FDA Not to be Trusted
Everyone in America, is at risk for being diagnosed with a condition that they don't have, and being prescribed medications they do not need. Its, everyday advertisments on TV for clients who may have had a missed diagnosis, and experienced a side effect from a medication they where prescribed, physicians try to follow national standards of care to protect themselves from lawsuit or even losing their licenses. The fear of medical malpractice lawsuits is an issue faced by all who practice medicine. To avoid public criticism by colleagues or the public from their profession and sometimes lose their ability to practice, physicians, and doctors feel forced to follow published standards of care. These treatments often include prescribing medications made to treat
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Often, these side effects are more dangerous than the condition being treated. Yet, this medication are appovered by the FDA. And, this medications are used to treat many Americans without knowing if they are safe for use or not.
Many Americans continue to believe that if a medication has been approved by the FDA it is safe for us to use, but the facts are many times they are not. You only have to look at all the medications that have been pulled from the market after many people lost their lives or had their health decay from these medications to know that nothing could be further from the truth. It helps to find a physician who will tell you to change your lifestyle rather than prescribe a pill that might have harmful side effects.
The FDA has lowered drug approval standards, pharmaceutical companies have ensured that the FDA will be compensated for approving these medicines. The Pharmaceutical campaigning led to the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) of 1992 and it was reauthorized in 1997. This allows the FDA to collect fees from pharmaceutical companies to review new
Moreover, patients often have less knowledge than the prescriber does about the appropriateness of the drug, where it can be very misinforming for the consumer. Lastly, drug efficacy is a problem in all contexts. Since stakeholders are likely, less informed than manufacturers it causes both the consumer and prescriber to depend on the manufacturer for information of the effectiveness of the drug (Bennett, Quick, Velasquez, 2016).
In Couzin-Frankel’s article “The Supplement Sleuth”, she talks about a man named Pieter Cohen who is trying to expose the hazards of supplements. She explains that the FDA is too limited on what they can and cannot do with supplements. They even say that the FDA says “show us the bodies” before the FDA will look at it. Our system is not the most efficient when it comes to drugs of any sorts. We need a better control over what is let into our shopping-marts, and labeling to improve our intake of medications.
Yes, the doctors are such evil, corrupt money suckers for wanting public health to be protected.
The problem that is depicted in the film is the conflict of interest between the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and pharmaceutical companies. It shows that the relationship these two entities have, has posed danger to the U.S public. Before a new drug is allowed to be purchased by consumers, it must go through FDA approval for safety. The film explains that the drugs that are getting approved by the FDA are actually not safe. The FDA is being paid or bribed by pharmaceutical companies to expedite the approval process. The quick process allows pharma companies to get their new drugs out in the market much faster. Every day that passes and a drug is not approved, is a big loss of money for the companies. The other problem is that doctors are prescribing these drugs to patients. Doctors are trusting the FDA system and the pharma companies to provide safe and effective drugs. Doctors are fooled by pharmaceutical “detailers” that are hired
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that is responsible for assuring the safety, efficiency, and quality of drugs and vaccines. In America a drug must first be evaluated by the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), which is a division of the FDA, before it gets approved for sale. This means that the department must make sure that the medicine been evaluated works properly and that its health benefits are greater than its identified risks. A company or a sponsor that is introducing the new drug initially performs a laboratory and animal tests to determine the safety and the effectiveness of the drug in humans. Once this step is successfully completed, several tests are implemented in people to confirm that the drug is safe when used to treat a disease and whether it provides a real health benefit. Finally, results of the tests that prove the safety and the effectiveness of the treatment are sent to the CDER. After a group of experts at CDER reviews the submitted evidence and ensures that the medicine's health benefits surpass its known risks, the drug can then be sold around the US (Development & Approval Process (Drugs), 2014).
The FDA’s origin did not begin as the federal consumer protection agency it is widely recognized for being today. Prior to the FDA transforming into the present-day agency, the FDA’s emergence can be traced back to the agricultural industry during the 1800’s (History, 2015). In fact, it was Congress that enacted the FDCA (Food, Drugs, & Cosmetics Act) of 1938 that created the modern-day FDA (Allen, 2013). Despite the FDA’s passing of the tobacco law, the ongoing issues concerning the under and over regulation of products, and the high number of drug recalls suggests that the
prescription, because all drugs, including those that can heal, can also cause harm. Doctors, nurses and other health professionals have the necessary training and experience to help them decide whether drugs are indicated in particular cases. This is why they make the prescription decision, not patients. Prescription drug advertising pressures health professionals to prescribe particular medications, and often the ones that may be less effective and more expensive and dangerous. This intrudes in the relationship between medical professionals and patients, and disrupts the therapeutic process. It takes up valuable time to explain to patients why they may have been misled by the drug advertisements they have seen. Prescription drug advertising
There are several risks associated with medication use but especially with polypharmacy, such as adverse effects, medicine-medicine and medicine-disease interactions, decreasing adherence to medicine therapy or errors in the actual use of the medicines (Walckiers, Van der Heyden & Tafforeau,
When using any kind of medications, you have to be aware of the side-effects and also the dosage you take. Therefore, always consult with your healthcare provider.
Ultimately, OTC medications are not safe, no matter the misleading label. Their easy accessibility makes it easy for teenagers to get and abuse. What teenagers do not realize is that all OTC medications have life-threatening side-effects. I believe, in a way, you are able to compare OTC drugs to being just as bad as illicit drugs. OTC medications should only be used to prevent a cause, not for addiction purposes.
The FDA was created to oversee the quality of our food and medications to make sure they are effective and will not harm us.
The case study analysis involves a major news station and their findings, “in October 24, 1999, MSNBC reported online that in a survey taken recently it brought to light that 169 physicians had admitted to lying in order to get care for patients”. Right away, we all felt that this was acceptable, common and almost expected. In this case study, these physicians said, “due to the tendency for insurance companies to deny care, they (the physicians) believed it was medically necessary, they had written false information on charts to get the treatments covered for patients who could not afford the care otherwise." We agreed that there was a need in 1999, today the need is even direr.
“Is it FDA approved?” Today, we hear more of this question and would check for the “FDA approved” stamp on the product before purchasing it. This behavior signifies the accountability of the agency, on how it has impacted the choices made by the people. This may not always be the case, however, for there are people who do not find the label necessary or would be applicable to their lifestyle. Nevertheless, this agency has made its mark in history to watch over the products being purchased by the consumers. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is an agency under the Department of Health and Human Services. Its main responsibility is to protect the public health by assuring safety, efficacy and security. FDA assures safety by allowing
The dangers of medications can be such a risk knowing we may not even be taking what is supposedly being prescribed. We believe and want to listen to our doctors that they know best when it comes to ailments or diseases in which we are trying to find a cure for. No one wants to lives the rest of their lives in curiosity wondering if these medications they were prescribed are actually the real thing, but in this day in age how are we ever supposed to know?
However, the long-term safety of biologic agents is an unresolved issue and will be addressed in a satisfactory manner only if there is optimal use of and investment in post marketing surveillance of these drugs, including the development of comprehensive registries of biologic drugs (Gladman et al.,