Image - Thalidomide deformities passed along to the next generation.
Substances that cause birth defects are called Teratogens.
Part 1
"One result of the vast over-consumption of drugs is the astronomical profits generated by the drug industry. Since the beginning of the sixties, drug industry profits (as a percentage of sales and company net worth) have surpassed all other manufacturing industries listed on the Stock Exchange. (20)
Another result is the inevitable deterioration of public health. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 1.5 million Americans were hospitalised in 1978 as a consequence of taking drugs and some 30 per cent of all hospitalised people are further damaged by their treatments. Every year, an estimated 140,000 Americans are killed because of drug taking (21) and one in seven hospital beds is taken up by patients suffering from adverse drug reactions. (22)
A report by the General Accounting Office in the United States revealed that 51.5 per cent of all drugs introduced between 1976 and 1985 had to be relabelled because of serious adverse reactions found after the marketing of these drugs. These included heart, liver and kidney failure, foetal toxicity and birth defects, severe blood disorders, respiratory arrest, seizures and blindness. The changes to the labelling either restricted a drug's use or added major warnings. (23)
HOW COMMON ARE DRUG ADVERSE REACTIONS?
According to the Adverse Drug Reactions Advisory Committee (ADRAC), the official federal government body responsible for monitoring the safety of drugs already in use: "There is a dearth [scarcity] of published information on the medical and economic importance of adverse drug reactions in Australia." (24) However, a recent study (1991), cited by the National Health Strategy report on drug use, claims that in 1987-88 there were between 30,000 and 40,000 hospital admissions in Australia because of drug taking and also that adverse drug reactions (ADRs) would have been a major factor for between 700 to 900 deaths a year. (25)
There are some who are highly critical of the official estimation of the extent of drug reactions within communities. Dr Julian Gold, head of the National Health Surveillance Unit of the Commonwealth Institute of Health, whose job as a medical epidemiologist is to collate information on the total health environment, estimates that up to 40 per cent of all patients in Australia may actually be victims of doctor induced (iatrogenic) illnesses. (26) A 40 per cent figure has also been estimated for the United Kingdom. (27) Generally of this amount, half are from drug reactions. (28)"
Part 2
"SOME FRAUDULENTLY TESTED DRUGS THAT INJURED AND KILLED
Paracetamol (painkiller) - 1,500 people had to be hospitalised in Great Britain in 1971.
Orabilex - caused kidney damages with fatal outcome.
MEL/29 (anti-hypertensive) - caused cataracts.
Methaqualone (hypnotic) - caused severe psychic disturbances leading to at least 366 deaths, mainly through murder or suicide.
Thalidomide (tranquilliser) - caused 10,000 malformed children.
Isoproterenol (asthma) - caused 3,500 deaths in the sixties.
Stilboestrol (prostate cancer) - caused cancer in young women.
Trilergan (anti-allergic) - caused viral hepatitis.
Flamamil (rheumatism) - caused loss of consciousness.
Eraldin (heart medication) - caused severe eye and digestive tract damage, and many deaths.
Phenformin (diabetes) - caused 1,000 deaths annually until withdrawn.
Atromid S (cholesterol) - caused deaths from cancer, liver, gall bladder and intestinal disease.
Valium (tranquilliser) - addictive in moderate doses.
Preludin & Maxiton (diet pills) - caused serious damage to the heart and the nervous system.
Nembutal (insomnia) - caused insomnia.
Pronap & Plaxin (tranquillisers) - killed many babies.
Phenacetin (painkiller) - caused severe damages to kidneys and red blood corpuscles.
Amydopyrine (pain killer) - caused blood disease.
Marzine (nausea) - damaged children.
Reserpine (anti-hypertensive) - increased risks of cancer of the brain, pancreas, uterus, ovaries, skin and women's breasts.
Methotrexate (leukaemia) - caused intestinal haemorrhage, severe anaemia and tumours.
Urethane (leukaemia) - caused cancer of liver, lungs and bone marrow.
Mitotane (leukaemia) - caused kidney damage.
Cyclophosphamide (cancer) - caused liver and lung damage.
Isoniazid (tuberculosis) - caused liver destruction.
Kanamycin (tuberculosis) - caused deafness and kidney destruction.
Chloromycetin (typhoid) - caused leukaemia, cardiovascular collapse and death.
Phenolphthalein (laxative) - caused kidney damage, delirium and death.
Clioquinol (diarrhoea) - caused blindness, paralysis and death.
DES (prevent miscarriage) - caused birth defects and cancer.
Debendox (nausea) - caused birth defects.
Accutane (acne) - caused birth defects.
Kanamycin (tuberculosis) - caused deafness and kidney destruction."
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