Dr. Rene Hen is a professor of pharmacology at the Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Columbia University. She conducted a study on serotonin in mice earlier this year and it appeared in the January 15 issue of the journal Neuron.
One of her major conclusions was "The more antidepressants try to increase serotonin production, the less serotonin the neurons actually produce, and behavior in mice does not change," Dr. Hen was quoted.
Other studies have shown antidepressant drugs have been connected with an increased suicide risk and aggressive behavior. Natural News reported that Dr. Hen’s study found that antidepressants decrease the amount of serotonin in many patients' brains, instead of increasing it as they are meant to. Pharmaceutical Companies feel that serotonin in the brain makes a person feel good. So BigPharma’s drugs “supposably” increases serotonin levels in a patient so they are less depressed. According to Dr. Rene Hen’s study antidepressants have the opposite effect on about half the patients. Her findings indicate that half the patients who take antidepressants produce less serotonin. So, for half of the population, these drugs would actually be making the condition worse.

So the premise for these pharmaceutical companies drug approval was to increase this feel good chemical, but it now lowers serotonin in many patients. Lower serotonin according to BigPharma results in increased suicide rates. Hence, BigPharma is responsible for suicides in potentially fifty percent of the cases. 164 million antidepressant prescriptions were distributed in 2008.

It seems very strange to us why this study was not major news. Many studies have shown that antidepressants are no better than a placebo, but this study is even more alarming. It shows that Pharmaceutical companies and the FDA have blood on their hands. Their research is inadequate, rushed, or perhaps suppressed. There is an enormous population of lab humans taking drugs that show they cause far more harm than assistance. Recent news reports shows recalls of eggs, chicken, tomato’s and spinach because of signs of salmonella and e-coli. Car companies institute recalls for brake failures and many safety issues. Drugs companies don’t appear to be held to the same standard, and the FDA can’t enforce recalls. Hence, the J&J public relations debacle on their Tylenol recall, which gets broadly publicized, but not this alarming discovery regarding suicide and antidepressants.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

World Suicide Prevention Day, What Was Said and What Wasn’t


There were a number of speeches made around the world during Suicide Prevention Day, but not many indicating a connection with suicide and psychotropic drugs. This past year over eight million Americans 18 or older thought seriously about committing suicide, more than two million had a plan to commit suicide, and more than one million attempted to take their own lives. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius (pictured)spoke out on World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD), which was Sept. 10th. She of many items discussed the abominal Mental Health Parity Act, but what we couldn’t locate in her speech was that psychotropic drugs were a direct cause of suicides. According to reports on WSPD, suicide is the third leading cause of death for young people age 15 to 24, and suicide rates among young American Indians and Alaska Natives are double that. Young Latinas and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youths also have alarming rates of attempted suicide. Other reports indicate that those bereaved by suicide are seven times more likely to themselves commit suicide, as well as facing other possible negative health outcomes including substance abuse or depression.
In her speech Secretary Sebelius indicated roughly 90 percent of people who die by suicide suffered from depression or another diagnosable condition at the time of their death. Other reports indicate suicide rates are climbing in the military ranks. What was not said was any connection with suicides and psychotropic drugs.
Does the world want to prevent suicides? Why is there not a worldwide outrage with the connection of suicides and psychotropic drugs? Why is there not an outrage to the increase in distribution of antidepressants and suicide rates? It looks like black box warnings and stump speeches by government health secretaries are the extent to which they will go to investigating the connection of psychotropic drugs and increased suicide rates. Does the world really want to prevent suicides? Well start truly investigating the connection with psychotropic drugs!! If a placebo works the same or better than a drug then why use the drug, and if suicide rates have increased with antidepressants distribution then isn’t there a simple connection?

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

The FDA Says Walnuts are a Drug?


This is an excerpt of an original article by Heidi Stevenson at gaia-health.com

Diamond Foods' Walnut Claims regarding Omega-3 Fatty Acid

Based on claims made on your firm's website, we have determined that your walnut products are promoted for conditions that cause them to be drugs because these products are intended for use in the prevention, mitigation, and treatment of disease. The following are examples of the claims made on your firm's website under the heading of a web page stating "OMEGA-3s ... Every time you munch a few walnuts, you're doing your body a big favor.":

"Studies indicate that the omega-3 fatty acids found in walnuts may help lower cholesterol; protect against heart disease, stroke and some cancers; ease arthritis and other inflammatory diseases; and even fight depression and other mental illnesses."

"[O]mega-3 fatty acids inhibit the tumor growth that is promoted by the acids found in other fats ... "

"[I]n treating major depression, for example, omega-3s seem to work by making it easier for brain cell receptors to process mood-related signals from neighboring neurons." "The omega-3s found in fish oil are thought to be responsible for the significantly lower incidence of breast cancer in Japanese women as compared to women in the United States."

Because of these intended uses, your walnut products are drugs. (end of letter)

The FDA has been sending these letters to numerous food manufacturers who make healthy food claims. Maybe they should change their name from the FDA to the DA (Drug Administration) since they are so often favorable to drug companies. It is bizarre but consistent by the FDA. This enables the FDA to control herbal remedies and other alternative medicines. There has been a plan to label vitamins also as a drug, so in order to distribute walnuts and vitamins then you would have to be a licensed drug company. Or you would have to be managed by a Pharmaceutical company. Once BigPharma has the control then they would eliminate all alternative medicines in favor pharmaceuticals.

If you find this FDA police control overbearing then please help promote the bill H.R. 4913 by getting your Congress Person to co-sponsor the Free Speech about Science Act (H.R. 4913)go to this link. This is the Free Speech about Science Act http://www.capwiz.com/lef/issues/alert/?alertid=14923316&type=CO It is sponsored by
Rep Jason Chaffetz of Utah

Friday, August 13, 2010

DOJ Targets Pharmaceutical Companies Globally in Corruption Probe

Financial Times FT.com
By Stephanie Kirchgaessner
August 12, 2010

The US Department of Justice is scrutinising payments by leading pharmaceuticals companies for hospitality, consultants, licensing agreements and charitable donations in markets around the world as part of a wide-ranging corruption probe.

GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly, among others, have disclosed being contacted by the DoJ and Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the investigation. Merck, the US drugs group, announced last week that it had also been contacted and was co-operating with investigators.

An industry attorney familiar with the probe said that the DoJ was looking at whether pharma companies had ignored a “systematic risk” inherent in the global drugs business and ignored obligations under local and US anti-bribery law.

The highly regulated nature of the business, combined with the fact that healthcare officials in many non-US markets were government funded, made the industry a natural target for such a probe, the person added.

The investigation is at a relatively early stage but is considered a priority for the DoJ.

While hospitality – including meals and all expenses-paid travel for conferences – has long been considered a potential risk for pharma groups, the DoJ’s probe is looking at all aspects of companies’ dealings in non-US markets, people familiar with the matter say. That includes the recruitment of physicians for clinical trials. In some markets, the same physicians may serve on regulatory boards that approve or deny drugs.

The DoJ declined to comment. But last November, Lanny Breuer, head of the DoJ’s criminal division, announced that investigators would be focusing on international corruption in the pharmaceuticals industry for “years”.

Mr Breuer warned a conference of pharmaceutical industry lawyers that prosecutors were gearing up for an investigation of international corruption in the sector. The drugs companies took notice.

That threat has now become a reality. Merck, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Baxter, SciClone, and Bristol-Myers Squibb have in recent months received inquiries from the DoJ and the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with an industry-wide bribery ­investigation.

GlaxoSmithKline, the UK drugmaker, told the Financial Times on Thursday that it too had received “inquiries” from US authorities, but that it disclosed the issue “reactively” only to selected reporters in April.

Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical group, said in February that it had voluntarily provided the DoJ and SEC with information concerning potentially improper payments outside the US and was exploring resolution of the matter.

There is perhaps no industry that is as vulnerable to violations of US anti-bribery laws as the pharmaceutical industry. In markets round the world, the companies deal, sometimes thousands of times in a single day, with doctors, clinicians, hospital operators and regulators who are considered under US law to be government officials, because they are employed by state-owned facilities.

Under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the US anti-bribery law, companies may not offer items of value to foreign government officials for profit. One industry lawyer involved in the matter said global pharmaceutical companies operating in countries with state-run medical institutions deal with government officials at every turn of their business: whether it is seeking the go-ahead for a manufacturing site; obtaining drug licences; conducting clinical trials; importing drugs; selling and marketing drugs to physicians; or getting a product on to a hospital’s approved list.

“What most companies will find is that all of these areas are risky and, if they don’t train and educate their people, they are going to find themselves with issues. For example, if you have hired customs brokers, how do you know they aren’t bribing officials?” the attorney said.

According to the law firm Arnold & Porter, the DoJ is particularly interested in corrupt payments that may have influenced the reliability or integrity of data in clinical trials performed outside the US. A recent report by the Department of Health and Human Services found 80 per cent of marketing applications for drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the US had relied on at least one foreign trial.

“Companies may find themselves facing critical legal issues if approval of products rested on the results of studies the DoJ deems corrupt,” Arnold & Porter said in an advisory letter to clients last month.

A person familiar with the investigation confirmed that clinical trials were one of several areas the DoJ was examining.

Alexandra Wrage, the president of Trace, a non-profit organisation that helps companies establish anti-corruption practices, said that alleged wrong­doing at pharmaceutical companies could often centre on inappropriately lavish hospitality, such as wining and dining doctors from state-run hospitals at conferences in Bali or Monaco.

Copy and paste link here (free FT.com Reg.):http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9a8e8f90-a63e-11df-8767-00144feabdc0.html

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

I Am Feeling Gloomy, Can You Pass the Saffron?


An article from Health Science Institute discloses that research has shown saffron works as effectively as Prozac in treating mild to moderate depression. Besides saffron being a flavor spice from the East, it has been used for many years to heal melancholia, liver and spleen enlargement, kidney stones, menstrual disorders, colds, insomnia, asthma, atherosclerosis, and as an anti-inflammatory. Chinese and Tibetan people have used it to cure arthritis, impotence and infertility. Additionally, animal research indicates that saffron may inhibit cancer formation and shrink existing tumors, and can enhance effectiveness of chemotherapy. It is a miracle spice! And now it is also more effective in combating depression then Prozac, and most certainly other antidepressants.

The University of Medical Services in Tehran, Iran conducted the study on forty patients with mild depression without the use of a placebo. They received 30mgs of saffron a day, while others received 20mgs of Prozac for the six week study. If was found that both saffron and Prozac relieved depression. Saffron doesn’t create jarring deadly side effects, (listed below) which Prozac is known to cause.

This fantastic discovery adds saffron to the other natural remedies like omega 3 fatty acid, vitamins B and D, and St. John’s Wort, which alleviate depression. Many of these expensive overprescribed and ineffective antidepressants have proven to be a disaster versus placebos, and natural remedies in numerous studies. This will come as a relief to many parents, and young adults who require natural remedies to life’s challenges.

So curtailing depressed feelings, or melancholy moods can be eliminated simply by adding saffron to one’s diet. A simple everyday solution can truly be life saving. While the full list of side effects of Prozac via drugs.com are severe allergic reactions (rash, hives, switching, difficulty breathing, tightness in the chest, swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue, unusual hoarseness), bizarre behavior, black or bloody stools, chest pain, confusion, decreased concentration, decreased coordination, exaggerated reflexes, excessive sweating, fainting; fast or irregular heartbeat, fever, chills, or sore throat, hallucinations, increased hunger, thirst, or urination, joint or wrist aches or pain, memory loss, new or worsening agitation, panic attacks, aggressiveness, impulsiveness, irritability, hostility, exaggerated feeling of well-being, restlessness, or inability to sit still, persistent or severe ringing in the ears, persistent, painful erection, red, swollen, blistered, or peeling skin; seizures, severe or persistent anxiety, trouble sleeping, or weakness, severe or persistent nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or headache, significant weight loss, stomach pain, suicidal thoughts or attempts, tremor, unusual bruising or bleeding, unusual or severe mental or mood changes, unusual swelling, unusual weakness, vision changes, worsening of depression.
No thank’s, Saffron is a far better solution

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Another LA Starlet on a Crash Course and with a long list of Prescription Drugs

There is a recently released probation report which shows all the prescription drugs that Lindsay Lohan has been taking. News sources indicate the report discloses Adderall for ADD, Zoloft for anxiety, Dilaudid a pain killer, Trazadone an antidepressant, and Nexium for heartburn.
There is no wonder why Ms. Lohan finds her self in trouble. Antidepressant don't lead to relief, they lead to trouble. Just simply do the research

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Psychiatrist in Conflict of Interest with GlaxoSmitKline and Academic Research


Image of Psychiatrist Charles Nemeroff

Pharmalot recently released
Senator Grassley Probes Nemeroff and University of Miami
By Ed Silverman

The Charles Nemeroff affair encompasses more people all the time. Now, the University of Miami Medical School has become ensnared in the ongoing probe launched by US Senator Chuck Grassley, who investigated Nemeroff as part of an inquiry into undisclosed financial conflicts of interest among academic researchers who receive federal grants.
You may recall Nemeroff, who was recently hired by the University of Miami, had departed Emory University after the Senate probe disclosed he was accepting sizeable consulting fees from GlaxoSmithKline at the same time he was the primary investigator on an NIH-funded grant for research into a Glaxo drug. Before his departure, Emory imposed a two-year ban on grants for Nemeroff. In June, however, the U of Miami med school head, Pascal Goldschmidt, was quoted as saying the ban was “an immediate reaction to political pressure”.
Angered at the remark, Grassley has sent a letter to Donna Shalala, the University of Miami president and a former US Secretary of Health and Human Services to say “I hope that you would agree - contrary to Dr. Goldschmidt’s views that disciplining researchers for failing to disclose conflicts of interest is merely a political issue - that enforcing federal conflict of interest policy involves ethical and legal issues that ensure taxpayer trust.” Grassley wants Shalala to provide all conflict of interest forms filed by Nemeroff, as well as all e-mails and communications by Goldschmidt and Nemeroff’ about conflicts and NIH grants.
But there’s more. Grassley also wrote a letter to HHS Office of Inspector General Dan Levinson to examine the ties between Nemeroff and NIHM director Tom Insel. Insel apparently helped Nemeroff win his job at the University of Miami and Levinson is already investigating Nemeroff. Ironically, the NIH has just proposed new rules on conflicts, although Insel is one of Nemeroff’s long-standing allies and he was on the panel that reviewed the new rules .

Thursday, June 3, 2010

The History of the FDA Commissioners and Their Ties to Pharmaceutical Companies


The overall view is that FDA appears to have too many direct links to Pharmaceutical companies, and most directly with recent Commissioners. Lester Mills Crawford was one of the most controversial appointees to the FDA. He was a veterinarian by trade and he was the Commissioner of Food and Drugs for two months in 2005. His appointment was originally held up because of an affair with an FDA employee, but that was later unfounded. He resigned and later pleaded guilty to a conflict of interest in not reporting information regarding his stock holdings in food and beverage, and medical device companies. His prior background was in veterinary medicine at Auburn with a PHD in Pharmacology at the University of Georgia. A Pharmacology background directly connects the research of pharmaceutical drugs and academia, as Universities get research funds from pharmaceutical companies. This symbiotic relationship is not in the best interest of the public.
The FDA Commissioner after Lester Crawford was Andrew von Eschenbach who also had a conflict of interest. He served simultaneously as the FDA Commissioner and as a Director of the National Cancer Institute. Serving a dual role with NCI and the FDA in our view should not be allowed.
A prior Commissioner Jane Ellen Henney 1999-2001 is currently on the board of directors of the pharmaceutical company Astrazeneca. It is not unlawful but certainly shows the connection between BigPharma and the FDA.
The acting FDA Commissioner is Margaret Ann Hamburg who is also a physician by trade, as the FDA has a long history of MD’s. She also served at the US Department of Health and Human Services, and as part of the New York City Commissioner of Health. Her father has ties to the pharmaceutical industry as he has had a career in academic medicine and mental illness research where again Universities get funds to do BigPharma’s research on new drugs.
We feel these types of connections with Pharmaceutical companies create an unhealthy bias and relationship that isn’t in the best interest of the public. It shows the governments connection with drug manufacturers is not only allowed but part of the requirement to serve on the FDA. The FDA commissioner is appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety, tobacco products, dietary supplements prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs, and other roles.
Would it be so out of the question to simply have a director from the Food Manufacturing Industry instead of the long list of MD’s with direct pharmaceutical connections? Having the same commissioner with the same background produces the same drug pushing results, and the same unhealthy drug induced society. We believe that is known as insanity.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Dumbest Study of the Month: Men Showing Signs of PostPartum Depression? Please!!!

This is all a plan to get men to take psychotropic drugs. It is obvious that a new baby will make a family worried, sleep deprived, irritable, and even overwhelmed. This is not a mental health issue. This is normal. Pharmaceutical companies and psychiatry has been successfully in diagnosing and including all normal life behaviors as a syndrome, or disorder. The entire plan has been to have all humans on one or more of their pills throughout their lifetime. If you see a psychiatrist then within fifteen minutes you will be prescribed a pharma drug. It is all about money. It has nothing to do with care or research, or knowledge. If you give into this non-sense then they win. Many of the side effects of their Mr. Hyde chemicals will kill you. They also have unknown long term side effects. Putting so many chemicals in your body over a life-time will most certainly cause unintended or intended consequences.

Unfortunately, Western medicine thinks life’s issues are solved with a pill. Nothing can be further from the truth. Life issues are solved with directly addressing the problem not adding a new instant cure drug.

Stoprx.org



This is the complete article By Shari Roan, of the Los Angeles Times

They might relish becoming parents, but they can also be unprepared for the infant in their lives. They're sleep-deprived, confused and irritable. They're the fathers.

Discussions of the connection between mental health and childbirth have long focused on women, but a sizeable portion of men experience prenatal and postpartum depression too, according to research released Tuesday.

The study published in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., found that 10.4% of men experienced serious depression at some point between his partner's first trimester and one year after childbirth, more than double the depression rate for men in general. American men were more likely to experience prenatal or postpartum depression compared with men in other countries, 14.1% in the U.S. compared with 8.2% internationally.

"It's viewed as a disorder of motherhood. It's not viewed by health professionals and the public as a problem in fathers," said James F. Paulson, the lead author of the study and an assistant professor of pediatrics at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk.

But depression in either parent can affect both the couple's relationship and the child's development, Paulson said, adding that further study is needed.

"There have been a few very good studies documenting negative child outcomes when fathers are depressed," he said. "That alone makes this a significant public health concern and something we need to pay more attention to."

Paulson analyzed the findings of 43 studies involving 28,004 participants. The men were from the United States, China, Ireland, Britain, Australia and several other developed nations.

The most vulnerable period for depression in men was three to six months postpartum, he found, with a quarter of the men who experienced depression afflicted during this time period.

An estimated 14% to 23% of women experience depression during pregnancy and 5% to 25% have postpartum depression, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Paternal depression has not been well documented historically, and many of the studies in the meta-analysis were conducted only in the last five to 10 years, Paulson said. The contemporary father may be more vulnerable to this malady than previous generations of fathers because of the increasing number of women in the workplace and the corresponding expectations that he shoulder more responsibilities at home.

"We are expecting dads to be more involved in parenting than we ever have before," said Will Courtenay, a psychotherapist and researcher on paternal depression in Berkeley who was not involved in the study. "Most dads are welcoming of that, but they don't have any models about what a dad is supposed to do. That creates uncertainty, and that uncertainty can lead to anxiety and depression."

Further, paternal depression symptoms are much less likely to be recognized than maternal depression, Paulson said. A woman may be sad, withdrawn and weepy while depressed; men may appear more irritable or angry and become detached from the family.

In women, the condition is often linked to biological and hormonal changes associated with pregnancy and birth. But hormones are not the sole cause of pregnancy-related depression even in women.

"This narrow focus really makes it difficult to understand depression in men," Paulson said. "We know, in fact, there are many factors, hormonal and other, related to depression in women."

The depression of either parent can include how one partner's depression affects the other and how intimacy, conflict management and division of responsibilities change after having a baby. In the meta-analysis, men had a higher risk of depression if their partner also had depression.

"If we see depression in one partner that should prompt us to screen for depression in the other partner," he said.

Marital dissatisfaction, financial stress and having a sick or colicky baby could increase the risk of depression in one or both partners, said Courtenay, who is conducting a study on new fathers in collaboration with the Center for Men at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass.

" Sleep deprivation likely plays one of the biggest roles for men and women," he said. "We know that if normal, healthy adults go without good sleep for just one month, they begin to show signs of clinical depression."

Thursday, May 13, 2010

A Snapshot of the Malfunction Nature of Psychiatry and Psychopharmacology


There was a recent article in the New York Times Magazine in the April 2010 issue written by Daniel Carlat that tells a very revealing story regarding psychiatry and psychopharmacology. He appears to have an epiphany on psychiatry and psychotherapy. We would like to give him credit for realizing where psychiatry has been going, in addition, Daniel Carlat’s article is a precursor to his book “Unhinged: the Trouble With Psychiatry,” He explains how today’s psychiatry works, or in our view doesn’t.
Patients are evaluated based on the DSM-IV, psychiatry’s diagnostic manual which breaks down a patient’s disorder in several categories such as mood, anxiety, and several eating disorders, anxiety nightmares or flashbacks etc. Based on the patient’s answers to the questions a drug’s is then prescribed. This is based on Leon Eisenberg (a pioneer of psychopharmacology) as Carlat notes that in the beginning of the past century psychiatry was brainless, or mainly interested in psychoanalysis, while the second half of the 20th century psychiatry has been mindless or infatuated with pills. This has been the emphasis of the new generation of psychiatrists.
Carlat also notes what we suspected that insurance companies have pushed for medication visits, so the psychiatrist’s simply sees the patient for fifteen minutes to fill out a prescription. Longer hourly therapies are discouraged as it is less profitable for the insurance carrier. With this method the psychiatrist actually never knows his patient, and if any therapy is warranted then a lower ranking psychologist is referred. The end result is that the profession simply diagnoses disorders and medicates the patient.
He concludes in his article that psychopharmacology is doing damage to psychiatry, and we will add that it is damaging the patient. We encourage you to take a look at the article and potentially his book “Unhinged: the Trouble With Psychiatry,” which will be published in May 2010.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

The Police State has arrived and BigPharma will continue to Administer the Control Drugs


Ironically there was an online ad during Obama’s early campaign for president in 2008 that indicated his potential administration would save us from George Orwell’s 1984. Well this administration looks to be the puppet master of the police state. There are many events that are taking place right before your eyes, which everyone is allowing. One of George Lucas’s early films in 1971 was Thx 1138 which portrayed a future of population control with special drugs to suppress emotion, and sexual desire. The Obama Administrations Science Czar John Holdren has said that forced abortions and mass sterilizations are needed to save the planet from overpopulation. Pharmaceutical emotion suppressing drugs are on the market today as psychotropic antidepressants. They don’t make you happy they make you apathetic, depressed, suicidal, and anything but cured or relieved. BigPharma’s control drug has its genesis in the Nazi police state. Population control drugs, death camps, electric shock were all Nazi originations. We have all but the death camps in the West now. Presently, we have chemical straightjackets forced on children who can’t control themselves which are supposed to prevent the whole class from erupting into chaos. These children are considered to have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). These are all made up terms in order to drug control a child who has difficulty studying. Antidepressants are cross prescribed to curtail smoking, post natal depression, Bi-polar, ADHD and you can name it and your doctor or psychiatrist will push it.
Pharmaceutical companies use psychotropic’s to subdue the public, but they need legal protection by the government as the drugs are a complete failure and they have no science to back up their assertions. The exchange other than money for BigPharma to help control the masses requires a government shield. One cover for BigPharma’s mind altering drugs has been the FDA and now with the additional help from the Supreme Court. It is called pre-emption where by the FDA has approved a drugs use, so it absolves the pharmaceutical company from legal issues based on pre-approval by the FDA. The Supreme Court has already ruled that medical device makers are immune from state lawsuits if their device has previous FDA approval. Pharma is attempting to get the same pre-emption for their drugs. In addition, Congress has attempted several times to pass the Mothers Act, which will compel all pregnant women to see the psychiatric department of their hospital. A Psychiatrist’s only solution is to prescribe drugs, so every US child will be on a psychotropic drug from cradle to grave. It is broadly known that all psychotropic drugs don’t work, so the side effects cause the need for another drug which creates a lifetime patient. A perfect drug controlled police state in the making.
In the United Kingdom there is a proposal to place a chip in pets to track “dangerous animals” from the public. This can be the first test to placing chips in children, so they can be monitored and “protected” from abduction. It could also be used to track ex-cons, and then anyone. We are not their just yet, but technology has created such a scenario. Technology currently tracks your location and activity by cell phone, internet searches, GPS, virtually all your activity can be tracked. Companies know your habits by your credit card, and the products you buy by zebra code. Security cameras are in every major city and especially the United Kingdom today. There are also plans in place to monitor a person’s behavior in airports. Cameras will capture a person’s mood like anger and aggression, maybe even frustration, and security will remove that passenger from entering a plane. This is only the beginning of what the future holds.
There is a new Senate Bill 3081 called The “Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010.” This new bill is intended to handle potential terrorist, but it has a very broad application. It will allow a suspect to be detained without Miranda rights which is the right to remain silent, and to request an attorney. It will allow for detention without criminal charges, and allows a citizen to be designated a suspect based on what the president considers appropriate. Well the president will not weigh in on every arrest, but he could when martial law is imposed, or pass those powers to Homeland Security. The Obama Administration just recently pressed the police in Chicago to use S.W.A.T Teams and snipers to oversea a Tea Party protest comprised of older law abiding Americans bereft of any crimes.

So you should be able to see that a police state is well on its way to becoming reality. It has arrived subtly and will likely continue to slowly become the norm. Eventually it will become law “for your protection”. Much like detaining mentally ill patients in the 1950’s by men in white coats. Personally liberties are being violated all of the time, and may vanish if most of the population remains asleep to what is going on with BigPharma’s cradle to grave drug efforts and the government’s intrusion. The least you can do is to say no to pharmaceutical drugs when offered. Stand up for you rights to be Pharma-drug free while you still can, and vote with a conscience.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Why would a 7 year old Foster Child Commit Suicide by Hanging? The Number One Culprit Today is BigPharma and Psychiatry



Senator Rhonda Storms is forwarding a Florida Senate Bill 2718 through the legislator that can prevent similar unfortunate deaths. From CBSnews Edicio Martinez-The apparent suicide of 7-year old Gabriel Myers, who was taking several psychiatric medications, has led to the introduction of a bill in the Florida legislature. It would assure that powerful mental health drugs dispensed to Florida foster care children would be more closely monitored. It is now moving through the Florida legislature.
The proposal is largely based on the findings of a task force formed after Gabriel locked himself in a bathroom and hung himself with a shower cord last April. Gabriel at the time of his death was on Seroquel "Quetapine Fumerate" made by Astra Zenaca which is too commonly prescribed by psychiatrists to treat bipolar disorder. Seroquel and other psychiatric drugs have been linked by federal regulators for their potentially dangerous side effects, including suicide, but the side effects and risks have not been communicated to foster parents. There has been an enormous amount of foster kid’s overprescribed psychotropic drugs particularly in Florida, but also across the US. The measure would require an independent review before psychotropic drugs can be administered to children under ten. Senator Storms is pushing for more “talk therapy”, because of the over prescription of antidepressants by psychiatry.
Senator Storms has also asked the Florida Board of Medicine and the Agency for
Health Care Administration to investigate the Broward County psychiatrists who prescribed the drugs to little Gabriel. The Miami Herald reports that one doctor has been red flagged by the Board of Medicine, but no disciplinary action thus far.

It is all about the money. Psychiatrist’s see a patient in less than fifteen minutes and prescribed a drug with fatal side effects. They simply have no care for the patient. This unnecessary death shows the heartless and disaffected indifference for young children caught in the system. Without a parent to defend them they are left to disinterested doctors to just prescribe a drug that they know doesn’t work. When will it end? It will only end when mother and fathers wake up and smell what is brewing.

Friday, April 2, 2010

FAA is Planning to Approve Antidepressant Popping Pilots and their Lethal Side Effects


We have always wondered what government agency would be most likely to put a person in harms way. If you join the military then you volunteer to be placed in the line of fire when under enemy attack. The antidepressant use can also kill you on the base just like it did at Ft. Hood several months ago. The IRS will use fear instead of death, and they can certainly incarcerate you which can be a slow death. The FDA has been approving psychotropic drugs, heart medications, birth control pills et al, which have horrendous track records and mortal consequences. Some of those drugs have been taken off the market, but most like antidepressants are still available even though it is widely known that they are not effective. Now we have the latest US government agency the FAA, which will now allow pilots to medicate and fly.
Some of the side effects of these allowable medication drugs (Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa, Lexapro) are suicide, mania, agitation, dizziness, fatigue, insomnia, tremors, muscle aches, diarrhea, fast heartbeat, fever chills, fainting, bizarre behavior, aggressiveness, joint or wrist aches and pain, ringing in the ears, confusion, decreased concentration, decreased coordination, exaggerated feeling of well being, irritability, hostility, memory loss, vomiting, mood changes, unusual weakness, vision changes, hallucinations, and worsening of depression. Why would anyone fly in a tin can at 35,000 feet when the driver may have one or more of these side effects? It seems clear the FAA is looking at only one head in the head count. Based on these side effects you could have a maniac flying the plane! You should get thrown off the plane for bizarre behavior, but now you get to be the captain.
According to news reports the FAA will seek to evaluate the pilots on antidepressants while the pilot is grounded for approximately six months and ongoing through their careers. They also imply pilots could be using antidepressants now without disclosing that information. If so those pilots will be barred from flying, and would undergo a longer evaluation.
Foxnews quotes FAA administrator Randy Babbit "We know more today about the science of the medications being given and we know a lot more about depression itself," Babbitt said. "The policy is changing I mean our number one priority is safety, and the public certainly has the right to know that everybody in the cockpit is healthy, both mentally and physically." End quote. If they truly knew more about these medications they would know they do not work at all, and that the side effects are lethal.
Foxnews also reports Babbitt saying the new rule is aimed, in part, at removing the stigma of mental illness, much as the FAA began to deal with drug abuse and alcoholism in the cockpit with the establishment 40 years ago of its Human Intervention and Motivation Study, end quote. Does the FAA have more concern about the stigma of mental illness or passenger safety? It appears to us that this is a social experiment, so mentally ill pilots retain their jobs regardless of the consequences. We can’t discriminate, so we need to allow depressed pilots to fly with lethal medications. It is not about safety, but political correctness.
It is now up to passengers to express their concerns with this experiment, and for Airlines to form their own rules regarding potentially lethal medicated pilots. I believe the mass majority will want a healthy pilot free of mind altering drugs or medication. Antidepressants clearly alter the mind.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Major Drug Stores and Fish Oil Manufactures sued over PCB’s. It begs Another Question, What is in your Prescription?


A lawsuit was filed in San Francisco earlier this month against several Omega-3 Fish oil manufacturers, drugstores and vitamin producers. Reuters news reported that two plaintiffs and Mateel Environmental Justice Foundation are suing several fish oil manufacturers and pharmacies that sell the supplements over their purported PCB toxicity. They claim that their tests found high levels of PCB’s (polychlorinated biphenyls which are synthetic (human-made) chemicals produced initially over 90 years ago). They have been banned since 1979. PCBs were used so much that they are found unnaturally in the environment. All fish either in oceans, rivers or fish oil supplements contain at least trace amounts of PCBs. The EPA lists PCBs as a probable human carcinogen. PCBs have a similar chemical structure to PBDE’s, which are currently used as flame retardants in electronics, furniture, and other consumer goods, and PCBs have been found to cause tumors in laboratory animals. The chemical was designed to last a long time without breaking down, which it has accomplished. Essentially mankind has contaminated its own food supply.

According to news reports the lawsuit is based on California’s Prop. 65 which requires manufactures to inform consumers of their right to know the contents and ingredients of the products they consume. The main reason we site this news is that Omega-3 fish oil has been a natural antidepressant, and should remain to be so as with adding fresh fish to ones diet. It also is also an eye opener for consumers to know the ingredients in over the counter and especially prescription medications. Consumers need to be fully aware of the products that they buy and the side effects that they cause. More will be known as this lawsuit progresses.

As far as, prescription antidepressants more has been found out about the long-term side effects of the most common SSRI (serotonin reuptake inhibitors) antidepressants. The long-term effects include sexual dysfunction, weight gain 18-50% of the time, sleep disturbance, vivid dreams and nightmares, insomnia 18-20% of the time, lethargy and fatigue, decreased libido, tardive dyskinesia dystonia (severe body movement disorder, which is mostly permanent according to a report from Antidepressant facts. They also report possible neurological driven severe mania agitation which can lead to suicide attempts, self-harm and suicide.

Reading and learning about what’s in your pill will provide a better life. Unfortunately, the long term side effects of SSRI’s bring more pharmaceutical drug solutions to alleviate those effects, and connecting the consumer from cradle to grave to pharmaceuticals and an unhappy life. There are many alternatives to pharma drugs we urge you to take a look at those alternatives.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Why Have Antidepressants Been the Drug Pushed the Last 50 years even Though They are Ineffective?


In more rural areas access to doctors and thankfully lack of access to psychiatry is more difficult then in larger urban cities. So the opportunity to mass market drugs allows general practitioners in these remote areas to distribute antidepressants for the monetary benefit of pharmaceutical companies. It is far easier and cost effective to push a drug then to tend to a persons needs one on one. The normal medical doctor becomes the drug pusher, since he is not equipped to be a therapist. Hence, mass marketing of an ineffective drug like an antidepressant passes the responsibility to the MD and away from the manufacturer. It all comes down to money and marketing.

Pharmaceutical Companies simply use television, magazines and a willing media to promote drugs that do not work. This is one more reason why our health system fails, when antidepressants that are less effective than a tic tac (placebo) are pushed everywhere. It is also another validation of psychiatric fraud where their origins have been straitjackets and electric shock treatment. Clearly everyone understands that their archaic technology doesn’t work, so it should be easy to understand why antidepressants don’t work either. Their techniques historically are barbaric and fraudulent. The scam that is psychiatry has been proven to make up disorders and syndromes so they can attach a drug to it. Antidepressants are used for Bipolar disorder, smoking cessation, ADHD and you can almost name the malady and psychiatry and Pharma will create a drug for it. It is also clear in their advertising that pharmaceutical companies state that they don’t know what causes depression, but their drug apparently addresses a chemical imbalance. There own advertising tells you the answer which you need to know. How does a company get away with promoting a drug which they know doesn’t work, and they don't know what causes depression. So why would you promote that a non-working drug is the solution? They don't even know if it is a lack of seratonin or too much seratonin or seratonin at all. It really is insane that they have gotten away with this for so long. Well the FDA is part of this scam, since a number of psychiatrists and pharmaceutical executives have also been FDA executives. Hmm, seems like a glaring conflict of interest there. You have to ask the question why has this fraud gone on for decades without being exposed for what it is. Well too many groups and organizations have too much to money to lose. So hence we have doctors, the government, and the media all in on the fraud then it is simply up to the individual to deduce the unworkability of psychiatry and drug therapy (narcotherapy). The information is out there you just have to look for it.

What are the alternatives to the western pills solution? The east has long used herbal remedies as a viable alternative. St. John’s Wort, (Kava Kava) can be used for people suffering from anxiety and depression, Noni which is often called Morinda, and Schisandra are also well used natural antidepressants. Ginkgo Biloba has also been recommended for older people undergoing medical treatment since it helps to regulate blood pressure. Many have also found Lemon Balm used for digestive disorders which can be connected to depression and stress. Rhodiola has been found to improve mood and combat depressive disorders by normalizing serotonin and dopamine levels. Psychiatric drugs clearly do not work, and we urge all undergoing depression to seek the alternatives like these herbal remedies. Don’t continue the fraud and pay for something that doesn’t work.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Possible Fraud by Pharmaceutical Companies as Placebo Confirmed as more Effective and Safer than Antidepressants


A recently article reported in Newsweek Magazine, of a study by (The Journal of the American Medical Association) and other studies have shown that the effectiveness of antidepressants is almost entirely due to the hope and aspirations that the drug will be effective and not the drug at all. Hence, a placebo is more effective than antidepressants, and there are no side effects from placebos. The side effects from antidepressants alone can kill you. According to the FDA the use of antidepressants can cause anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, impulsivity, akathisia (severe restlessness), hypomania, mania and suicide. They have also been attributed to mass murder (Columbine, Virginia Tech) to list a couple. Newsweek reports regarding a study by Irving Kirsch and Guy Sapirstein of the University of Connecticut. Patients on a placebo improved about 75 percent as much as those on the drugs. Essentially you positive mind will cure your depression.

Many may ask how is it possible that these drugs could get approved by the FDA for decades if they are proven to be ineffective. Well the early failed results appear to have been suppressed. Thomas Moore of George Washington University used the freedom of information act to analyze the FDA earlier studies of antidepressants. There were numerous company sponsored studies by the makers of Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Effexor and others. Many of these studies were unpublished, and over 50% more unpublished studies than other classes of drugs. Apparently 40% of the all clinical trials had never been published, and most of those unpublished trials according to Newsweek's article were the trials that proved antidepressants were a failure. The damaging results indicate pharmaceutical companies may be fraudulent in their studies and disclosures, and we ask why companies are allowed to sponsor trials. In addition, the FDA appears to have allowed it. Who is watching the store? Why wouldn’t the government at minimum only allow independent studies? But even that could be problem. Scientists at Universities who have questioned antidepressant results and who have cited Irvin Kirsch’s results have been reprimanded and their future grants have been threatened. These University grants are typically funded by large pharmaceutical companies. Looks like for our own safety we need to find another independent study group, and perhaps the Department of Justice can look into the FDA and pharmaceutical studies for authenticity.

Newsweek’s article also points out the relationship of the chemical imbalance theory causing depression. Pharmaceutical companies have claimed for decades that this chemical imbalance is the cause of depression. The typical SSRI (serotonin reuptake inhibitor) is supposed to raise the serotonin level of the patient. This is the basis of all their research. Well a new drug study indicates that lowering serotonin is as effective as raising serotonin on depression. The new drug tianeptine made in France lowers serotonin. Now the American and UK pharmaceutical companies’ main argument is gone, but they never really had an argument. In actuality, there is no scientific evidence at all that demonstrates antidepressants alleviate depression. The hope and expectation that a pill “sugar pill” will be effective recently has shown to alleviate depression.

When Bristol Myers Squibb’s advertises Abilify as an add-on to one’s current antidepressant because of it’s ineffectiveness on depression, it is an indication from the industry that their products have failed. In addition, many of these drugs are marketed for Bi-Polar Disorder, ADHD, and even non-smoking. ADHD has also been found to be fraudulent (see the book ADHDFraud by Fred Baughman Jr.). Will it be found that antidepressants are ineffective with these maladies also? There is certain to be more investigation into these past unpublished results, and we hope the justice department will look into fraud and misrepresentation. Like the Real Estate bubble the pharmaceutical house of cards is coming down, and we are sure there are many lawsuits to come with this disturbing information.

Monday, February 1, 2010

New Study further Confirms Mental Health Benefits from Fish Oil


Just last week we blogged about the benefits of fish oil alleviating depression. Here is a report this week from the Associated Press

Fish oil pills may be able to spare some young people with signs of mental illness from a progression into fully developed schizophrenia, according to a preliminary study of 81 patients in Austria.

The study adds to evidence suggesting that severe mental illness may be prevented with intervention. The researchers are starting a larger study in eight cities, hoping to replicate the findings, which appear in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, released Monday.

A severe mental illness, schizophrenia affects adolescents and young adults. Some 2.4 million Americans have the disorder, which is treated with antipsychotic medication.

"Schizophrenia is among the most mysterious and costliest diseases in terms of human suffering, so anything that gives some hope to avoid this is great,'' said lead author Dr. G. Paul Amminger, formerly in Vienna and now at the Orygen Youth Health Research Center at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

Researchers have wondered if the disease could be stopped before it overpowers a person's grip on reality. Studies have tried antipsychotics in select young people, but side effects pose ethical questions, and results have been mixed.

Researchers in the new study identified 81 people, ages 13 to 25, with warning signs of psychosis, including sleeping much more or less than usual, growing suspicious of others, believing someone is putting thoughts in their head or believing they have magical powers. Forty-one were randomly assigned to take four fish oil pills a day for three months. The other patients took dummy pills.

After a year of monitoring, 2 of the 41 patients in the fish oil group, or about 5%, had become psychotic, or completely out of touch with reality. In the placebo group, 11 of 40 became psychotic, about 28%.

No one knows what causes schizophrenia but one hypothesis is that people with the disease don't process fatty acids correctly, leading to damaged brain cells. Omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil could help brain cells repair and stabilize, the researchers speculate.

Dr. Janet Wozniak of Harvard Medical School said the findings might reasonably cause psychiatrists to recommend fish oil to some patients because there are known benefits and little risk.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Omega-3 Fish Oil Remains One of the Best Natural Alternatives to Anti-Depressants


Scientists initially became interested in Omega-3 oil and its effect on depression when it was found that countries which consumed more fish had lower rates of depression. They also found that pregnant mothers in England who ate very little fish doubled their risk of developing postpartum depression compared to women who ate fish regularly. So scientists began a series of studies to see why. In a report from ABCNews, At Sheffield University in England, Dr. Malcolm Peet gave omega-3 fatty acids to 70 depressed patients who had not been helped by drugs such as Prozac. After 12 weeks, 69 percent of the patients showed marked improvement compared with 25 percent given placebos.

These researchers found that omega-3 fatty acids, when fed to piglets, had the same effect on the brain as the antidepressant Prozac: The Omega-3 raised levels of a critical neurotransmitter, serotonin. Omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated oils, which are found abundantly in seafood and especially salmon. This fish oil contains a fatty acid (DHA docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid EPA) with the most direct influence on brain development and function.

"The DHA is highly concentrated in the brain," Hibbeln told ABCNEWS, "and it's concentrated in the brain right where the neurons communicate with each other and all the signals pass back and forth." The DHA from omega-3 makes up the walls of neurons, Hibbeln said. "The body cannot manufacture DHA so it has to get it from our diet."

Omega 3 has also been found to fight and prevent heart disease, cancer, arthritis, alzheimer's disease, ulcers, diabetes, hyperactivity and other diseases. It also can increase your ability to concentrate as well as your energy level. Other forms of Omega-3 can be found in flaxseed, walnuts and a few other foods, but the most helpful form is found in fish. Omega-3 is natural and can be easily incorporated in your daily diet. It not only can relieve you of depression but can prevent heart disease, and a host of other ailments. This is a simply solution to depression and it is far less expensive then seeing a doctor, and far less hazardous to the massive side effects that you find in antidepressants.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

A New Study Shows Antidepressant Drugs Are Only as Effective as a Placebo


Antidepressants may only provide relief in extreme cases a recent study indicates, and they are no more effective for most patients than placebo pills according to a new study released this week by New York Times reporter Benedict Carey. Prior studies have painted a conflicting picture, since most studies have been pharmaceutical industry supported which have found the drugs reduced depression symptoms. A number of unpublished or buried studies show that antidepressants show no significant benefits over a placebo. This recent study also evaluated people who were considered to be more moderately depressed. The conflict in results with industry supported studies and unpublished studies may also indicate pharmaceutical industry tampering with the results from prior studies. Since these buried studies show antidepressants have no more effectiveness then a placebo then industry trial studies could be viewed as fraudulent.
The recent study was performed with government grants by a team of researchers, and psychologists. These psychologists also consult widely with drug makers. Media reports that the researchers were from the University of Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Colorado and Vanderbilt Universities. The group evaluated six large drug trials, including 728 men and women, about half of them with severe depression and half with more moderate symptoms. Three of the trials were of the SSRI Paxil by GlaxoSmithKline, and the other three were of imipramine a generic tricyclic classed drug. The researchers indicate that similar SSRI drugs like Prozac, and Lexapro would show similar results.
All the advertising in the world can’t beat a real study of a drug’s effectiveness. It is also possible that the prior studies were rigged to show antidepressants were effective. If this is the case then that is criminally fraudulent by pharmaceutical industry supported researchers and drug companies. These prior trials need to be investigated by State Attorney Generals for integrity and authenticity. There also needs to be more independent studies and no industry supported studies. There is clearly a conflict of interest with industry sponsored studies. Patients need to look at the many alternatives to antidepressants and we can add a placebo as a new alternative.