Cancer Cover-Up News & Views

Monthly Newsletter | April 2002

Who Is The Real Snake Oil Salesman?
(part 3)

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"This case needs to be viewed against the background of federal regulation of dietary supplements. In 1994, Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA). Among the stated purposes of the Act was to promote the right of access of consumers to safe dietary supplements. Since passage of DSHEA, the dietary supplement industry has experienced enormous growth. In 1994 the industry’s sales were estimated to be at least $4 billion annually. More recent estimates place the industry’s annual sales between $10 and $12 billion.”

The real area of the Attorney General’s concerns – dietary supplements -- does pose a viable threat. That threat, however, is not to consumers, but rather to the profits of the pharmaceutical industry!  It is important to remember that the original role of the FDA was safety – let us ask the FDA to rule on the safety of nutritional supplements.  If they are found to be safe an individual should have the right to choose to use anything they desire.  Don’t forget that aspirin – because of its toxicity – could probably not, today, pass the FDA’s stringent Phase I, II, III trials!! 

One last thought relative to the Attorney General’s comments on DHSEA. Much was made of the need for more regulation to protect consumers from false and misleading claims on the part of dietary supplement manufacturers. The justification for this demand was that consumers might be harmed. If protecting the consumer is the Committee’s concern, then it should perhaps look at how the pharmaceutical industry is regulated.

Over the past three years, more than a thousand deaths have been reported in connection with pharmaceutical products approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Nearly 400 people died in an NIH sponsored trial of the diabetes drug Rezulin – a trial which was overseen by an official who had an $80,000 per year contract with the drug’s manufacturer. Thousands of others were injured. Worse, according to published reports, the manufacturer withheld research data concerning the drug’s potential risks.

• Over 300 people died from drug interactions related to Propulsid, many of them children.

• Redux killed at least 123 people and injured thousands of others before being withdrawn.

• Posicor killed 100 people.

• Duract killed 68 people.

• Raxar killed 13 people.

• Lotronex killed 5 people.

And these are just some of the 17 drugs that have had to be withdrawn over the past three years! Worse, in virtually every case, clinical trials had provided advance warning that problems could arise – warnings that were ignored.

Was any one punished or just fined?  Of course not.  Was anyone punished or fined when Jesse Gelsinger was killed in a gene trial at the University of Pennsylvania after not being given appropriate informed consent?  How about in the Attorney General’s State of Maryland – was anyone punished or fined when Johns Hopkins killed a healthy 24-year-old trial volunteer – again without her receiving appropriate informed consent?  Where was the Attorney General on that one?

For that matter, what has the Attorney General done about Relenza? Relenza has the singular distinction of being the only drug approved by the FDA after being rejected by an FDA Advisory committee. The panel reviewing Relenza voted 13 to 4 against approval for two reasons. First, it didn’t work. Second, it posed a significant risk to people who had asthma or other upper respiratory problems. Despite these concerns, the FDA approved Relenza, and its manufacturer, Glaxo-Wellcome, embarked on an aggressive advertising campaign featuring a character from the popular “Seinfeld” television show. The extravagant claims made in these ads by Glaxo-Wellcome proved too much for even a complacent FDA to take.

Contact Kathleen Deoul, Media Matters
Email: admin@cancer-coverup.com