FDA Quackery Continues Despite Small Progress
Posted on November 21, 2007
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Found a fascinating article on cough medicine and kids over at the American Chronicle-
Another example of outright quackery by pharmaceutical companies has finally gathered enough steam to achieve mainstream news coverage: Cold medicines are useless, say pediatricians who petitioned the FDA to ban the marketing of such products to children. Last month, an FDA advisory panel partially agreed with the recommendation, and voted to declare that such medicines should not be used in children younger than six.
Notably, the FDA advisory panel still somehow believes the same useless medicines are perfectly fine to be used by children older than six (they struck down a vote to recommend blocking the use of such medicines in children aged 6 to 11). This is especially relevant given that the panel openly admitted that there is no evidence that cold medicines work in older children, either.
[…]
Here’s an interesting fact to consider when determining the credibility of the FDA’s safety record: None of the cold medicines that have been marketed to children for decades — right under the noses of FDA officials — were ever tested in children!
You read that correctly: There has never been a single clinical trial showing these medicines to be either safe or effective for use in children. Not one.
So much for the “gold standard” of so-called “scientific medicine,” huh? The FDA was fully aware of this over three decades ago when an FDA panel pointed out in 1972 that such products had never been tested on children.
In other words, despite the fact that there has never been any actual science to prove that cold medicines are good for kids, the FDA still things it’s a great idea to give it to them - as long as they’re over the age of 6. What kind of hypocrisy is this? Well, the article goes on-
Many over-the-counter medicines are nothing but chemical sweeteners, artificial colors, syrups and small doses of dangerous laboratory chemicals. Some actually contain the very same chemicals banned by the FDA in herbal medicine.
For example, the FDA outlawed the selling of ephedra, a common herb in Chinese Medicine, yet the same active chemical is openly allowed to be purchased in over-the-counter cold medicines sold at virtually every corner pharmacy in America. Apparently, the FDA believes the herb is dangerous, but somehow the refined, highly-concentrated drug is far safer — which is like saying crack is safer than coca leaf tea.
Meanwhile they continue to refuse to allow the distributors of herbal medicines for everything from osteoarthritis relief to cures for cancer. Is it any wonder that the number of Americans using herbal medicine has nearly doubled in the last decade? Could this evidence of people beginning to question Mommy government en masse be the beginnings of a real move towards freedom? If so, we’d all have something to be thankful for tomorrow.
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There is more reason to comment than ever before! Great post! I searched for a while to find the right answer to my questions!
Glad you found the answers you were seeking! I’m continually shocked by what I learn about the FDA. It truly is a frightening organization.
Thanks for the informative post.. and thanks for adding our comment to the blog. I searched for a while to find the right answer to my questions!