Banning Paxil
A public protest will take place Monday, June 2 against the
Medicines Control Agency (the UK's FDA). The protest is headed up by the
mental health charity group, MIND, and victims of Paxil. They are pushing for
the cessation of prescribing of Paxil until the MCA takes a longer and closer
look at the potential fatal side effects and addictive profile of Paxil.
The head of that agency, Richard Brook, stated: "Many of these people have
suffered terrible side effects when taking or trying to come off the drug and
some people, it is believed, have died."
Thank God that someone in authority somewhere has admitted what I have
witnessed for a decade now as a result of this, one of the most powerful of
the SSRIs, Paxil. I warned when my book on this Prozac family of drugs,
PROZAC: PANACEA OR PANDORA?, was first published in 1994, that the backlash
from this more powerful serotonin reuptake inhibitor would be far worse than
what we were seeing with the first drug in this family of drugs, Prozac. This
statement has certainly proven to be prophetic.
What a shame that America's FDA remains closed mouth on this issue and refuses
to look at the issue. Their conscious (if they ever had one) has clearly been
bought by those companies with vested interests. There is ABSOLUTELY no excuse
for our FDA to remain silent on this issue because they had evidence presented
to them in 1991 and could have stopped this SSRI nightmare at that time and
they chose not do so, but to reassure the public there was no problem with
these drugs.
I returned home from testifying to the FDA that September to witness a tragedy
in my own neighborhood. A mother, in cold turkey withdrawal from Prozac and
Deseryl, while getting her three children ready for church, chased her
children through their home with a hammer and sheep sheering knife. She
stabbed and bludgeoned all three children to death before stabbing herself to
death. Then her poor husband, who was the first to find them was taken to
court to be tried for their murders. He was found innocent as it was
determined that she was indeed the one who did this.
But even more powerful and newer SSRIs remain unnoticed by the public and
these agencies as these drugs slowly rear their ugly heads to leave an even
more treacherous and deadly legacy in their wake. God help us all worldwide as
we learn the terrible lessons that lie ahead as the result of our all too
trusting natures when it comes to drugs!
Dr. Ann Blake Tracy, Executive Director,
International Coalition For Drug Awareness
www.drugawareness.org and author of
Prozac: Panacea
or Pandora? - Our Serotonin Nightmare (800-280-0730)
__________________________
Agency blamed for promoting Seroxat
femail.co.uk - 1st June 2003
The body which regulates medicines is playing Russian Roulette with people's
lives over the common antidepressant drug Seroxat, a charity claimed today.
Mental health charity Mind said the Medicines Control Agency - now the
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency - had failed in its duty
as the body responsible for the safety of prescribed drugs.
Seroxat, which is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, is one of the most commonly
prescribed antidepressants.
But some who have taken it have claimed they became hooked on the drug, while
others have reported feelings of self harm, or even suicide.
Mind chief executive Richard Brook said the MHRA had not listened to the
experiences of people who had taken Seroxat.
"Many of these people have suffered terrible side effects when taking or
trying to come off the drug and some people, it is believed, have died," he
said.
On Monday, Mind and people who have taken Seroxat, will protest outside the
offices of the MHRA in London. Mind is calling for Seroxat not to be issued
for new prescriptions until a full and independent inquiry has been conducted
involving people who have taken the drug.
The charity is demanding urgent meetings with health minister Hazel Blears,
GlaxoSmithKline, and the Royal Colleges of GPs and Psychiatrists. It also
wants discussions about stronger warnings of potential side effects on
information leaflets and better training for doctors.
In October the documentary series Panorama raised concerns about Seroxat and
the BBC was contacted by thousands of people who had taken the drug. Of these,
239 agreed to take part in a survey about their experiences. Some 97% reported
unwanted side effects and 50% of these said they had had feelings of self harm
or suicide.
Withdrawal problems were experienced by 83%, while 66% of those who tried to
stop taking the drug said they felt unable to do so. Of the 55% who asked
their doctor about side effects, 31% had been told there were no side effects
and 39% were informed that the drug was not addictive.
Currently members of the medical profession can report adverse drug reactions
to the MHRA's yellow card scheme.
But Mr Brook said the BBC had received more reports of problems than the
official yellow card scheme. He called on the MHRA to promote its yellow card
scheme more widely. mfl
A spokeswoman for GlaxoSmithKline said since its launch Seroxat had helped
tens of millions of people worldwide with depression to lead fuller and more
productive lives.
She also said suicide was a potentially avoidable consequence of depression,
and Seroxat could therefore help prevent it.
"This is probably one of the most extensively investigated medicines that is
available in the UK today and like all medicines is subject to continuous
ongoing safety monitoring," she said. "Information from patients about how
they have responded to treatment and the impact the treatment has on them is
extremely important and is something that GSK takes very seriously."
She added that for patients the most important source of information was their
doctor as he or she knew the individual's background and what was the best
treatment for them.
Find this story at:
http://www.femail.co.uk/pages/standard/article.html?in_article_id=180011&in_page_id=169
©2003 Associated New Media
Last Updated on
04/14/04
webmaster@namiscc.org
