Print This Post
More "Dangerous Drugs"…
Written by Wellness Club on July 8, 2008 – 1:33 pm -It seems that every day brings yet another drug warning – and you can be sure that the FDA doesn’t issue these warnings lightly, since they affect the profit picture of the drug companies and thus the budget of the FDA (who relies upon "fees" from the drug companies for it’s income…).
Today’s little tidbit was first found not in general news or health news headlines where you might expect to find such a significant health warning, but in financial news – CNN Money – presumably because this will undoubtedly affect share prices for Bayer and Johnson and Johnson, two of the biggest of the ‘Bigs" in the pharmaceutical industry.
It turns out that two common antibiotics, Cipro and Levaquin, have been causing people to develop tendonitis or even to rupture tendons. Ouch! That sounds like a really, really good reason for the FDA to require prominent "Black-Box" warnings, and with any luck that may also cause doctors to be a little less "liberal" in their prescribing habits with these potent drugs.
You see, these drugs are considered to be "broad-spectrum" antibiotics, meaning that they can be effective against a very wide range of bacteria. Cipro became a household word during the 2001 anthrax attacks since it is effective against the anthrax bacteria. Because they work so well on so many different bugs, doctors have gotten into the somewhat lazy habit of prescribing a course of one or the other of these drugs for almost any and every infection that they see in their practice.
"Got the sniffles / a chest (lung) infection / an earache / a bladder infection / a sore throat? Here (scribbles on prescription pad) – this antibiotic will help. Next!"
Not only does this expose an awful lot of people to the potential side effects of these drugs, which include neurological problems in addition to the tendon ruptures that the "Black Box" warns about, it is creating whole new breeds of "superbugs" – bacteria that have learned to be resistant to what used to be considered the most powerful and potent antibiotics available.
Hmmm… I guess that we’ll have to look to those wonderful, altruistic scientists that are employed by our ever-benevolent pharmaceutical companies to develop some new "Super-Antibiotics" to deal with these ever-evolving super-bugs, right?
Sounds like good business to me… could there be a plan in there somewhere? Let’s see: promote the antibiotic so that it will be overused and lose it’s effectiveness against the resistant "superbug" bacteria it creates, requiring the development of newer antibiotics which can be promoted and overused, creating new superbugs which will need yet newer and more powerful antibiotics what can be… well, you get the picture.
Related Posts
Print This Post
Posted in Bone and Joint Health, Drugs and Alternatives, Family Health | Comments Off
