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withdrawn from the market.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
-------------------
Problems/Questions? Send it to Listserv owner: [log in to unmask]
To unsubscribe, send the following message in the text section -- NOT the subject header -- to [log in to unmask]
SIGNOFF SDOH
DO NOT SEND IT BY HITTING THE REPLY BUTTON. THIS SENDS THE MESSAGE TO THE ENTIRE LISTSERV AND STILL DOES NOT REMOVE YOU.
To subscribe to the SDOH list, send the following message to [log in to unmask] in the text section, NOT in the subject header.
SUBSCRIBE SDOH yourfirstname yourlastname
To post a message to all 1000+ subscribers, send it to [log in to unmask]
Include in the Subject, its content, and location and date, if relevant.
For a list of SDOH members, send a request to [log in to unmask]
To receive messages only once a day, send the following message to [log in to unmask]
SET SDOH DIGEST
To view the SDOH archives, go to: http://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html
|
