Thanks to the hard work of the people associated with Adverse Reactions website, progress is being made, minds are being opened (and changed) and FDA seems to be paying attention.  Now, if we could just get the vets to pay attention!

Laurryn says "While searching for a drug label, I found this on the FDA website.  VERY interesting!
 
**Number one, the Chronology gives some history on deracoxib (deramaxx). 
**Number two, "The Present Situation" is fantastic!  It appears to mention or list everything we have ever thought of. 
**Number three is about Informed Consent.
**Number four has proposed solutions
**Number five has recommendations to the FDA.
 
PRESENT SITUATION:  (emphasis added)"
 
Animals, specifically dogs, have become central parts of our lives to the extent that they are cared about as if children to millions of people, and valued beyond all monetary considerations. Technology and medicine are advancing at rapid rates, resulting in the proliferation of an ever increasing number of drugs available for both humans and animals. Drug companies are motivated by profit margins. Their reason for existence is to sell the greatest amount of drugs possible and maximize their earnings. In human medicine, there is (at least theoretically) a value placed on human life more relatively proportionate to its actual value to others. In veterinary medicine, this is not the case, as animals are still legally *property* and thus considered worth, at maximum, purchase or replacement value, which is an infinitesimal fraction of their actual value to owners. (Note recent work on creating new class of property *sentient property* for this/related reasons). Physicians are consequently held to a higher level of liability
for malpractice. In addition, and IMPORTANTLY, there exists the *intermediary* of the pharmacist involved in dispensing of medication to humans, which position oversees the safety of each prescription for the individual patient.

In veterinary medicine, there is no intermediary position of “pharmacist”. THE VETERINARIAN IS THE PHARMACIST, leaving millions upon millions of animal owners IN the sole hands of their veterinarian, with drug companies and the FDA/federal government purportedly behind them, each and every time medication is dispensed to them. Dispensing drugs for animals is akin to dispensing them for children: in both cases the patient cannot speak for themselves, evaluate the drug, or even report side effects as they occur. Therefore, extra precautions are prerequisite and essential when dispensing medications to either children or animals.

The points above have tragically resulted in a situation today that has genuinely reached crisis proportions:
Tens of thousands of animals are being unnecessarily killed each year by side effects of drugs dispensed to them by veterinarians. They are dying unnecessary deaths which could have been, and CAN BE prevented, leaving legions of grief-stricken owners with no notion of how to cope with the death of their beloved animal friend in which they themselves unknowingly participated.

Read the entire document, Click here: DOCKET NUMBER 2004D-0468 there is a lot of information there and watch for further news!