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Old August 30th 11, 08:54 AM posted to alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent,rec.bicycles.soc
JimmyMac
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Default Insight into the phases of the Internet forum life cycle: a perspective

On Aug 12, 5:12*pm, "Edward Dolan" wrote:
"JimmyMac" wrote in message

....
On Aug 12, 12:33 am, "T°m Sherm@n" ""twshermanREMOVE\"@THI

$southslope.net" wrote:
On 8/10/2011 10:24 PM, JimmyMac wrote:
[...]


Drugs are given to chickens to combat parasites that thrive in factory
farming conditions. Chemicals linked to cancer and birth defects have
been found in eggs and chicken portions. The chemical residue from
drugs given to chickens are regarded as too dangerous for use in human
medicine. Sloppy farming methods and inadequate checks by government
officials had allowed them to get into the food chain.[...]


A good reason to only buy free-range organic chicken and eggs. Besides,
they taste much better also.
What is also important is the omega 3 value which is elevated by


proper selection of feed (think flax seed).

This is all hocus-pocus nonsense. The FDA is the expert on food safety, not
crackpot "scientific researchers".


Says the crackpot know-it-all who expounds without hesitation about
subjects for which his knowledge is he is woefully deficient.

One distinct difference between Ed and myself is that I present what
Ed abhors ... FACTS, whereas Ed is admittedly all about opinion ...
namely, HIS. Not being in possession of the facts has never curtailed
Ed from running his mouth even when it is obvious to most that Ed
knows little or nothing of that about which he is speaking.

Ed Dolan has publicly gone on record to state that our food is safe
and the FDA ensures that it is. Ed's assertion is not supported by
the facts. As is customarily the case, Ed has chosen to run his mouth
without knowing what he's talking about. Ed, hasn't bothered to do the
research before spewing errant opinions as though they were facts.
Lets just take a cursory look at the safety of our food.

First off, more that just the FDA are involved in the process. Several
US government agencies and their subsidiaries, along with state
agencies, share the responsibility to keep our food supply safe, but
despite all parties involved, our food isn't as safe as Ed Dolan would
have you believe. The average American consumes 200 pounds of meat and
fish, 67 pounds of poultry, 30 pounds of eggs, and 600 pounds of
dairy products each year. With that level of consumption, one should
be concerned about just what can be found in what we eat.
Unfortunately, much of what we consume has been found to be laced with
residue from herbicides, pesticides, anabolic steroids, anti-parasite
drugs, antibiotics, fungicides, anti-inflammatories, etc, About 80% of
all food animals are administered drugs during their lifetime. Some
750 drug products, containing about 100 basic drugs, are used in food
animal production. Most are allegedly needed to ensure a continuing
safe, wholesome, affordable food supply for the populace. About 30% of
chickens, 80% of veal calves and pigs, and 60% of beef cattle are
routinely fed medicated rations. Livestock are also routinely treated
with de-wormers and insecticides. Some of these drugs are considered
unsafe for human consumption and some have been linked to cancer,
birth defects, heart problems and interfere with the working of
prescription medicines. Some drug residue has been found to exceed 200
times the legal limit! Section 409 of the Federal Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Act contains the Delaney Clause (1958) which states that, "no
additive shall be deemed safe if it is found to induce cancer when
ingested by man or animal...". Still, carcinogenic drug residue
continues to be in our food chain.

And, what about bio-contaminants? The FDA sets compliance guidelines
limiting the amount of contaminants in food, but allows a percentage
of mold, parasites, rodent hairs, animal droppings (feces), insect
droppings (feces), insect parts, insect eggs maggots, whole insects,
sand and grit, sticks and stones, and even cigarette butts. A small
percent Ed might counter. Well, think again. A University of Ohio
fact study estimates that on average a person consumes from one to two
pounds of insects each year, without even knowing it.

Food safety aside for the moment, lets examine the FDA's primary
function and its deadly drug approval and denial track record, shall
we?

For most of its history, the United States Food and Drug
Administration approved new prescription medicines at a grudging pace,
paying daily homage to the physician’s creed, “First, do no harm.”

Then in the early 1990s, the demand for AIDS drugs changed the
political climate. Congress told the FDA to work closely with
pharmaceutical firms in getting new medicines to market more swiftly.
President Clinton urged FDA leaders to trust industry as “partners,
not adversaries.”

The FDA achieved its new goals, but at a dire cost in human lives.
Once the world’s unrivaled safety leader, the FDA was the last to
withdraw several drugs in the late 1990s that were banned by health
authorities in Europe.

Fen Phen, Redux, Seldane, Posicor, Duract, Hismanal, Rezulin,
Propulsid, Lotronex, Raplon, Baycol, and Raxar were the so-called
dirty dozen drugs. The dirty dozen of drugs that the FDA pulled from
the market from 1997 to 2001 after reports of deaths and severe side
effects. All had lawsuits associated with them.

The FDA administrators dismissed one of its medical officer’s emphatic
warnings and approved Lotronex, a drug for treating irritable bowel
syndrome. Lotronex has been linked to five deaths, the removal of a
patient’s colon and other bowel surgeries. It was pulled off the
market on Nov. 28.

The diet pill Redux, approved in April 1996 despite an advisory
committee’s vote against it, was withdrawn in September 1997 after
heart-valve damage was detected in patients put on the drug. The FDA
later received reports identifying Redux as a suspect in 123 deaths.

The antibiotic Raxar was approved in November 1997 in the face of
evidence that it may have caused several fatal heart-rhythm
disruptions in clinical studies. FDA officials chose to exclude any
mention of the deaths from the drug’s label. The maker of the pill
withdrew it in October 1999. Raxar was cited as a suspect in the
deaths of 13 patients.

The blood pressure medication Posicor was approved in June 1997
despite findings by FDA specialists that it might fatally disrupt
heart rhythm and interact with certain other drugs, posing potentially
severe risk. Posicor was withdrawn one year later; reports cited it as
a suspect in 100 deaths.

The painkiller Duract was approved in July 1997 after FDA medical
officers warned repeatedly of the drug’s liver toxicity. Senior
officials sided with the manufacturer in softening the label’s warning
of the liver threat. The drug was withdrawn 11 months later. By late
1998, the FDA had received voluntary reports citing Duract as a
suspect in 68 deaths, including 17 that involved liver failure.

The diabetes drug Rezulin was approved in January 1997 over a medical
officer’s detailed opposition and was withdrawn this March after the
agency had linked 91 liver failures to the pill. Reports cite Rezulin
as a suspect in 391 deaths.

The nighttime heartburn drug Propulsid was approved in 1993 despite
evidence that it caused heart-rhythm disorders. The officials who
approved the drug failed to consult the agency’s own cardiac
specialists about the signs of danger. The drug was taken out of
pharmacies in July after scores of confirmed heart-rhythm deaths.
Overall, Propulsid has been cited as a suspect in 302 deaths.

FDA approved each of these drugs while disregarding danger signs or
blunt warnings from its own specialists. Then, after receiving reports
of significant harm to patients, the agency was slow to seek
withdrawals. Because deaths are reported by doctors, hospitals and
others on a voluntary basis, the true number of fatalities could be
far higher than the 1000 plus reported.

Whereas the FDA approved drugs that it should not have and were slow
to withdraw them form the marketplace, other drugs that should have
been approved more quickly also took its toll in loss of lives.

Gleevec set a tragic standard for loss of life at the hands of FDA
bureaucrats. Coming out of Phase 1 testing in 1998, it was known
beyond any reasonable doubt to be safe and effective By the time FDA
approved Gleevec in March 2003, approximately 3,600 patients had been
denied access to the drug. Many died waiting. More than 80% of the
small number of patients who got Gleevec in clinical trials before
the drug was approved are alive today.

Eloxatin, for advanced colorectal cancer, was summarily rejected by
the FDA in March 2000 despite its being approved in at least 29 other
countries. The FDA delayed approval until August 2002. In between,
about 40,000 Americans died without ever getting the drug.

Erbitux, for the treatment of colorectal and head and neck cancers,
was rejected by FDA in December 2001 when the agency refused to review
the sponsor's application. The FDA delayed approval until February
2004. Almost 179,000 people with colorectal and head and neck cancer
died waiting.

Revlimid, for multiple myeloma and myelodysplastic syndrome, took from
in June 2002 to December 2005 for FDA approval. Nearly 74,000 patients
with these terminal cancers died without ever getting Revlimid.

In June 2002, the FDA was requested to approve Velcade. The FDA didn't
approve Veldade until May 2003. About 2,600 patients died without ever
getting Velcade.

In June 2004, the FDA was requested to approve Nexavar and Sutent,
both highly promising drugs for kidney cancer, available. The FDA
eventually approved Nexavar in December 2005 and Sutent in January
2006. But that was only after evidence of efficacy so compelling
emerged for Nexavar that the trial demanded by the FDA -- in which
dying kidney cancer patients seeking the drug were being given no
other choice (except certain death from their cancer) but to agree to
a 50/50 chance of being blindly randomized to a sugar pill -- was
stopped by Bayer for ethical reasons and the placebo patients allowed
to get the drug. The sponsor seeking approval for Sutent was given a
similar option by FDA if it wanted its drug approved. About 20,000
kidney cancer patients died waiting for both drugs.

In June 2002, the FDA was requested to approve Avastin for multiple
cancers. The FDA finally approved this obviously effective cancer drug
in February 2004. It is now approved for colorectal and lung cancers,
and being successfully used off label for several more. Almost 360,000
patients with lung and colon cancer died without ever getting Avastin.

In June 2001, the FDA was requested to approve Tarceva, used for
patients with lung cancer. The FDA approved Tarceva in November 2004.
In the interim, 531,000 people with lung cancer died. Tarceva also
extends the effectiveness of an existing drug for pancreatic cancer,
and about 102,000 patients died from that disease during the FDA's
delay.

In June 2002, the FDA was requested to approve Bexxar for non-
Hodgkin's lymphoma. The FDA, after rejecting and delaying this highly
effective drug repeatedly over several years, finally approved it
under intense pressure from oncologists in June 2003. About 26,000
died during the delay without ever getting the chance to try the drug.
The FDA's regulatory hatchet job on Bexxar prior to its approval has
caused the drug to be dramatically underused, extending the damage
done by the agency's intransigence and incompetence.

In June 2002, the FDA was requested to approve Alimta for lung cancer
patients. The FDA didn't approve Alimta until February 2004. In the
interim, approximately 249,000 lung cancer patients died without the
chance of trying this drug to see if it would control their disease or
extend their life.

In June 2004, the FDA was requested to approve Tykerb for breast
cancer. The FDA didn't approve the drug until March 2007. About 25% of
breast cancers include the biomarker predictive of benefit from
Tykerb; nearly 28,000 women who had this marker died from their cancer
waiting for Tykerb. They would, according to the FDA, have each lived
an average of eight months longer. Long enough, perhaps, to see a
child graduate from college or get married, or to meet a new
grandchild.

The American Cancer Society reports that some 550,000 cancer patients
die annually, making the number of cancer deaths from 1997 to 2005
about 4.8 million. Over that same period, the FDA reports granting
individual access to an investigational drug to not more than 650
people per year for all diseases and drugs. A few thousand more
patients managed to gain access by enrolling in relatively small
clinical trials or exceedingly rare expanded access programs.

The bottom line is that patients have been callously abandoned to die,
denied access to progress by their own FDA at a time when they needed
it most, when their life was on the line. AND ... this is the very
same FDA that Ed Dolan reveres!!! Then again, most of us have come to
learn that head swollen Ed Dolan will never be accused of being
athinking, rational man.

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota


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