Colleagues,
Cholesterol lowering drugs aren't the only category of drugs that are widely prescribed without evidence of meaningful benefit.
The following is a link to the article "The Emperor's New Drugs". The article reviews information sent to the FDA and suggests that antidepressant drugs are little if any better than placebo.
http://www.journals.apa.org/prevention/volume5/pre0050023a.html
Will the universal pharmare program advocated by Provincial premiers improve access to harmful as well as useful drugs?
Would the universal pharmacare program, advocated by the Provincial premiers, increase the already high price Canadians now pay for generic drugs?
Shouldn't Canadians spend public funds on improved access to Federal, Provincial and Municipal parks and playing fields, and school gymnasia, rather than on innefective drugs meant to deal with problems that are often (but not always) preventable through diet, excercise and other life style enhancements.
David Z.
-----Original Message-----
> Date: Wed Aug 25 22:33:24 ADT 2004
> From: "Dennis Raphael" <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Concerned Scientists Dispute New Cholesterol-Lowering Guidelines
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> PRESS RELEASE
>
> Concerned Scientists Dispute New Cholesterol-Lowering Guidelines
>
> Statin Drug Treatment Carries Great Risk, Few Benefits
>
> August 17, 2004, LUND, SWEDEN: Recently revised cholesterol-lowering
> guidelines constitute a major risk to public health according to The
> International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics, (THINCS; www.thincs.org ),
> a non-profit organization of doctors, scientists and researchers. The new
> guidelines, aimed at even more aggressive cholesterol lowering will result
> in millions more people being placed on statins.
>
> THINCS´ members are deeply disturbed by the ever-increasing pressure to
> lower blood cholesterol levels, and the underlying commercial interests
> that have distorted scientific research in this area. THINCS warns that
> statins have been excessively ‘hyped’ by the pharmaceutical industry and
> medical opinion leaders who have, unfortunately, become little more than
> paid advertorials.
>
>
> "These drugs have been shown to produce an alarming array of side effects,"
> states Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD, THINCS Chairman. "Furthermore, the public
> and medical profession do not realize that statins only benefit a small and
> select portion of the population."
>
> Ravnskov and his colleagues worldwide point out that in the elderly, in
> women of all ages and in men without heart disease, cholesterol-lowering
> measures have not prevented a single death in any trial. Even in the
> highest male risk groups for heart disease, statin treatment resulted in
> 0.5 % fewer deaths per year only, and this small benefit was found in the
> most positive of all trials. Other major statin trials, e.g. ALLHAT showed
> no benefit at all, a fact that has been effectively buried.
>
> Even a small effect would of course be worthwhile provided that the
> treatment was free from side effects. However, data gathered by the THINCS
> group show that statin drugs cause cancer both in animals and in human
> beings. Other side effects include liver damage, nerve damage, cognitive
> decline, and memory loss, and statin use during pregnancy may lead to more
> serious malformations than were seen after exposure to thalidomide.
>
> Best known is muscle damage. In severe cases this causes kidney failure
> which has claimed the lives of several hundred people thus far, and
> resulted in one of the worst offending statins (cerivastatin) being
> withdrawn from the market.
>
> Cardiologist Peter Langsjoen notes that statin treatment may lead to heart
> muscle weakening and heart failure. "It occurs because statin drugs block
> the production of coenzyme Q10, vital for the production of cell energy"
> says Langsjoen. "Evidence sent to the FDA shows marked reduction of coQ10
> in patients on statin drugs."
>
> All of these side-effects have been seen at relatively low doses. New
> recommendations are to use increasingly high doses, and THINCS warn that
> this will result in even more complications of treatment up to, and
> including, death. Yet “to lower cholesterol even more is like chasing
> windmills”, says Ravnskov, “because any alleged benefits from statins has
> nothing to do with lowering LDL or cholesterol.”
>
> "Statin drugs have been aggressively promoted by the pharmaceutical
> industry and medical opinion leaders," says THINCS member Paul Rosch, MD,
> President of the American Institute of Stress. "The new guidelines were not
> written by disinterested scientists, but by members of the medical
> community who have received major grants from the pharmaceutical industry.
> The recommendations are based on distorted statistical analysis of relative
> risk reduction that mislead doctors and the public. They are designed to
> turn healthy people into patients."
>
> A more exhaustive release with references to the literature and other
> information is available from THINCS´ homepage www.thincs.org
>
> Contact persons:
>
> Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD (Sweden)
>
> www.ravnskov.nu/uffe
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> telephone: +46-(0)46145022 or +46-(0)44352086
>
> Paul Rosch, MD, Professor (New York, USA)
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> telephone: +1-914-963-1200
>
> Kilmer McCully, MD (Boston, USA)
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Telephone: +1-617-323-7700x5990
>
> Joel Kauffman, Professor (Philadelphia, USA)
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Telephone: +1-610-293-0594
>
> Morley Sutter, MD, PhD, Professor Emeritus (Vancouver, Canada)
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Telephone: +1-604-263-5793
>
> Malcolm Kendrick, MD (UK)
> [log in to unmask]
> Telephone:
> +44 (0) 1625 578798 (day)
>
> +44 (0) 1625 502001 (eve)
>
> +44 (0) 1625 427642 (mob)
>
> Barry Groves, PhD (UK)
> [log in to unmask]
> Telephone: +44 (0)1993 830974
>
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---
David Zitner M.D.
Director Medical Informatics
Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine
5849 University Avenue #2L 16
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4H7
902-494-3802 Fax 902-494-1642
Admin Support: Deirdre Harvey
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