Who's protecting our kids?

At Joseph Mercola's health blog today, he posted about conflicts of interest in the FDA's drug oversight committees. If you've ever wondered why the ADHD drug Adderall was banned in Canada and not in the US, or why Paxil was banned from use in children in the UK but not in the US, here's your answer:

The study [published in the Journal of the American Medical Association] reviewed detailed financial disclosures by FDA advisory committee members and consultants who voted on new drugs... from 2001-04.

Almost 30 percent of voters acknowledged a financial conflict during the previous year with either a company that made the drug or one of its competitors. Among the conflicts: Consulting, stock holdings or investments and research grants ranging from $10,000-100,000.

Overall, at least one drug committee member or consultant had a conflict in 73 percent of the 221 hearings that took place during the course of the study. Here's the real problem: Only 1 percent of the drug advisory committee members were recused from attending some meetings.

On a related note, vaccine policy-makers often have conflicts of interest. Consider this excerpt from August, 2000 Congressional testimony (pdf) regarding the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunizations Practices:

The CDC routinely grants waivers from conflict of interest rules to every member of its [vaccine] advisory committee.

CDC Advisory Committee members who are not allowed to vote on certain recommendations due to financial conflicts of interest are allowed to participate in committee deliberations and advocate specific positions.

The Chairman of the CDC’s advisory committee until recently owned 600 shares of stock in Merck [worth roughly $50,000], a pharmaceutical company with an active vaccine division.

Members of the CDC’s advisory committee often fill out incomplete financial disclosure statements, and are not required to provide the missing information by CDC ethics officials.

Four out of eight CDC advisory committee members who voted to approve guidelines for the rotavirus vaccine in June 1998 had financial ties to pharmaceutical companies that were developing different versions of the vaccine.

3 out of 5 FDA advisory committee members who voted to approve the rotavirus vaccine in December 1997 had financial ties to pharmaceutical companies that were developing different versions of the vaccine.

The rotavirus vaccine they mention was pulled off the market a year later after it was found to be unsafe, causing intestinal intussusception (often requiring surgery) in 1 in 5,000 babies.

A certain subculture of people, including most academics and most doctors and a lot of leftist folks who tout their own empathy and compassion, have got a stranglehold on medicine. They claim that financial ties do not affect anyone in medicine or public health, although we all acknowledge that such ties affect politicians and other professionals. They claim that alternative health treatments are not scientifically justified, when in fact, as I am always discovering, there are all kinds of trials and studies published in perfectly mainstream peer-reviewed journals which support those treatments. They imply that it's dangerous to attempt to address your health problems on your own, even though some analyses find that improper mainstream medical care is the leading cause of the death in the United States. They'll advise the arthritic to take Vioxx, which has killed between 30,000 and 55,000 Americans in 4 years, according to the FDA itself. Never mind those natural arthritis treatments, like omega-3 fatty acids (great for your heart and brain also), turmeric extract (which helps to prevent certain cancers), and probiotics (which, as a bonus, improve nutrition and elimination of toxins and help to regulate the immune system, reducing allergies and asthma).

My advice (not that anyone asked for it) is to find a Whole Foods or a health store nearby, find out if there's someone knowledgeable there who is up on all the alternative literature. We have a local health guy, known to me only as "Dennis" from the nutraceuticals aisle, who has helped my family several times. And don't take your doctor at their word, but look into every fricking thing on your own before you agree to a course of treatment.