Health Myths Exposed

Fact: Americans are taking more Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drugs (prescription drugs) than ever before.

Whether it’s an attempt to save their patient’s failing health, to give patients “what they want,” or simply to help them “feel better,” it is estimated that American medical doctors write an average of 10 prescriptions per person every year.  According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, US spending on prescription drugs has tripled between 1990 and 2001 to over $140.6 billion.  If these trends continue, consumer spending on prescription drugs will top $445.9 billion dollars by the year 2012!  That’s a whopping $1,521.18 per year for every man, woman and child in the country!

Yet, despite this prescription drug “feeding frenzy,” the United States ranks 12th out of the top 13 countries in regard to the health of its citizens.  Recognizing the fact that the more we spend on drugs the sicker we get, Health Myths Exposed was researched and written to discover the truth about FDA approved drugs and their impact on our health.  This quest to uncover the truth began with one straightforward question that everyone should ask, yet few actually do, before using a prescription drug: “Are FDA approved drugs safe and effective?”  As a medicinal chemist trained in drug design, I have learned how to interpret scientific data and have studied a plethora of medical journals, clinical studies and university research papers in an attempt to answer this question for you, the consumer. 

My findings have led me to an undeniable conclusion: The notion that FDA approved drugs are safe and effective is an absolute health myth.  Worse yet, I found that many prescription drugs were approved and released to the public by the FDA despite the fact that they were shown to be unsafe in test trials on otherwise healthy individuals!  (For example: Lipitor, Prozac, Phen-Fen etc.)

The FDA’s practice of approving unsafe drugs has lead millions to a lifetime of drug use.  Let me explain. Users of FDA approved drugs are often forced to use other prescription drugs to offset the unpleasant and dangerous side effects associated with the initial drug.  In many cases, this has meant a lifetime of drug use, which severely limits a person’s functional capabilities and decreases their lifespan.  Looking in the other direction, this trend is often ignored by medical doctors and is simply dismissed as “worsening health.”  It is as if the so-called “cure” of prescription drugs is worse than the illness itself.

While revealing this truth, I met much opposition from the professionals who were exposed to my findings.  The most common argument I encountered in favor of using FDA approved drugs was that, when looking at the “big picture,” the benefits derived from or the effectiveness of FDA approved drugs justified the risk.  This was an ill thought-out hypothesis because I found that outside of “emergency medicine,” rarely, if at all, is this true. 

The majority of commonly used FDA approved drugs are absolutely ineffective in that they offer no benefit whatsoever.  Despite the multi-billion dollar ad campaigns, the media coverage, and the deceptively written articles found in the medical journals which praise the benefits of prescription drugs, the vast majority of drugs only work for 30-50% of the population, as confessed by Glaxo Chief Allen Roses.

While FDA approved drugs are ineffective for the majority of the population, they frequently cause numerous negative side effects and even death among their users.  In fact, the health consequences of using these ineffective drugs were far more devastating than for elicit drugs, which the United States Government spends nearly $19 billion every year to “fight a war” against.  Yet, America’s FDA approved drug problem continues to be ignored. 

It could easily be concluded from my research that the entire medical and health industry was founded on deception and is motivated by an unquenchable thirst for profit.  While the health industry tries to obscure this fact from the public, it is very well known among powerful health organizations such as the FDA, the American Medical Association (AMA), the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC).  More often than not, the facts are ignored due to the financial interests of the top scientists and researchers within these organizations.  When combined, this deception and thirst for profit ha