Drug vs Supplement Dangers
Dr. Murray is pretty brilliant and the co-author of Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine, a master piece.
Also: ..."the marketing budget alone of the drug companies is 50% greater than the total retail sales for every vitamin, mineral, or herbal product sold in the United States. and:
If we put these statistics into monetary figures it is estimated that the cost of drug-related illness and mortality is likely now over $200 billion annually. (3) To put this dollar amount into perspective this amount is more than the total cost of treating diabetes or heart disease in the United States."...
Cheers, Eddie
"It amazes me that adverse reactions (ADRs) to prescription drugs are estimated to kill over 106,000 Americans every year (These sobering statistics do not include the number of ADRs that occur outside the hospital or the estimated 350,000 ADRs that occur in U.S. nursing homes each year.2), yet all it seems that the media is interested in is inaccurately portraying the dietary supplement industry as dangerous and "unregulated." I think a little perspective is in order....
...First, more people are being placed on drugs than ever before. For example, roughly 4 billion prescriptions were filled last year. That is about 12 prescriptions for every person in the United States.
Second, more and more people are being placed on a combination of drugs - many times to deal with side effects caused by some of the other drugs. The rate of ADRs increases exponentially after a patient is on 4 or more medications.4Third, many of the newer drugs are more dangerous than older drugs. The FDA has approved many of these drugs without complete safety data. Drug companies can now pay a fee to speed up approval. Of the 548 new drugs approved by the FDA from 1975-1999, 56 of these (10%) were given a new black box warning because of severe ADRs or were withdrawn from the market because of reports of deaths.
Lastly, the majority of health complaints patients see doctors for owe their origin to dietary and lifestyle factors. Trying to treat the symptoms with a drug (a biochemical band-aid) fails to address the underlying cause and leads to side effects as a result.....the marketing budget alone of the drug companies is 50% greater than the total retail sales for every vitamin, mineral, or herbal product sold in the United States through any channel of trade. Direct to consumer advertising is estimated to have increased the number of prescriptions last year by nearly 30 million. As an example of the power of direct to consumer advertising, the sexual potency drug, Viagra, can probably serve as the poster child. Within a few months of its introduction, several million men began taking Viagra, and many serious side effects, including fatalities, suddenly appeared."...
To read the full article go to: A Matter of Perspective ...
See also:
Few Problems Occur Mixing Supplements & Drugs
Medical system is leading cause of death and injury in US
posted by Chris Gupta on Wednesday May 26 2004
updated on Saturday September 24 2005URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2004/05/26/drug_vs_supplement_dangers.htm
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