Are the drugs you're taking safe?

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IMPOTENT AND IN DIAPERS

The numbers don't lie, by age 50 about half of all men may have noticeable signs of prostate trouble...and that percentage will only continue to escalate over the next few decades. Protect your manhood and your dignity by giving yourself every possible chance to avoid painful surgery that's both debilitating and humiliating - but all too common.

Learn more about your alternatives!****************************************************

The Confidence Game, part three

In the first two installments of this three-part essay, we've examined the shocking survey administered to FDA scientists by the Inspector General of the government's Office of Health and Human Services. In it, we discovered that a third of them lack confidence in the overall safety and effectiveness of the drugs they approve, while more than two-thirds lack confidence in the agency's ability to keep tabs on the side effects of these drugs once they've hit the market.

But what about patients' confidence in prescription drugs? Are we - an entire nation of consumers pelted every day by slick, prime-time drug ads and prescription slips from our doctors - confident in the safety and efficacy of drugs approved by the FDA, even if their own scientists aren't?

By and large, yes we are.

According to another Associated Press article, a recent poll conducted by a leading public affairs agency indicated that over 80% of American consumers are at least somewhat confident that the drugs they're taking are safe - and that the FDA is doing its job in fine fashion.

What's really mind-boggling is that this poll was taken AFTER the recent arthritis drug/heart risk scandal that has made headlines and newscast for weeks nationwide. This snafu resulted in mega-drug Vioxx being pulled from the market. Competitors Celebrex and Bextra (all Cox-2 Inhibitors) may soon follow, if the negative evidence about these medications continues to prove similar to Vioxx.

All this begs the question: WHY are people so confident in prescription drugs despite the constant bombardment of negative drug news in the media recently, or the side effects of drugs they may be taking themselves (over 75% of those polled were currently taking prescription drugs of one type or another)?

The answer points to two things: The power of marketing to falsely inspire hope and the power of doctors to influence decisions we make for our health. Remember, the vast bulk of mainstream MDs buy into the promises and skewed "research" of drug companies hook, line and sinker - largely because of the perks, junkets, freebies, and seductive sales personnel the drug giants ply them with.

Why am I talking about all of this in 3 consecutive Daily Doses?

Keep reading...

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ENJOY A LONG LIFE TO THE FULLEST

You can enjoy a long life to the fullest-without the needless dieting and harmful overexertion.

Would you prefer a breakfast of bran flakes and soy- milk over a nice, hot plate of good ol' bacon and eggs? Do you like going to the doctor? Have you ever seen a jogger smile (I haven't)? If you answered "no" to these questions, you're a prime candidate for conversion from the "junk medicine" dogma we've all had crammed down our throats for the last 30 years or more.

Visit below to learn how to avoid the unhealthy "conventional wisdom" that's harming us-and how to stay feeling young, vigorous and pain-free while all those gullible fanatics suffer.

Know your enemy-then arm yourself with the truth!

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To see change, a sea change

The fact that the end users (see also: victims) of prescription drugs believe in their safety and efficacy at far greater rates than their makers points to only one possible conclusion: A grand and far-reaching deception by both the drug makers and the regulatory entity our government has established to protect us. Some, like me, would call this a conspiracy.

This condition also points to the need for major, sweeping reforms of the entire system by which drugs are envisioned, tested, brought to market, and evaluated. For starters, we need immediate and radical reform of:

THE FDA's DRUG APPROVAL PROCESS - It needs to be longer and more intensive, totally insulated from the influence of drug companies, completely independent of drug revenues for its funding, and 100% accountable to its findings under penalty of both law and lawsuit.

POST-MARKET SAFETY MONITORING - It should be mandatory for not only doctors to report side effects and adverse events, but drug companies as well. They should ALL be required to post this information on a publicly accessible database which the FDA should oversee and maintain.

DRUG MARKETING - Drug ads should be required to reference actual study data that's verifiable via the aforementioned database, not just a quick list of possible side effects. People should be informed of not only the safety downsides, but hard data on exactly how effective the medicines they're taking really are.

PHYSICIAN "EDUCATION" EFFORTS - Drug companies should be held to the same standard as lobbyists (in theory, anyway): No freebies, tchotchkes, trips to Vegas, fancy dinner events, or unsolicited staff visits to clinics, hospitals or medical schools. Also, only purely unbiased seminars with all pertinent data and dissenting opinions should be allowed, with no expenses paid by the drug makers.

This would be a good start. But will it ever happen? I doubt it. Why? Because the status-quo system fosters billions of dollars in profits for not just the drug makers, but also the government and its agencies (read FDA) through corporate taxes and sales taxes on drugs. It'll take an extraordinary amount of pressure and a real change in the political climate for them to give up this river of money...

So we'd best get started, lest we be victimized by this system before we can change it.

Conspiring to win your confidence - with sense, not dollars,

William Campbell Douglass II, MD

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