re:
There is a long list of drugs that have ben approved by the FDA after double blinds and later these drugs were proven to be unsafe even deadly. I am well aware of the finasteride study, I just do not think it is an accurate representation. The FDA merely approves the data presented to them and this double blind was run by Merck and derms, who were the groups most likely to profit from the approval of finasteride. Does this mean that the study was inaccurate, absolutely not, only that there is potential bias as is the case with most double blinds. As I do not have the ability to run my own completely unbiased double blind, all my opinions are pure speculation. I accept that the results could be correct, but I just think they are not. Side effects are by far the biggest issue for those who stop the drug and for those who are deciding to go on the drug. Many finasteride users are concerned and I think this issue has not been properly addressed by the distibutor. Maybe if finasteride made Merck some $$ then they would look into it further, they just don't care and should not care because Merck is in the business of making money.
Whatever, the case, do not lump me into all these nut cases who come onto this website just to b**ch and moan and attack finasteride. I think the drug works with limited potential side effects that are reversible once the drug is discontinued.
My point, sighting the double blind as the only basis to believe the 2% is shortsighted and too trusting of the American gov't and big business. We should demand more.
Here are some articles that at least offers the reader a basis to question the results of the finasteride double blind:
"Here's information you're not supposed to know about the FDA. It was uncovered through a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request that uncovered a 2002 Human and Health Services survey asking FDA scientists questions about the agency. Their answers reveal an astonishing lack of confidence at the Fraud and Drug Administration, not to mention the bullying of scientists by FDA bureaucrats to get drugs approved even though they were dangerous. Let's take a closer look at the results of this survey.
The survey involved 846 FDA scientists with a near-50% participation rate. Of those who responded, 66% said they lacked confidence in the agency's ability to "adequately monitor the safety of prescription drugs once they are on the market." That's two-thirds of the scientists. This is interesting because Dr. David Graham, who is the most outspoken FDA scientist, had been singled out by the FDA as being a loose cannon, a sort of rogue scientist whose views were not widely accepted. But, as we see from the study, the vast majority of scientists within the agency heartily agree with Dr. David Graham.
Similarly, only 12% of the scientists surveyed were completely confident that the FDA labeling decisions adequately address safety concerns. That's only one out of 10 scientists. Similarly, only 13% of the scientists were confident that the FDA's final decisions adequately assess the safety of a drug. Why might this be the case? Nearly 60% of the scientists said they don't believe the FDA has enough time to conduct in depth science-based reviews of new drugs, and 48% said the FDA does not do enough to monitor and improve its drug assessment process. So what's really going on behind closed doors, it seems, is that FDA bureaucrats are rubber-stamping the approvals of dangerous drugs, silencing their own scientists and then failing to adequately monitor those drugs once they're released to the market. And this isn't something that outside critics are saying, it's something that even the FDA's own scientists are saying! But the picture gets even worse.
Related book:
Dispensing with the Truth : The Victims, the Drug Companies, and the Dramatic Story Behind the Battle over Fen-Phen
Mary Linnen, 29, was determined to lose 25 pounds before her wedding. In May 1996, her doctor prescribed a combination of drugs known as Fen-Phen. When Linnen complained of dizziness and shortness of breath... continues...
(Concept: the FDA)
Nearly 1 in 5 scientists, 18%, said that they have "been pressured to approve or recommend approval" for drugs that they thought weren't proven safe. This means the FDA bureaucrats have been leaning on scientists to approve dangerous drugs. And that's why we are seeing scandals in the marketplace like COX-2 inhibitors, antidepressant drugs, statin drugs and all sorts of other drugs that are now known to cause dangerous -- even deadly -- side effects, and yet have been promoted and defended by the FDA for years. And when those drugs are found to be a chemical catastrophe, killing literally hundreds of thousands of American citizens, the FDA just holds a rigged hearing where so-called "neutral" panel members (who actually have strong financial ties to drug companies) quickly vote the dangerous drugs back onto the marketplace. It's all a charade.
What all this shows is that the FDA has gone out of its way to protect the financial interests of drug companies. It has gone out of its way to silence its own scientists who are critical of the agency's drug safety review process. It has gone out of its way to bury evidence proving that these drugs are dangerous and yet at the same time discredit nutritional supplements, herbal medicine, vitamins and other natural strategies for preventing chronic disease and boosting health. In fact, the whole environment at the Fraud and Drug Administration is that of oppression... and suppression of scientific evidence. 21% of the scientists surveyed felt that the work environment at the FDA offered little or no room for dissent. Half of those surveyed said that scientific dissent was allowed only "to some extent." And a whopping 83% of the scientists surveyed felt the agency does not have adequate procedures in place to address scientific disagreements to a great extent.
Related book:
Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills
They hide it in the foods you eat. It is now in over 50,000 products. They used to be required to put 'Diet' or 'Sugar-Free' on the label; but now if it is used in conjunction with another sweetener, that... continues...
(Concept: the FDA)
Well, of course they don't! Because when the agency works to censor scientists, shut them up and discredit them when they go public, that is certainly not an environment that's conducive to scientists telling the truth about dangerous drugs. If you worked at the FDA, would you? How long would you zip your lips just to keep your job? (Apparently, Dr. David Graham got tired of the game and decided to blow the whistle.)
What's the upshot of this survey finding? It's yet more evidence backing up my long-standing condemnations of the FDA as a mob-like drug racket agency that distorts the truth, lies to the public, defends dangerous prescription drugs, works to promote the financial interests of pharmaceutical companies and essentially ends up killing hundreds of thousands of Americans each year because of its unwillingness to perform its regulatory mission. This survey also reveals that it is not entirely accurate to speak of the FDA as one single-minded organization. In fact, there is a great rift at the FDA -- it is the scientists versus the FDA bureaucrats. The highly paid bureaucrats who have ties to the pharmaceutical industry and who have the political power to override the voices of the scientists are currently in charge. That's why when Dr. David Graham testified before the Senate and finally went public with the truth about the dangers of these prescription drugs, he was congratulated by his peers.
Meanwhile, other bureaucrats at the FDA threatened to discredit him; they even contacted a whistleblower group that was offering protection for Dr. David Graham and sought to discredit his reputation with that group. Now they're threatening to transfer Dr. Graham to another job role so that he can no longer conduct his work on drug safety.
Are these the actions of an organization that's protecting the public health? Absolutely not! Only a truly insane person could look at this situation and say the FDA is doing its job. More accurately, the FDA is behaving like a criminal organization, and that's why I've called for a criminal investigation of the top decision makers at this agency. Through their negligence and deceit they have cost the lives of countless Americans. They have plotted to promote dangerous drugs while discrediting disease prevention alternatives such as nutritional supplements. They have attempted to destroy alternative health doctors and pioneering researchers who are finding genuine cures and treatments for chronic diseases.
Related article
FDA accused of suppressing drug safety information (commentary)
(Concept: the FDA)
This is a 1920s style Chicago mob mentality, and it's the agency that's running our drug safety program here in the United States. There have been people calling for change for decades: people like Dr. Sidney Wolfe of Public Citizen, Dr. Julian Whitaker, and now even the FDA's own scientists are going public with their information. Yet most of the politicians and bureaucrats running our country still don't have the courage to stand up and tell the truth, because that would mean losing the next election as drug company money disappears from their reelection campaign funds. Drug companies have a financial stranglehold on the political process in this country, and they know it.
Even the press is biting its tongue on telling the truth about the FDA. Why aren't mainstream journalists willing to use accurate words to describe the criminality of this behavior? We don't have to be politically correct in our word choice about the FDA when there are peoples' lives at stake. These are criminal behaviors and the people responsible for these behaviors deserve to be prosecuted as criminals just like any other group that causes the death of hundreds of thousands of people. If they were terrorists, we'd be bombing them into oblivion. But since it's the FDA, we somehow let it slide. In fact, FDA-approved drugs have killed hundreds of times as many Americans as all terrorist acts combined. Consider that sobering statistic for a moment... If you thought Saddam Hussein was dangerous, just take a glance at the Death By Medicine research report showing 750,000+ Americans killed annually by conventional medicine and FDA-approved drugs.
It is clearly time to reform the FDA. We should fire the bureaucrats and put scientists like Dr. David Graham in charge. These are people who are honest, courageous, willing to tell the truth and well-schooled in studying drug safety. Now they may not agree with everything I'm saying about the dangers of prescription drugs -- many of these scientists would say there are some drugs that are perfectly safe. But that's okay. We don't have to agree on everything, but we do have to stop the current madness in the top ranks of the FDA. I'd be happy as a camper just to see the FDA return to its original job of protecting the public. We could easily save over 100 lives a day if the FDA were forced to do its job again.
Related article
American Medical Association calls for wholesale reforms of the FDA
(Concept: the FDA)
You can help make a difference. What kind of action can you take? You can write your Congressperson or Senator and let them know your feelings about the FDA. Let them know you're tired of being a guinea pig, you're tired of the deception and you want honesty restored to the Fraud and Drug Administration so that future generations can actually have safe foods and drugs rather than a collection of over-hyped products that quite literally kill people by the thousands.
Today we have a nation paying billions of dollars in health care and prescription drugs and getting absolutely nothing in return for it other than skyrocketing rates of every chronic disease you can name. That's why it's called a drug racket. It's the biggest con ever perpetrated on the American people, and the FDA is the mob boss running the racket. The U.S. government eventually brought down Al Capone, but can it achieve the same law enforcement victory at the FDA? Perhaps the Department of Justice will get more involved as the body count rises here in the United States.
Personally, I'm just curious to watch how long the American people will put up with this game. As an observer, I find all this a fascinating experiment in how easy it is for health authorities to program the people to believe practically anything, including: "these drugs that are killing you are actually good for you."
It's just like watching rats in a maze, and the FDA just moved the cheese again.
and these
http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2004/3 ... ofits.html
http://www.ibsgroup.org/other/lotronex_ ... 262002.htm
