Zyprexa, Chantix, Zetia: Bad news gets worse - NewsGrabs 3 February 2008

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NewsGrabs

Health Supreme's NewsGrabs - a selection of contrary and underprivileged news in health and related sectors. Find what you may have missed - watch out for NewsGrabs.

Here is this week's selection:

Campaign for a EUROPEAN REFERENDUM - Sign Petition
Every citizen should have the right to: participate in the democratic life of the European Union, make known and publicly exchange their views on all areas of European Union activity and policy and be directly involved in political decision-making.

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are widespread in Europe
Given the widespread nature of nutrient deficiencies in Europe, naturopathic doctors, natural health experts and millions of consumers are currently up in arms over the fact that the European Commission is preparing to propose restrictions on the maximum permitted levels of vitamins and minerals in food supplements. When the maximum levels are eventually announced, European citizens will finally discover whether [Commissioner] Byrne and the Commission were telling the truth, or whether – as some have alleged – their real aim was to ban supplements and they were lying all along.

This article by Paul Taylor was written some months ago, but becomes very relevant as the expected publication of the EU dosage limits on vitamins and minerals approaches...

Vitamins, Minerals 'to cut prison violence'
Prisoners will be given vitamins and mineral supplements in an attempt to improve their behaviour and cut down on violence behind bars. The Ministry of Justice will fund pioneering research into the connection between the diet of young offenders and their behaviour.

Study finds widespread vitamin and mineral use among cancer survivors
In reviewing 32 studies conducted between 1999 and 2006, Ulrich and co-author Christine Velicer, Ph.D., formerly a postdoctoral fellow at the Hutchinson Center (now an epidemiologist at Merck Research Laboratory in North Wales, Pa.), found that many of the nation’s 10 million adult cancer survivors use nutritional supplements. They found 64 percent to 81 percent of cancer survivors overall reported using vitamins or minerals (excluding multivitamins), whereas in the general population only 50 percent of adults reported taking dietary supplements.

Magnesium cuts Cerebral Palsy in premature births
Premature babies are at high risk for cerebral palsy, an often devastating movement disorder caused by brain damage before, during or after birth, says study co-author John Thorp, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. About one-third of cerebral palsy cases are caused by early preterm birth, he says.

Giving magnesium sulfate, or Epsom salt, could save many children from the condition, Thorp says. Doctors regularly use the drug to halt contractions when women go into labor very early. The drug is found in virtually every labor and delivery department and costs just pennies a dose, he says.

Folic acid cuts risk of premature birth
The report, presented Thursday at the annual Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine meeting, said taking folate supplements for at least one year before becoming pregnant reduced premature delivery by 50 percent to 70 percent. Babies who are born very premature are at the greatest risk of complications such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation, chronic lung disease and blindness.

Ultrasound May Help Regrow Teeth
Using low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS), Dr. Tarak El-Bialy from the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry and Drs. Jie Chen and Ying Tsui from the Faculty of Engineering have created a miniaturized system-on-a-chip that offers a non-invasive and novel way to stimulate jaw growth and dental tissue healing.

Dental Mercury Use Banned in Norway, Sweden and Denmark
Norway recently announced a ban on the use of mercury, including dental amalgam, that took effect on January 1, 2008. Sweden announced a similar ban and dentists in Denmark will no longer be allowed to use mercury in fillings after April 1, 2008.

"These bans clearly indicate that amalgam is no longer needed. There are viable non-mercury filling substitutes that are used everyday in the US," said Michael Bender, director of the Mercury Policy Project. "By eliminating amalgam use, which is 50% mercury, we can reduce mercury pollution much more efficiently than end-of-the-pipeline solutions."

BT Allergy in North India
I am really afraid for the future of India and our farmers. Sooner or later, the effects of transgenic pollution will be more pronounced and will affect people who do not live in cotton fields or villages next to cotton fields. Why do we still allow Bt cotton to be grown in India? Isn’t the death of thousands of sheep enough for us to wake up and speak and support the truth?

Diet soda might be bad for you
In May 1992, the official U.S. Air Force Magazine, Flying Safety explained: “In pregnancy the effects of aspartame can be passed directly to the fetus, even in very small doses. People have suffered aspartame-related disorders with doses as small as that carried in a single stick of chewing gum. This could mean a pilot who drinks diet sodas is more susceptible to flicker vertigo or to flicker-induced epileptic activity. It also means that all pilots are potential victims of sudden memory loss, dizziness during instrument flight and gradual loss of vision.”

Meat, diet soda linked to heart disease
The study also found that diet soda consumption was linked to these elevated risk factors for heart disease and diabetes, echoing the findings of a study published in July. "When we found that diet soda promoted risk we were surprised," said Dr. Lyn Steffen, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota.

Betty Martini notes: The reason diet soda is linked to heart disease is that aspartame causes an irregular heart rhythm and interacts with all cardiac medication. It damages the cardiac conduction system and causes sudden death. Here are the medical reports: Aspartame Induced Arrhythmias and Sudden Death by H. J. Roberts, M.D. - Athlete Alert: Sudden Cardiac Death by Russell Blaylock, M.D. - Sudden Cardiac Death and Aspartame (Martini) - Report by Dr. H. J. Roberts: Aspartame and Cardiac Symptoms and Interaction with Other Drugs

FDA warns of anti-smoking Chantix' psychiatric risk
Doctors have written 5 million Chantix prescriptions in U.S. since the drug to help smokers quit came on the market in 2006. Reports of psychiatric side effects have grown in recent months. A total of 39 patients have committed suicide while taking the medicine. In addition to the suicides, the FDA said there have been 491 incidents of suicidal thoughts and behavior. The agency said it has also received reports of agitation, depression and other mood changes.

Swedish Medical Agency: HPV vaccine may create new health risks, add costs
A Swedish governmental Medical Evaluation Agency (SBU) has recommended in a recent report that the National Board of Health and Welfare review its strategy of prevention of cervical cancer. The widespread use of human papilloma virus vaccines, promoted by the manufacturers in a public advertising campaign, is about to add costs to an already strained cancer prevention budget while the effectiveness of vaccinations cannot be evaluated for two or three decades, the daily paper Dagens Nyheter reports.

Lilly Negotiating $1B Fine Over Zyprexa Marketing
Zyprexa has serious side effects and is approved only to treat people with schizophrenia and severe bipolar disorder. But documents from Lilly show that between 2000 and 2003, Lilly encouraged docs to prescribe Zyprexa to people with age-related dementia, as well as people with mild bipolar disorder who had previously been diagnosed only as depressed, the Times writes.

The drugmaker is talking to federal prosecutors about settling civil and criminal investigations into its marketing of the antipsychotic. If a deal is reached, the fine would be the largest ever paid by a drugmaker for breaking the federal laws that govern how pharma can promote medicines.

Florida Medicaid To Review Antipsychotics & ADHD
The taxpayer bill for these meds jumped from $9 million seven years ago to nearly $30 million in 2006. Florida Medicaid records reportedly show the number of children - some just months old - who were prescribed the drugs went from 9,364 seven years ago to 18,137 in 2006. And even as drugmakers were being told to issue warnings about risks, a Florida Legislature-directed program partly funded by drugmakers was recommending the meds as treatment for ADHD, although FDA ap