Another Antibiotic Exits the Consumer Marketplace

Tequin, an antibiotic which can cause serious blood sugar complications, is being pulled from the market by manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb. Increased Warnings In February of this year, the U.S. FDA required increased warnings on the label of the drug. It is most dangerous to diabetics, the elderly, and those with kidney disease. A Recall Urged However, while Bristol-Myers Squibb will stop making and selling the drug, currently available stocks will not be recalled. There have been 20 deaths and over 150 hospitalizations associated with Tequin since January 2000. The public interest group Public Citizen has petitioned for the drug to be completely recalled from the market. MSNBC May 1, 2006 Dr. Mercola's Comment:After much news about the fatal effects of the antibiotic Tequin earlier this year, the drug is finally being pulled from the market, at least partially. Hopefully, the efforts by Public Citizen will help get this deadly drug off the market entirely. Most of the health damage caused by Tequin could have been avoided if people realized that antibiotics are typically widely overused. As a matter of fact, two out of three babies receive antibiotics by their first birthday. Should antibiotics be used at all? Absolutely. I am not opposed to their use in every circumstance, only to the reliance on them in situations where they are obviously of little or no use. And in my experience, that is well over 95 percent of the time they are prescribed. If you thought that pulling drugs off the market is a rare event, you can review the other 16 drugs that have been pulled since I have been publishg the newsletter.

Vioxx. The king of withdrawn drugs and well documented in previous chapters for causing 60,000 fatal heart attacks and strokes and as many as 160,000 heart attacks and strokes all by itself.

Bextra Similar drug to Vioxx, withdrawn for similar reasons.

Rezulin: Given fast-track approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Rezulin was linked to 63 confirmed deaths and probably hundreds more. "We have real trouble," a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) physician wrote in 1997, just a few months after Rezulin's approval. The drug wasn't taken off the market until 2000.

Baycol (made by Bayer AG) - a cholesterol-lowering drug taken by 700,000 Americans - was pulled off the market on Wednesday, August 8th. It had been linked to 31 U.S. deaths. At least nine more fatalities abroad are known.

Lotronex: Against conce s of one of its own officers, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Lotronex in February 2000. By the time it was withdrawn 9 months later, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had received reports of 93 hospitalizations, multiple emergency bowel surgeries, and 5 deaths.

Propulsid: A top-selling drug for many years, this drug was linked to hundreds of cases of heart arrhythmias and over 100 deaths.

Redux: Taken by millions of people for weight loss after its approval in April 1996, Redux was soon linked to heart valve damage and a disabling, often lethal pulmonary disorder. Taken off the market in September 1997.

Pondimin: A component of Fen-Phen, the diet fad drug. Approved in 1973, Pondimin's link to heart valve damage and a lethal pulmonary disorder wasn't recognized until shortly before its withdrawal in 1997.

Duract: This painkiller was taken off the market when it was linked to severe, sometimes fatal liver failure.

Seldane: America's and the world's top-selling antihistamine for a decade, it took the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 5 years to recognize that Seldane was causing cardiac arrhythmias, blackouts, hospitalizations, and deaths, and another 8 years to take it off the market.

Hismanal: Approved in 1988 and soon known to cause cardiac arrhythmias, the drug was finally taken off the market in 1999.

Posicor: Used to treat hypertension, the drug was linked to life-threatening drug interactions and more than 100 deaths.

Raxar: Linked to cardiac toxicities and deaths.

Cylert FDA received 13 reports of pemoline-associated hepatic failure leading to liver transplantation or death, representing an incidence rate 10 to 25 times greater than that of the general population.

Palladone Withdrawn due to a high risk of accidental overdose when administered with alcohol

Tysabri Was expected to become the world's leading treatment for MS, but was pulled from the market after a patient died from a rare central nervous system infection.

So What Are Your Options to Dangerous Drugs? Most of the time, you should bolster your immune system using the best and most natural methods:nn

Eat a healthy diet based on your body's unique metabolic type. nn

Reduce, with the plan to eliminate, your intake of sugar and grains. nn

Get the right amount of sleep. nn

Address stress safely by learning an energy psychology tool like the Emotional Freedom Technique.

If you apply these basics your body has no choice but to stay healthy and get better. It is my strong belief and frequent observation in my clinical practice that each of us has been provided with an enormous array of biochemical mechanisms that are designed to generate health. Most of us have to regularly violate these principles for many years before we reap the fruits of our unhealthy choices.