Over Counter Sleep Aids Linked to Dementia

What is perplexing is how drug companies always cite FDA approval for drugs when  they are found to be dangerous. They do not explain that most of the management of the FDA is former drug company lawyers and officials. Who can rely on the FDA which has approved numerous dangerous lethal drugs for the American public? 

[From article]
New research is warning about a possible link between a very common allergy medicine and dementia.
CBS2’s Dr. Max Gomez reported that long-term use of an antihistamine known as diphenhydramine, which is commonly sold as Benadryl and included in many over-the-counter medications for cold and allergies, may increase the risk of dementia and even cause irreparable harm.
Diphenhydramine, which also causes drowsiness, is in popular sleep aids such as Tylenol PM, Advil PM, and ZZZQuil.
“I would take these medications myself only very rarely and I will try at all costs to avoid taking them for a long term,” Stanford psychiastrist Barbara Sommer said.
Sommer is an expert on anticholinergic drugs like diphenhydramine. She said recent research found that older adults who took anticholinergics continuously for years performed worse on tests that measured short-term memory, verbal reasoning, planning, as well as problem-solving.
PET scans revealed their brains were less active and MRI scans showed their brains had shrunk.
“Whereas it’s always been thought if you stop anticholinergic drugs, all of the cognitive functions you’ve lost come back, now people aren’t so sure,” Sommer said. “And they’re worried that this may lead to or hasten the onset of dementia.”
These studies do not prove a cause and effect.
“The active ingredients are approved by the FDA and recognized as safe and effective when taken as instructed,” Consumer Healthcare Products Association, the group that represents the makers of these over-the-counter products, said in a statement.
Also, the labels are clear – people should only use them occasionally and for no more than two weeks.
Experts said if people need help sleeping fore more than a couple of weeks, they should consult a doctor.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/05/31/study-benadryl-dementia/

Research: Long-Term Use Of Benadryl, Many Over-The-Counter Cold Medications Linked To Dementia
CBS News New York NY
May 31, 2016 6:08 PM

FDA Issues Food Recall, 38 Pages, Trader Joe Brands Included

[complete list]

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm498841.htm



[From article]

CRF Frozen Foods announced that its expanding its recall of frozen vegetables and fruit with best buy dates between April 26, 2016 and April 26, 2018.
In a statement, CRF said the company is performing this voluntary recall in cooperation with the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because the products have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.
Christina LaRock's daughter Callie had just poured herself a bowl of peas from Trader Joes, which she eats every day after school, when LaRock got a recall alert from Newscenter 5's mobile app.
"I caught the name Trader Joe's Organic and I said 'I shop there every week'," LaRock said. The peas Callie was eating as a snack were among the 854 frozen foods possibly contaminated.
"My heart sank," said LaRock, as Callie approached her mother with an empty bowl and asked for more. "I said 'actually Callie, you can't'."
Three-hundred and fifty-eight products, sold nationwide under 42 separate brands, are included in the recall. Several brands included in the recall are carried by national chains with local stores, like Trader Joe's, Costco and Walmart.
"It makes me nervous as a mom and consumer," said LaRock. "It makes me want to grow a green thumb and start to put a garden in my backyard."

http://www.wcvb.com/news/foods-from-trader-joes-costco-walmart-part-of-massive-listeria-recall/39360054

Foods from Trader Joe's, Costco, Walmart part of massive listeria recall
358 products sold nationwide recalled for listeria contamination
UPDATED 10:52 PM EDT May 03, 2016

Chamber of Commerce Letter Opposing Price Controls on Prescription Drugs

Drugs help treat or cure diseases. Why is there so little focus on prevention? In the case of psychiatry drugs only treat. There is no cure for made up illnesses. Some scrutiny of psychiatry will eliminate many of abuses. Then there is the lack of knowledge of the effect on humans who use drugs. Ever read the warnings required by the feckless FDA?

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/news/20160411/letter-price-controls-on-prescription-drugs-wont-get-us-better-medicines

LETTER: Price controls on prescription drugs won't get us better medicines
Posted Apr. 11, 2016 at 2:59 PM
Cambridge Chronicle
To the editor:
Sarah E. Kennedy, Director of Government Affairs, Cambridge Chamber of Commerce

Vitamin Supplement Industry has Minimal Oversight, No Standards

[From article]
And unlike prescription drugs, which pass through a strict premarket approval process, the Food and Drug Administration does not evaluate a supplement’s contents or effectiveness before it hits the shelves. Even then, the agency has only a modest capacity to test the pills.
The result is a more than $30 billion industry that is largely regulated by the honor system.
Given this framework, there is little to guarantee that any vitamin, mineral, probiotic, sports supplement, herbal treatment, or other dietary supplement is safe, effective, or even contains what’s on its label.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/five-questions-to-ask-when-considering-health-supplements/

Five Questions To Ask When Considering Health Supplements
JANUARY 19, 2016
by KATIE WORTH Tow Journalism Fellow,

FRONTLINE

Columbia Journalism School Fellowships

FRONTLINE, The New York Times and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation examine the hidden dangers of vitamins and supplements, a multibillion-dollar industry with limited FDA oversight.
produced by NEIL DOCHERTY

[link to complete 54 minute video]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/supplements-and-safety/

PBS, Frontline, Trouble With Chicken

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365487526/

The Trouble with Chicken
Aired: 05/12/2015
FRONTLINE
PBS
53:46

FRONTLINE investigates the spread of dangerous pathogens in meat - particularly poultry - and why the food-safety system isn't stopping the threat. Focusing on an outbreak of salmonella Heidelberg at one of the nation's largest poultry processors, the documentary reveals how contaminants are evading regulators and causing more severe illnesses as Americans consume more chicken than ever.

* * *

See also book excerpt on why chicken tastes like chicken at this link

http://enoughroom.blogspot.com/2015/04/book-excerpt-how-chicken-and-other.html

After Many Years the FDA Moves to Evaluate Electric Shocking of Disabled Persons

In support of using these electric shocking devices, a mother of a young man who is shocked is quoted. Why isn't the student who gets the shocks allowed to speak? Does his mother know better what is good for him? Only when the experts cannot find a professional is a relative allowed to speak for the disabled persons. Usually the parents are marginalized because they are not professionals. Then again when it comes to psychiatric illnesses everyone is an expert is allowed to make diagnoses. 

[From article]
The Food and Drug Administration is considering whether to ban devices used by the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, Massachusetts, the only place in the country known to use skin shocks as aversive conditioning for aggressive patients.
It's a rare move by the FDA, following years of complaints from disability rights' groups and even a U.N. report that the shocks are tantamount to torture.
FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg says the shock therapy has raised a lot of questions.
[. . .]
Dr. Steven Miles, a bioethicist at the University of Minnesota, was one of several advisers concerned about the lack of scientific studies showing the shock therapy works. That only one treatment facility uses them, he said, makes it "unreasonable to conclude that these devices are part of the standard of care for this class of patients."

http://bostonherald.com/business/healthcare/2014/09/skin_shocks_used_at_mass_school_draw_fda_look

Skin shocks used at Mass. school draw FDA look
Sunday, September 14, 2014
By: Associated Press
Boston Herald

Should Ill Persons be Allowed To Try Unapproved-by-The FDA Drugs?

[From article]
The FDA's mission is to ensure the safety and effectiveness of pharmaceuticals. In doing so, FDA officials can make two types of errors. They can approve a drug that has unanticipated dangerous side effects, or they can disapprove or delay a drug that is both safe and effective. FDA officials have unequal incentives to avoid these two types of errors. If the FDA official errs on the side of under-caution — approving a dangerous drug — the victims are visible, and he is held directly accountable. If he errs on the side of over-caution — holding up approval of a safe and effective drug — who's to know? The cost and the victims are invisible. Politicians and bureaucrats prefer invisible victims.

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/williamns061114.php3#.U65pxt0--yM

Jewish World Review

June 11, 2014 / 13 Sivan, 5774
Who Owns You?
By Walter Williams

Columbia Law School Grad Jumps Out of Window With Baby

[Last updated Saturday March 16, 2013 5:55 PM ET] 

Columbia Law School Grad Jumps Out of Window With Baby
NY1, Associated Press, New York Times omit mention of psychiatric drugs. Daily Mail (UK) and The New York Daily News report that anti depressant drugs were found in the apartment. Journalists continue to cover up the dangers of psychiatric drugs. The FDA requires a warning label about these drugs causing suicide and violence. When will journalists begin to focus on the dangers of these drugs? When will psychiatrists be held accountable for the deaths they cause? 



Cynthia Wachenheim, with husband, Hal Bachrach

[New York Times does not mention psychiatric drugs and quotes a psychiatrist who never met the woman who jumped.]
[From article]
“I’m sure you understand, I’m absolutely overwhelmed with grief,” her husband, Hal Bacharach, [Huh?]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/15/nyregion/son-survives-cynthia-wachenheims-suicide-jump-in-harlem.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0

Mother Called Her Final Act ‘Evil’
By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS and WENDY RUDERMAN
Published: March 14, 2013
New York Times

* * *

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2294654/Cynthia-Wachenheim-Friends-lawyer-mother-jumped-death-baby-come-defense-male-blogger-attacks-victim-evil-selfish.html

Friends of lawyer mother who jumped to her death with her baby come to her defense after male blogger attacks the victim for being 'evil' and 'selfish'
By RACHEL QUIGLEY and SNEJANA FARBEROV
Daily Mail (UK)
PUBLISHED: 21:20 EST, 16 March 2013 | UPDATED: 21:52 EST, 16 March 2013

* * *

http://abovethelaw.com/2013/03/in-defense-of-the-suicidal-columbia-law-mother/#more-231335

15 Mar 2013 at 5:33 PM
Above The Law
In Defense of the Suicidal Columbia Law Mother
By DAVID LAT


* * *
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2294129/Cynthia-Wachenheim-Husband-feels-guilty-wifes-suicide-jump-baby-strapped-chest-revealed-blamed-sons-seizures.html

'I'm absolutely overwhelmed with grief': Agony of husband whose lawyer wife jumped to her death with their baby strapped to her chest - but the child survived
By RACHEL QUIGLEY
Daily Mail (UK)
PUBLISHED: 16:46 EST, 15 March 2013 | UPDATED: 17:00 EST, 15 March 2013

* * *
[No Mention of Psychiatric Drugs]

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/national/northeast/2013/03/ny_mom_with_baby_falls_8_stories_dies_baby_ok

NY mom with baby falls 8 stories, dies; baby OK
March 13, 2013
Boston Herald

* * *

[From article]
A police source said Wachenheim was taking antidepressants and that pills were found in the apartment.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/mother-infant-dead-8-story-fall-article-1.1287649

Harlem mother jumps eight stories to her death with her infant son strapped to her chest; baby survives with minor injuries
Sources say Cynthia Wachenheim penned a 13-page, handwritten suicide note before jumping out of an eighth-story window, taking her son, Keston, with her. The baby was saved from the impact when the woman landed on her back on the pavement.
BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA , JOE KEMP AND VERA CHINESE / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
NY Daily News
PUBLISHED: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013, 4:46 PM
UPDATED: THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2013, 1:49 AM
* * *
[From article]
A medley of anti-psychotic drugs was found in her apartment.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/mother_suicide_shock_yKaasIPwNUKm0lbi8eLonO

[This article was not posted for a 30 minute period when I searched the site.] 

Mother suicide shock
Baby survives leap
New York Post
By JAMIE SCHRAM, ERIN CALABRESE and SELIM ALGAR
Last Updated: 3:37 AM, March 14, 2013
Posted: 1:29 AM, March 14, 2013


* * *
[From article]
Police also found depression medication inside the unit.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2292999/Horror-mother-jumps-death-floor-apartment-upscale-Harlem-op-baby-son-arms--child-survives.html

Horror as mother jumps to her death from eight-floor apartment in upscale Harlem co-op with baby son in her arms - but the child survives
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 18:56 EST, 13 March 2013 | UPDATED: 23:19 EST, 13 March 2013
* * *
[No Mention of Psychiatric Drugs]

http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/178607/woman-killed--baby-injured-following-apparent-suicidal-leap-in-harlem

Updated 03/13/2013 07:07 PM
Woman Killed, Baby Injured Following Apparent Suicidal Leap In Harlem
By: NY1 News

Misguided Propaganda About Suicide

This report ignores the fact that psychiatric drugs, a essential element of treatment is a cause of suicidal thoughts. Even the drug-company-controlled FDA requires a warning label on these drugs. But this is conveniently omitted from the report which is focused on more taxpayer funded treatment. Admitting they are unable to distinguish between thoughts and who will act on  those thoughts is exactly the problem with psychiatrists. It is a matter of guesswork, opinion masquerading as science. How do psychiatrists get their ability to predict the future? Nonetheless the geniuses in New York State approved a law to require doctors, all doctors not just the prognosticators, to report troubling comments by owners of guns. Allowing psychiatrists to control human freedom is as dangerous as removing guns from civilians. Hitler and Stalin removed guns and sued psychiatry to control their populations. 

[From article]
More than half of the youth were already in treatment when they reported suicidal behavior. Nock said that was both "encouraging" and "disturbing."

"We know that a lot of the kids who are at risk and thinking about suicide are getting (treatment)," he told Reuters Health. However, "We don't know how to stop them - we don't have any evidence-based treatments for suicidal behavior."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/09/us-suicide-study-idUSBRE90816320130109

One in 25 youth attempt suicide: U.S. study
By Genevra Pittman
NEW YORK
Wed Jan 9, 2013 3:25pm EST

FDA Spied On Scientists at FDA

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2173891/FDA-spied-emails-OWN-scientists-wide-spread-surveillance-operation-dissidents.html

Revealed: FDA spied on emails of its OWN scientists in wide-spread surveillance operation against 'dissidents'
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 11:47 EST, 15 July 2012 | UPDATED: 13:47 EST, 15 July 2012

FDA Approves Blindness Drug

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9R3ECE00&show_article=1

FDA approves Regeneron's eye injection Eylea
Nov 18 06:11 PM US/Eastern
AP
Breitbart

Psychiatric Drugs and Three Homicides

The key fact overlooked in this report is that the suspect was "heavily medicated." Psychiatric drugs are known to cause homicidal and suicidal thoughts. The drug-company-controlled FDA requires a black warning label showing how dangerous the drugs are. Yet journalists and police continue to show how clueless they are of the fraudulent nature of psychiatry. The drugs are often the cause of violence. When will some prosecutor with common sense, a rare commodity among public officials, recognize this fact and indict the psychiatrists who prescribe the chemicals? The industry blames the individuals who are a victims of state sponsored drug abuse. It is convenient that US psychiatrists are believed to have genes cleansed of greed, mendacity and sadism. They are thought to be superior humans and obeyed by police, politicians, journalists and judges. It provides easy answers to crime. The illness made him do it. Not the drugs made him do it. The cure is worse than the illness. Medicalizing social problems was a Nazi project. Jews were vermin needing extermination. A diagnosis does not allow for any appeals. Medical professionals can end a person's freedom with no due process protections.

[From article]
“DJ,” as they called him, was “heavily medicated,” and they would keep all of the knives in the house hidden because he would cut himself, make up stories about stabbing people and listen to music about killing people, Lippett said."

http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2011_1112slay_suspects_kin_we_knew_this_was_coming/

Slay suspect’s kin: We knew this was coming
By Marie Szaniszlo and John Zaremba
Boston Herald
Saturday, November 12, 2011

Bayer Birth Control Drug Not Safe

Birth control product by Bayer is not safe according to the FDA. One segment of Nightline on October 14, 2011 focuses on this drug marketed to millions of women.

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/studies-find-yaz-risky-leading-birth-control-pills/story?id=14741760

New Studies Find Yaz More Risky Than Other Leading Birth Control Pills: ABC News Investigates
By CHRIS CUOMO, LAUREN PEARLE and GLENN RUPPEL
Oct. 14, 2011
Nightline
ABC News

ABC News Report Clueless and Biased

ABC's Nightline report on Wednesday September 7, 2011 was given by David Wright.
[Requires Latest Flash Player]
http://abcnews.go.com/watch/nightline/SH5584743/VD55142018/nightline-97-ihop-massacre-chilling-911-tapes

He said the man accused of the shootings has a history of mental illness and asked, "How did he get access to weapons." Journalists show no skepticism regarding allegations of mental illness. They never question the accuracy of a diagnosis. In courts one psychiatrist says a person is mentally ill, then another says he is not. How can that be if psychiatry is scientific? Psychiatry is no more than personal opinion masquerading as science. Yet journalists do not question these charlatans. Are his family members psychiatrists too? Why did the sheriff accept their diagnosis? Why did journalists repeat it?

Two aspects of this ABC news report indicate the extreme bias of network journalists. One is they are clueless about the causal connection between psychiatric drugs and violence. If he had a history of mental illness did he take any, or stop taking, psychiatric drugs? The drug-company-controlled FDA requires a warning label that they cause violence and suicidal thoughts. This crime fits the pattern. But no mention from network journalists. The second aspect is that there is no causal connection between an accusation of mental illness and violence. Most people accused of mental illness are harmless. The effort by drug companies to criminalize mental illness is assisted by the useful idiots in the mainstream media.

[From article]
Carson City Sheriff Kenny Furlong said "There has been some suggestion by his family members that there is some mental health issues that we are going to have to look into."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/ihop-shooting-nevada-leaves-dead/story?id=14457713

National Guard Members Among Four Dead in Carson City Nevada IHOP Shooting Rampage
By JESSICA HOPPER (@jesshop23) and DEAN SCHABNER
Sept. 6, 2011
ABC News

FDA Threatens Walnut Sellers

[From article]
"But while the claims are backed up by research, including 35 published medical papers supporting assertions that eating walnuts improves vascular health and may reduce risk of heart attacks, the FDA is said to have insisted the company is 'misbranding' its foods because the 'product bears health claims that are not authorised by the FDA'.
[. . .]
'This kind of bureaucratic tyranny sends a strong signal to the food industry not to innovate in a way that informs the public about foods that protect against disease.



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2018807/Walnuts-DRUGS-FDA-makes-bizarre-claim-seller-says-reduce-risk-heart-disease-cancer.html#ixzz1TDh5mjsQ

Walnuts are DRUGS! FDA makes bizarre claim after seller says they 'reduce risk of heart disease and cancer'
By Paul Bentley
Daily Mail (UK)
Last updated at 6:53 AM on 26th July 2011

Psychiatric Drugs Cause Violence

Boston columnists are unable to recognize institutionalized abuses of the psychiatric industry. Psychiatric drugs are known causes of violence and confused thinking. Even the Drug-Company-Controlled FDA requires warnings on the packages. How many more people will die from drug company chemicals in the name of healing?

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1339255

Julianne McCrery: A portrait of wild, angry, doting parent emerges
Eagan">
By Margery Eagan
Boston Herald
Friday, May 20, 2011

FDA Advisory Committee On Electro Shock

Please Forward


US Federal Committee To Have Meeting About Electroshock Devices

Electroshock Survivors Invited to Speak Out


On January 27 and 28, 2011, an US Food & Drug Administration committee
will "discuss and make recommendations regarding the possible
reclassification of devices indicated for use in electroconvulsive
therapy."

More info:

http://www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCommittees/Calendar/ucm234979.htm

Background:

~~~~~

The FDA has appointed an advisory committee to assist it to determine
if ECT devices will be moved from Class III to Class II, or as many
have proposed, to require the manufacturers to submit a "Pre-Market
Application" which they should have been required to do 35 years ago.

If the Committee agrees to downgrade the risk of ECT to Class II, it
will be more readily available, and the manufacturers will never have
been required to prove either that it is safe, nor that it is effective.

ECT survivors may briefly speak to the committee in this public
meeting to provide their story or perspective on the harms caused to
them by ECT. Communication of long term harms is especially
important, as the manufacturuers and ECT advocates all claim that ECT
has no long term ill effects - no long term memory loss - no long term
effect of reducing ability to learn and remember new information.

Persons wishing to speak at this important meeting may contact James
Engles at James.Engles@fda.hhs.gov. There will certainly be
psychistrists and manufacturers representatives and others claiming
ECT is a life saving treatment. The Committee needs to hear from mean
people who know that is not true.

~~~~~

Please forward.

New Testosterone For Men

http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/offbeat/australian-firm-to-sell-worlds-first-armpit-testosterone-lotion-in-us-ncxdc-112610

Australian Firm To Sell World's First Armpit Testosterone Lotion In US
Updated: Friday, 26 Nov 2010, 11:30 AM EST
Published : Friday, 26 Nov 2010, 8:43 AM EST
By Jane Lee
news.com.au

Drug Corporation Fined $750 million

[From article]
"Because the drugs were improperly manufactured, false claims were submitted to government health-care programs for reimbursement, federal prosecutors said.
[. . .]
Eckard, who was sent to the Cidra factory in 2002, urged GSK managers to do something about the manufacturing quality -- and even to close the plant.

She was fired in 2003 for raising the complaints, Getnick said.

Eckard then went to the Food and Drug Administration which put together a case."

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/for_ratting_on_drug_firm_hwkhEdJ7ZaonTM3Z4ZJf1J

$96M for ratting on drug firm
By JOSH KOSMAN and RITA DELFINER
New York Post
With Post Wire Services
Last Updated: 3:33 AM, October 27, 2010
Posted: 3:03 AM, October 27, 2010

Death Panels Make Early Appearance

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7948878/US-breast-cancer-drug-decision-marks-start-of-death-panels.html

US breast cancer drug decision 'marks start of death panels'
Telegraph (UK)
By Nick Allen, in Los Angeles and Andrew Hough
Published: 10:07PM BST 16 Aug 2010