Thousands Sue for Damages Against Cholesterol Drugs as Big Pharma Defends Billion Dollar Industry

August 20, 2014
Brian Shilhavy
Source: Health Impact News Daily

 The $100 billion dollar cholesterol-lowering statin drug industry is under attack, as thousands of Americans are filing lawsuits against the manufacturers of cholesterol-lowering drugs such as Lipitor.

Research continues to confirm just how dangerous these drugs are, with yet another study published recently linking increased statin drug use to type 2 diabetes. Since the study was published by the American Diabetes Association, these known risks to cholesterol-lowering drugs can no longer be denied or defended, and the lawsuits are pouring in at a rapid pace. Most of the lawsuits at this point are from women who have suffered with diabetes as a result of taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, but lawsuits over breast cancer, Alzheimer’s, liver damage, and others may soon follow now that it is generally known how dangerous these drugs are.

This information regarding a tsunami of lawsuits against cholesterol drug manufacturers has yet to be widely published by the mainstream media, however. To find out the magnitude of the lawsuits being filed against statin drug manufacturers, we turn to law firms who are reaping the fruit of litigation against Big Pharma.

According to statistics supplied by various law firms, there were 464 claims filed against Lipitor as of April 15, 2014, which increased to 703 by May 15, and then to 846 by June 16. As of mid-July 2014 over 959 claims have been filed for damages due to Lipitor alone. There are also many claims currently filed against Crestor, the next nearest competitor to Lipitor, and undoubtedly other similar drugs now sold under generic labels. These lawsuits now number well over 1,000, and are increasing at a rapid pace.

Lipitor is  by far the most profitable drug in the history of mankind among all pharmaceutical products, let alone being the most profitable cholesterol drug before its patent expired at the end of 2011. Sales to date from this one particular cholesterol-lowering statin drug has exceeded $140 billion.

Lipitor benefited from the change in marketing laws in 1997 that allowed pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. to advertise their products directly to consumers. Pfizer convinced an entire generation of Americans that they needed a pill to lower their cholesterol in order to prevent heart disease, in what will go down as one of the most brilliant and unethical marketing schemes of all time.

After Lipitor’s patent expired at the end of 2011, the FDA issued its first warnings against statin drugs, which includes: liver injury, memory loss, diabetes, and muscle damage. Soon after issuing these warnings, the lawsuits started trickling in. Today, with more and more studies being published linking statin drug use to various side effects, those lawsuits have become a tidal wave, even though you are not likely to hear about this in the mainstream media.

Big Pharma Fights Back – They Do Not Want you to Know Cholesterol Drugs are Worthless and Dangerous

As is often the case when learning about the criminal activities of Big Pharma, much of the research is conducted outside of the U.S. The above referenced study published recently by the American Diabetes Association, for example, was conducted in Italy. 

Since the patent on Lipitor has expired, pharmaceutical companies have been searching for the next big blockbuster cholesterol drug to bring in profits like Lipitor did. One of these newer cholesterol-lowering drugs is U.S.-made Zetia by Merck. Alberto Donzelli, head of education, appropriateness, and evidence-based medicine at Milan’s public health authority in Italy, has issued warnings about the dangers of this drug, and advised doctors in Italy not to prescribe it. Merck responded with two cease-and-desist orders and the threat of suing Donzelli. Donzelli backed down, but Merck has received a lot of public pressure in Europe since the story was picked up by the British Medical Journal. It was also reported in the Wall Street Journal here in the U.S. When doctors and medical professionals oppose Big Pharma, they put their careers and sometimes their lives on the line.

Dr MaryAnne Demasi from the Catalyst. Her investigative reporting on the dangers of statin drugs has now been banned in Australia.

The fact that cholesterol is not responsible for heart disease, and that cholesterol-lowering drugs provide no statistical advantages to prolonging life by reducing heart attacks, has been widely reported for many years now by those of us in the alternative health media. One mainstream media source in Australia, however, decided to air a documentary on the Cholesterol Myth and “Cholesterol Drug Wars”. The show featured Dr. MaryAnne Demasi and interviewed several doctors and health officials who dared to tell the truth regarding the cholesterol drug scam. It was broadcast by ABC Australia in late 2013, under vigorous protests from the pharmaceutical industry. The videos were eventually removed from their website, and the network issued a statement retracting their endorsement of the show. However, they can still be seen on YouTube for now (watch them here.)

What’s Next in the Cholesterol Drug Wars?

One in four Americans over the age of 45 are currently on statin drugs. In spite of the increased research linking these drugs to diabetes, Alzheimer’s Disease, liver damage, breast cancer, among many others (see: Consumer Alert: 300+ Health Problems Linked To Statin Drugs), government-funded Big Pharma agencies continue to promote statin drugs and are attempting to get more Americans to take them. New guidelines put out by the American Heart Association earlier this year (2014) would more than double the number of Americans taking statin drugs. Big Pharma educated doctors and health officials have been so indoctrinated by the cholesterol theory of heart disease, that there have actually been debates about adding cholesterol lowering drugs to drinking water! In their minds, every person on the planet should be taking these cholesterol-lowering drugs.

However, as we are seeing, Americans are starting to wake up to the Cholesterol Myth and the Statin Drug scam, and those injured by these drugs are seeking damages in litigation at a very fast pace here in 2014, in spite of the mainstream media blackout due to intimidation from Big Pharma.
So what’s next?

If we follow the pattern of Big Pharma when their products can no longer be supported in a free market due to lack of consumer confidence and demand, and massive litigation due to faulty products, they will probably seek some kind of government protection from these lawsuits. Such government protection will allow them to distribute their cholesterol drugs through government drug programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, and the new Obamacare. With the baby boomer generation heading into their senior years, it is just too large of a market for them to give up without a fight.
The logic they will use with politicians in Washington D.C. will be very similar to the logic currently used by the vaccine market: Americans are too stupid to know better, so we need laws to protect us and our products against litigation so we can continue to manufacture and distribute them to people who don’t want them, because they don’t realize how much they need our drugs.

This logic is clearly seen in the above referenced American Diabetes study on statins, where they state in their conclusion: “Benefits of statins in reducing cardiovascular events clearly overwhelm the diabetes risk.” In other words, we need to sacrifice those who are harmed by our products for “the greater good” of society, because our drugs are necessary for public health.

This kind of logic and legal protection against their dangerous products is exactly what happened in 1986, when Big Pharma convinced Congress that vaccines were necessary for public health, in spite of the fact that they were causing great harm and sales were slumping, while they were incurring great legal bills in litigation. They threatened Congress to stop manufacturing vaccines due to all the litigation, and Congress obliged by passing legislation that removed all legal liability for damages due to vaccines. That law was then upheld years later, in 2011, by the U.S. Supreme Court. Today, you cannot sue Big Pharma for damages due to their vaccines, which has resulted in the U.S. administering more vaccines per child than any other country in the world. Without legal protection, the industry would not have survived. Or if it had survived, we would have far fewer and far safer vaccines in the marketplace today. Instead, we mass vaccinate with an ineffective annual flu vaccine that is crippling hundreds of people a year (see: Government Pays Damages to Vaccine Victims: Flu Shot Most Dangerous with GBS and Death Settlements). The flu shot is being mandated for certain segments of the population as a condition for employment or school, with increasing pressure to mandate forced vaccinations for a greater segment of the population all in the name of “public health safety”.

Is this kind of government protection and mandated drug distribution on the horizon for cholesterol-lowering drugs? You can be sure they will try. It is up to you, the consumer, to stop buying their products now, and to stop voting for people to represent you in Washington D.C. who support Big Pharma.

We are currently living in the Dark Ages when it comes to health freedom, as today’s pharmaceutical companies are the biggest criminals in the marketplace, having reached settlements in criminal medical abuses that reach into the billions of dollars. Yet the government continues to not only recommend their products, but purchase and distribute them with YOUR tax dollars via government funded programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare.

As a  consumer, you must resist purchasing these toxic products, and fight against any kind of mandated “health program” that forces you to purchase or take their products. History will look back on these Dark Days of medical tyranny with horror. In the meantime, don’t become a fatality and statistic to the cholesterol drug scam! If you are responsible for caring for any seniors, help them to not become a fatality or statistic as well, by being informed and taking a stand for your rights!

References

Statins and the Risk of Diabetes: Evidence From a Large Population-Based Cohort Study – Diabetes Care

FDA Expands Advice on Statin Risks – FDA.gov

MSD Italy is criticised for threatening legal action over prescription advice to GPs – British Medical Journal

Merck Threatened to Sue Doc Over Prescribing Advice – Wall Street Journal

Two Studies Suggest Risk of Diabetes with Statins Such As Crestor – LawyersandSettlements.com

Lipitor Lawsuits Continue to Be Filed in South Carolina Litigation – Benzinga.com

More on the Cholesterol Myth

More on the Statin Scam

 Link: http://healthimpactnews.com/2014/thousands-sue-for-damages-against-cholesterol-drugs-as-big-pharma-defends-billion-dollar-industry/.

 

The Cholesterol Drug War: ABC Australia Bans Documentary Exposing Statin Drug Scandal

August 20, 2014 

Source: Health Impact News Daily

 

Health Impact News Editor Comments

Dr. MaryAnne Demasi’s documentary on the criminal activity of the pharmaceutical industry regarding cholesterol-lowering statin drugs sent shock waves through the mainstream media in Australia last year. Published in two parts on the popular news show The Catalyst, the pharmaceutical industry complained loudly after the first show, and requested the network not air the second episode, “Heart of the Matter Part 2 – Cholesterol Drug War.”

ABC Australia aired it anyway, but the pharmaceutical influence is apparently too strong, as it was announced that the network would remove the videos from their website because “they breached its impartiality standards.” They also removed them from YouTube.

These two episodes were among the most watched videos on Health Impact News in 2013, with tens of thousands of “likes” on Facebook alone, helping the videos go viral outside of Australia.
We found other copies on YouTube for now, but it may only be a matter of time before YouTube bans these altogether. If you or anyone you know have been prescribed cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, then you need to watch this documentary. It could save your life.

Here are the two episodes, with our original commentary:

Outside of the United States, the myth that saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart disease is quickly falling apart. Sweden just recently became the first western nation to reject the low-fat dietary philosophy in favor of a high-fat low-carbohydrate diet. A leading cardiologist in the U.K. made shock waves recently by appearing in the mainstream media and stating that saturated fats were not the cause of heart disease, but refined carbohydrates were.

Now, ABC TV in Australia has released a news documentary with the title: “HEART OF THE MATTER: The Cholesterol Myth: Dietary Villains and Cholesterol Drug War.” This documentary interviews cardiologists, science writers, and other experts who expose the saturated fat and cholesterol myth. This is part 1 of a 2-part series.

Part 1 caused so much controversy when it was aired (watch it below), that Australia’s top medicine safety expert, Emily Banks, urged the ABC not to air the follow-up, because it might encourage people to go off their anti-cholesterol statin drugs. “If people stop using their statins . . . it’s very likely that it will result in death,” she said. (Source.)

Wow, talk about scare tactics! If the science that is represented in this documentary is wrong, why not refute the science instead of using scare tactics to endorse censorship? Fortunately, ABC Australia did not censor it, and you can watch Part 2 here.

People around the world are waking up to these dietary myths, as well as the scam of cholesterol-lowering drugs and how harmful they actually are. But given how much of a threat exposing this myth is in losing billions of dollars in profits in the United States, will the mainstream media and the U.S. Government follow other western nations? Those of us in the alternative media, via the Internet, have been covering this issue for more than a decade now!


ABC News in Australia has done an incredible investigative report on cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, daring to expose organized crime in the pharmaceutical industry in the U.S. This is an area where no mainstream media outlet in the USA dares to go, due to the influence of the pharmaceutical industry.

 

In this excellent investigative documentary, cardiologists are interviewed to reveal the fraud of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, and the criminal activity that has allowed this class of drug to become the best-selling class of drugs all-time.

After ABC Australia aired Part 1,  The Heart of the Matter, Australia’s top medicine safety expert, Emily Banks, urged ABC not to air the follow-up, because it might encourage people to go off their anti-cholesterol statin drugs. “If people stop using their statins . . . it’s very likely that it will result in death,” she said.

But those scare tactics and attempts at censorship failed, and below is Part 2 as it was aired in Australia, and is now available for the world to watch via the ABC TV Catalyst YouTube channel. Some of the top cardiologists in the U.S. have stated that there is not one single study showing that people who take statins will actually live longer. This fraud is now coming out into the open.

If you or someone you know are prescribed a cholesterol-lowering statin drug, you would do well to invest 30 minutes of your time to watch this investigative report. You are not likely to learn this information from your doctor, and it could literally change your life.

Link: http://healthimpactnews.com/2014/the-cholesterol-drug-war-abc-australia-bans-documentary-exposing-statin-drug-scandal/.

 

 

Cholesterol drug risks 'being ignored'

14 August 2014
Eilish O'Regan
Source:  Independent.ie

MEDICINES that lower cholesterol – hailed as wonder-drugs in the battle against heart disease – may be doing more harm than good to otherwise healthy people.

Statins are taken by more than 250,000 Irish people to help lower "bad cholesterol", a risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

However, a review by one of the country's leading vascular surgeons has found a lack of evidence to show that statins should be given as a means of prevention to healthy people who have high cholesterol but no heart disease.

Sherif Sultan, of University College Hospital in Galway, warned that statin use can increase the risk of diabetes, cataracts and male impotence.

"They can also significantly increase the risk of cancer and neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease in the elderly, along with a myriad of infectious diseases," he said.

Mr Sultan said there were benefits in prescribing some dosages of statins for certain patients already diagnosed with heart disease or who had a history of heart attack or stroke.

However, otherwise healthy people with high cholesterol would do better losing weight, improving their diet, taking exercise and stopping smoking to avoid heart disease.

Mr Sultan and his colleague Niamh Hynes based their findings on a review of studies involving nearly 400,000 patients published in the 'Journal of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases'.

He said his findings showed major adverse effects had been under-reported, which he said was a "scientific farce".

There is ample evidence to show statins increase cardiovascular risk in women, patients with diabetes and the young.

Too many doctors had fallen into the marketing trap behind the over-selling of statins and ignored side-effects linked to different doses, said Mr Sultan.

SIDE-EFFECTS

Other potential side-effects include inflammation of the liver, muscle and joint pain and insomnia.

Patients for whom Mr Sultan makes an exception are those with high cholesterol because of an inherited faulty gene which cannot be reduced by lifestyle changes. In that case, he would prescribe a statin.

He advises his own patients to adjust their lifestyle and to exercise regularly, go off wheat, increase their intake of greens, drink three litres of water a day and try not to eat after their evening meal.

Around 250,000 prescriptions for statins are written every month, and they account for 8pc of the HSE's €1.7bn annual drugs spend.

The Irish Medicines Board has received 59 reports of suspected adverse reactions to statins since the start of 2012.

Dr Angie Brown, the medical director of the Irish Heart Foundation, said the mainstay of preventing heart disease involved lifestyle changes including stopping smoking, being active, having a healthy weight and getting blood pressure and cholesterol checked.

"In some individuals with a significant risk of developing cardiovascular disease or with very high cholesterol levels, it may not be possible to reduce levels sufficiently with lifestyle change alone, and in these people the advice is to start a cholesterol-reducing tablet," she said.

Irish Independent

Link:  http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/health/cholesterol-drug-risks-being-ignored-29598618.html.

Lycopene Matches Statins in Improving Blood Vessel Function

June 24th 2014

Written By:

Margie King, Health Coach

Source: GreenMedInfo

 

We've known for decades that cardiovascular disease is notably lower in southern Europe especially compared to the U.S.  The Mediterranean diet, consisting of more fruits, vegetables, and olive oil, usually gets the credit. It's been shown to reduce the number of heart attacks and strokes in patients with high cardiovascular risk.

Now researchers have identified a key nutrient in the Mediterranean diet that deserves special mention.  They found that lycopene, a carotenoid found abundantly in tomatoes, helps reduce cardiovascular disease risk.

Lycopene gives tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables a distinctive red color.  It's a powerful antioxidant and 10 times more potent than vitamin E.  

In a study published in the journal PLOS One, researchers at the University of Cambridge demonstrate how lycopene improves the function of blood vessels in patients with cardiovascular disease.[i]

The researchers noted that in spite of aggressive cholesterol lowering with statins and other drugs, cardiovascular patients were still at risk of heart attack and stroke.  They believed that risk was due to impaired endothelial function.

The endothelium is a thin layer of cells that lines the inside of blood vessels and helps facilitate blood flow. Endothelial function predicts future cardiovascular events.  Having a healthy endothelium is considered an important factor in preventing heart disease.

In a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled, interventional trial the Cambridge researchers recruited 36 cardiovascular disease patients and 36 healthy volunteers.  The patients with cardiovascular disease were all on cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. Despite this, they still had a relatively impaired function of the endothelium compared to the healthy volunteers.

Half the subjects were given 7 mg per day of lycopene and the other half received a placebo.  The researchers measured forearm blood flow which is the gold standard for gauging the function of blood vessels.

They found that 7 mg of oral lycopene supplementation improved and normalized endothelial function in the patients, but not in healthy volunteers.

In just two months, lycopene improved the widening of the blood vessels by over a half (53%) compared to baseline in those taking the supplement.  That's important because constriction of the blood vessels is one of the key factors that can lead to heart attack and stroke.

The researchers noted that in spite of the statin medication, endothelial function was impaired in the patients with cardiovascular disease.  They also noted that the lycopene supplements significantly improved endothelial function even though there were no changes in blood pressure, lipid profiles or inflammation.

They also noted that the 53% improvement in endothelial function from 7 mg of lycopene was comparable to the effect other studies found with 20 mg of the drug simvastatin in high cholesterol patients.[ii]  But the lycopene was able to effect improvements that went beyond statin therapy in these patients with atherosclerosis.

And of course, lycopene does not have the problems related to statins which have been found to have over 300 adverse health problems. 

Lycopene is found naturally in tomatoes.  It's more potent when it's pureed and cooked.  Its power is also enhanced when cooked or consumed with olive oil, as is common in Mediterranean countries.
Watermelon and guava also contain significant amounts of lycopene. Other good sources include papaya, pink grapefruit, red bell peppers, purple cabbage, carrots, asparagus, and mangoes.

Link:greenmedinfo.com/blog/lycopene-matches-statins-improving-blood-vessel-function. 
 

Why I've ditched statins for good

23 Mar 2014
 By Haroun Gajraj
Source: The Telegraph

As experts clash over proposals that millions more of us take statins to prevent heart disease and stroke, a vascular surgeon explains why he feels better without them 

  When I had a routine health check-up eight years ago, my cholesterol was so high that the laboratory thought there had been a mistake. I had 9.3 millimoles of cholesterol in every litre of blood — almost twice the recommended maximum. 

 It was quite a shock. The GP instantly prescribed statins, the cholesterol-lowering drugs that are supposed to prevent heart disease and strokes. For eight years, I faithfully popped my 20mg atorvastatin pills, without side effects. Then, one day last May, I stopped. It wasn’t a snap decision; after looking more closely at the research, I’d concluded that statins were not going to save me from a heart attack and that my cholesterol levels were all but irrelevant.

When I informed my GP of my decision three months later, I wasn’t entirely honest. Rather than say I was sceptical about the drugs, I told my doctor I’d quit the statins because they were causing pain in my arm.

He didn’t bat an eyelid. Evidence from the drug industry published this month – evidence I suspect was heavily reliant on data from the drug industry, as Dr James Le Fanu pointed out on these pages last week – may suggest that side effects are uncommon, but previous studies have found that one in five people on statins suffers adverse side effects, from muscle pain and diarrhoea to memory loss and blurred vision.

The GP simply suggested I try another brand of statin. The sooner the better, he said, given that I’d already been off my prescription for three months. “Hang on,” I said. “Could you give me a blood test first?” When the results came back, he was amazed that my total blood cholesterol was lower than when I’d been on statins. After three months without the pills, it was 5.4mmol/l (5.4 millimoles per litre of blood) compared with 5.7 mmol/l a year earlier.

 The only major changes I’d made to my lifestyle since coming off statins were eliminating sugar (including alcohol and starchy foods such as bread) and eating more animal fat. Many experts now believe that sugar is emerging as a true villain in the heart-disease story; while after decades of demonisation, saturated fat has been acquitted of causing heart disease by a recent “meta” analysis of 70 studies by Cambridge University.

Typically, I was eating red meat three or four times a week and enjoying butter, full-fat milk and plenty of eggs. You would have thought that after three months on a diet so high in saturated fat, my cholesterol would have shot back up to pre-statin levels — but no, it came down and has stayed down seven months on. Not only that, but my levels of LDL (so-called bad cholesterol) were also lower than when I’d been on statins, and my ratio of HDL (so-called good cholesterol) to LDL was under four for the first time, an excellent sign, according to medical wisdom.

Not that I cared about any of this.

Yes, it was the statins that originally reduced my cholesterol levels so dramatically. But so what? I believe that high cholesterol has been a scapegoat for too long. Yes, it may, in some circumstances, be an indicator of heart disease but there is no evidence of a causal link. In my view, high total blood cholesterol or high LDL levels no more cause heart attacks than paramedics cause car crashes, even though they are present at the scene.

Just lowering cholesterol with drugs without sorting out the dietary and lifestyle factors that actually cause heart disease is nonsensical. Besides, there are plenty of other, more reliable indicators of heart-disease risk. What further astonished my GP was that on these indicators I was now apparently better off in other ways than when I’d been on statins. My blood pressure was down. For the first time in years, I was slimmer, especially around the belly. My triglycerides — a type of blood fat with a causal link to heart disease — were lower than at any time in the preceding eight years. My fasting blood glucose was at the optimum level, whereas a year earlier it had been too high. My total white blood count — a marker of inflammation — was lower.

My blood test for a marker called glycated haemoglobin (A1c), high levels of which are associated with heart disease and overall mortality, were bang on normal. Finally, my level of c-reactive protein (CRP) — a protein that rises in response to inflammation — was extremely low. So, biochemically, I was in excellent shape, better than when I’d been on the statins. “Have you taken up running?” asked my bemused GP.

No, I’d always run. For years, I’d exercised three times a week, eaten plenty of fish, refrained from smoking and tried to keep my stress levels low. The only thing I’d changed was my intake of sugar and animal fat.

That check-up was seven months ago and now, at 58, I’m not on a single tablet. My GP is happy. I feel better than I have in years and, at the same time, deeply concerned about proposals advising even wider use of statins.

Until 2005, statins were prescribed only to those with at least a 30 per cent or greater risk of having a heart attack within 10 years. This was then reduced to a 20 per cent risk. Now, draft NHS guidelines would have them dished out to those with just a 10 per cent risk — in other words, most men over the age of 50 and most women over the age of 60.

I am a vascular surgeon. Before founding a private clinic in Dorset 11 years ago, specialising in varicose veins, I worked in the NHS for 13 years. Back then, I didn’t question medical guidance on cholesterol, and thought statins were a wonder drug. And so they probably are, for men who have heart disease — not necessarily because they lower cholesterol, but because they may cut other risks such as the inflammation-marker CRP. Exercise, weight loss and omega 3 supplements also lower CRP.

But what about other groups — women, the elderly and people like me who have not been diagnosed with heart disease? The evidence that we will benefit from cholesterol-lowering drugs is ambiguous at best. The 2011 Hunt 2 study, one of the most recent and largest, followed 52,000 men and women in Norway aged 20-74 with no pre-existing heart disease, for 10 years.

The results for women were crystal clear. The lower a woman’s total cholesterol, the greater her risk of dying, either of heart disease or anything else, including cancer. This reflects findings in previous studies.

For men, high cholesterol was associated with heart disease and death from other causes. But so, too, was low cholesterol — below 5mmol/l. Again, this is only an association, not a causal link. A range of between 5mmol/l and 7mmol/l was the optimum level. Guess what? This is already the national average. In addition, numerous studies have linked high cholesterol levels with increased longevity in the elderly.

As for me, I have not been diagnosed with heart disease, and nobody in my family has had a heart attack. However, all four of my paternal uncles and my sister have diabetes. Research from Canada, published last year in the BMJ, has shown that statins raise the risk of diabetes, so that gives me little faith. The controversy over these drugs was reignited last week when Prof Sir Rory Collins from Oxford University warned that doctors’ hesitancy about prescribing them to those at risk could cost lives.

GPs are, by definition, generalists. They don’t have time to read and analyse data from every paper on every medical condition. Even so, in a recent survey by Pulse magazine, six in 10 GPs opposed the draft proposal to lower the risk level at which patients are prescribed statins. And 55 per cent said they would not take statins themselves or recommend them to a relative, based on the proposed new guidelines.

If that doesn’t speak volumes, I don’t know what does.

 

Link:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/10717431/Why-Ive-ditched-statins-for-good.html.

Statins Are the Greatest Medical Fraud of All Time: Study Reports

June 1, 2014 

by Heidi Stevenson 

Gaia-Health.com 

Source: Health Impact News Daily

 

A new study clarifies that statins are the greatest medical fraud of all time. The claims made for them are false. The amount of harm they do is staggering, resulting in millions of lives devastated and ended. The worst part of all, though, is that it was entirely predictable—but studies were designed to hide the truth. The media, the health agencies, and the doctors all provided cover for Big Pharma. After all, there was money to be made.

  Statins are one of the most dangerous drugs prescribed by doctors. The risks from them were obvious before they were ever  marketed. Nonetheless, they are among the best selling drugs of all time. Finally, genuine science has been looking at their adverse effects and lack of benefit to document the truth that was obvious from the beginning:

Statins are the greatest medical fraud ever perpetrated.
A new review of the science reports:

The statin industry, with all of its spin-off(s), is a 20-billion-a-year industry. We are observing the revealing of the utmost medical tragedy of all times. It is unprecedented that the healthcare industry has inadvertently induced life-threatening nutrient deficiency in millions of otherwise healthy people.^[1]

The only point on which I can disagree is the statement that the travesty of statins was somehow “inadvertent”. There is, in fact, absolutely no excuse for it.

The authors of the study, Sherif Sultan and Niamh Hynes, have produced a paper that is utterly condemnatory of the use of statins. Not only do they condemn the drugs, they also condemn the pseudo science behind it. Though they don’t state it, and obviously could not take such a risk, there is simply no way around the fact that the science behind statins has been largely fraudulent, and that fraud has been perpetrated by Big Pharma.

So what did the study actually say?

Sultan and Hynes reviewed a large number of studies, using Pubmed, EM-BASE, and Cochrane review databases to find them. They focused primarily on clinical reviews, meta-analyses, and large-scale randomised controlled trials. The entire list of studies they selected is included in their paper, which you can read because it isn’t hidden behind a pay wall.
They stated:

We seem to have fallen into the marketing trap and ignored the niggling side effects with regard to the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors

The “we” the authors referred to was the medical industry. HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors are statins. Their function is to interfere with HMG-CoA, which is a molecule that’s a precursor to cholesterol. Of course, the purpose of a statin is to reduce cholesterol, which they do accomplish.
So what’s the problem? As the authors state:

Cholesterol is crucial for energy, immunity, fat metabolism, leptin, thyroid hormone activity, liver related synthesis, stress intolerance, adrenal function, sex hormone
syntheses and brain function.

Cholesterol is a primary requirement for an enormous array of absolutely critical functions in the body. Obviously, if cholesterol is reduced, then health must be harmed:

• Energy levels must be reduced.
• There must be interference with fat metabolism.
• The thyroid must not be able to function properly.
• Our ability to deal with stress is stressed.
• The adrenal glands’ functions must be damaged.
• Sexual function and reproductive ability must suffer.
• Our brain must be damaged, which can mean any part of our existence may be harmed, including mental functioning, autonomic processes, coordination, and every other function, including the heart.

There is simply no excuse for not recognizing that not only is there an obvious risk inherent in statins, but that it would be stunning if they didn’t produce harm.

The Benefit of Statins

In terms of benefit, the authors noted that the only people who are helped at all are middle aged men who have already suffered heart attacks. (Readers of Gaia Health will be familiar with this fact, as it’s been stated here many times.) And that benefit is minimal. In fact, the authors point out that statins produce less benefit for these men than aspirin. Please note that Gaia Health does not support aspirin as a treatment for heart disease, either.
In effect, statins produce not one whit of benefit to anyone in any manner.

The Adverse Effects of Statins

The authors found that, for every 10,000 individuals in good health who take statins:

• 307 extra patients suffer from cataracts.
• 23 additional patients develop acute kidney failure.
• 74 extra patients develop liver dysfunction.
• Statins increase muscle fatigue by 30% and cause an 11.3% incidence of rhabdomyolysis at high doses.
• They also state, “What’s more, it induces inflammatory myopathy, including necrotizing autoimmune myopathy with immunosuppression and the statin-related myopathy can last for 12 months.”

They also point out that statins cause erectile dysfunction, and that young men suffer 10 times as much erectile dysfunction on low doses of statins. Beyond all these adverse effects:

• According to the FDA’s adverse event reporting system, about 40 out of every 10,000 statin reports are for interstitial lung disease, which causes scarring in the lungs that is almost never reversible.
• Statins cause hyperglycemia after eating in both diabetics and nondiabetics.
• Statins “induce full blown type 2 diabetes in women.”
• Statins increase the risk of developing HbA1c in people with and without diabetes. HbA1c is a condition that causes glucose to stick to hemoglobin, which is an indicator of greater harm from diabetes.
• Statins prescribed to the elderly cause a 9% increase in diabetes.
• Statins can cause insulin resistance.
• A correlation between Parkinson’s disease and low cholesterol exists, which clearly implicates statins.
• A correlation between statins and early-onset cataracts has been found. Statin users may be 50% more likely to develop cataracts early.

Here’s the most shocking health risk of statins:

[S]tatin use is associated with an increased prevalence and extent of coronary plaques calcification. Ironically for a drug which was marketed to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, the confirm registry identified a strong association of statin use to the progression of coronary artery plaque features.

This isn’t simply irony. Statins increase the harm that they are supposedly meant to decrease!
In relation to this particular heart risk, the authors also found that:

Statin use was correlated with a greater incidence of severe coronary artery stenosis as well as increase in the numbers of coronary vessels developing obstructive coronary artery disease. Furthermore, statin use was linked to an increase in the prevalence and extent of mixed calcific plaque. Five prospective studies have borne witness to the fact that statin therapy does not induce any coronary calcium regression and evolution of
coronary calcium continues regardless of statin treatment

That is, statins increase the narrowing of coronary arteries, which can only increase the chance of heart attacks. They increase the development of obstructive coronary artery disease. Statins may increase calcium-related arterial plaques.

Statins also produce a significant increase in the risk of cancer and neurodegenerative dysfunction in the elderly.

The authors point out even more than this—but just how much more do you need to know? Statins are health destroyers.

Intentionally Hiding the Facts

The study points out that statins may increase the risk for nonmelanoma skin cancers by 1.6 times. The authors then state:

For unknown reasons, since these publications the squamous cell carcinoma has been excluded in all reports from subsequent statin trials.

Is there any way to interpret that other than that the statin industry does not want there to be more evidence that statins cause skin cancer?

The authors referenced studies that had claimed to demonstrate benefits from statins. However, when they were reanalyzed by independent scientists—that is, scientists who genuinely didn’t have ties to Big Pharma—they found that the claimed results were false. The studies actually showed that statins produced no benefit and a great deal of harm.

Cohorts in Crime

It’s bad enough that Big Pharma produces studies that can only be called junk science to give an impression that statins are effective and safe. It’s obviously fraudulent, and all those who have willingly taken part in such  studies—whether by paying for them or doing them—should be prosecuted criminally. There is simply no way to get around the fact that, at the very least, many of these people are guilty of negligent homicide by providing false evidence of both efficacy and safety.

News Media

The news industry has also been guilty, as this study was published over two months ago, yet there’s been virtually no coverage by the mainstream media. This is news that could save the lives of millions of people, yet the mainstream media hasn’t bothered with it. Clearly, their interests are not in real news, but are in their owners’ financial interests. Every mainstream media corporation in the United States is owned by another corporation that also owns at least one major pharmaceutical corporation or is controlled by someone with heavy interests in them. For example:

• News Corporation owns Viacom.
• Ropert Murdoch founded News Corporation.
• Murdoch sits on the board of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

If that weren’t enough, consider also that the pharmaceutical industry is, by far, the biggest advertiser on mainstream media. To suggest that the news media hasn’t also been complicit is either naive or intentionally misleading. The mainstream news media has clearly determined that their duty, to provide information that the public needs, is not their concern.

Health Agencies

The agencies that are supposed to protect us from harmful health products, such as the FDA, the CDC, and the NIH, have all been complicit in the promotion of statins. Even now, the CDC stronglyrecommends the use of statins. The FDA does nothing more than add warnings to the package inserts of statins, an utterly meaningless endeavor that has never been shown to have any significant effect on sales of drugs. The NIH states, “Statins are relatively safe for most people.”
It’s obvious that our health agencies are acting almost exclusively as marketing agents for Big Pharma.

Doctors

Last, but certainly not least, are the doctors who prescribe statins. They tend to argue that it’s not their fault, that they can only go by the studies. But the reality is that it’s their job to stand between their patients and dangerous drugs. If they are unable or unwilling to do their jobs—which is clearly the case for any of them who prescribe statins without informing their patients of the risks and almost complete lack of benefit—then they are no different than those who produce pseudo science, junk science, or outright fraudulent science to support these poisons. At a minimum, they are guilty of failing in their duty to their patients. They may also be guilty of negligent homicide for any patient who dies as a result of their lack of diligence.

The Greatest Medical Fraud of All Time

Statins are the greatest medical fraud of all time. It had to be known from the very beginning that they would likely produce a great deal of harm. As the authors point out, statins interfere with the production of cholesterol, thus producing deficits in metabolic functions that are necessary for life.
There is, therefore, no excuse for doctors not to know.

There is no excuse for the news media not to do the research that would have shown them the fraud being perpetrated.

There is no excuse for the health agencies that approved statins or the ones that promote them. They had to have the relevant information.

And finally, there is no excuse for the doctors, because they should have known. If they didn’t, then they were derelict in their duty.

Everyone involved in the development, marketing, approval, promotion, and prescription of statins is guilty of perpetrating the greatest medical fraud of all time. Tallying up the death toll is most likely impossible, but there can be little doubt that the numbers run into multiple millions.

Please forward this article to anyone you know who is taking statins or considering it. They have a right to know the truth—and that truth is not being told by any doctor who prescribes them.
Read the full article here: http://gaia-health.com/gaia-blog/2013-09-18/statins-are-the-greatest-medical-fraud-of-all-time-study-reports/
Source:

1. The Ugly Side of Statins. Systemic Appraisal of the Contemporary Un-Known Unknowns;  Journal of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases; Sherif Sultan and Niamh Hynes; doi:10.4236/ojemd.2013.33025

Link:  http://healthimpactnews.com/2013/statins-are-the-greatest-medical-fraud-of-all-time-study-reports/.