FDA APPROVED VETERINARY DRUG DEATHS

Why we launched PROJECT: Prescription Inserts

by Barbara J. Andrews

Human drugs do have warnings whereas veterinary drugs have no prescription inserts, no warnings of allergy, side effects, and deadly adverse reactions so you can only imagine how much greater the risk is for your dog. 

If we accept the premise that FDA supports drug companies instead of the health and wellbeing of Americans, we must then ask "who is monitoring veterinary drug safety?"  Is your veterinarian is watching fatality statistics or his bottom line?  You are about to learn that the CVM (Center for Veterinary Medicine) is as corrupt as the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) under which it is organized. 

The FDA is the epitome of legalized graft, a federal bureaucracy through which $$$ billions in pork (earmarks) are funneled.  On the other hand, we unknowingly ingested cocaine and gave morphine to infants before the FDA was created.  Now we call them pharmacies and they still dispense deadly drugs but it is all legal. 

Not only is your own health at risk, your dog's life is even more jeopardized because the his death can so easily be covered up.  Your Best Friend may sense that the drug makes him worse but he can't explain it to you.  So let me talk for your dog because I love him too!  That is why we launched the Prescription Insert Project and you are about to learn why prescription inserts for animals has been the hardest nut to crack.

Corrupt politicians have made is easier than ever for corporate lobbyists to buy more influence while skirting ever fewer limitations. According to MinuteMan 2006, (ref #2) government regulators legislators have deliberately obscured the line between bribes and campaign contributions. Big Pharma probably has the most influence because it has the biggest market with the highest profit.  Drug companies can afford lavish perks.

The drug companies can also afford retribution for those who try to protect our pets by doing their job!  Here's but one example and it involves a well known veterinary pharmaceutical giant.

Dr. Victoria Hampshire was a safety officer at the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM)  Dr Hampshire reviewed the safety of ProHeart 6, manufactured by Fort Dodge, a subsidiary of the global drug company Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. She concluded that the heartworm preventative was not safe, noting that it had caused over 500 canine deaths. That should have been the end of ProHeart 6 but no, Big Pharma has other remedies...

Wyeth convinced the Center For Veterinary Medicine to removed Dr. Hampshire.  There was a meeting between  Wyeth and Dr. Lester Crawford, then-Acting FDA Commissioner.  We're told that the CVM actually gave a PowerPoint presentation showing Dr. Hampshire's purported "conflict of interest" as a veterinarian.  It was called a "-- a trumped-up charge based on her selling of about $200 worth of animal drugs on the Internet over the course of three years."  Apparently Dr. Hampshire wasn't given the chance to respond to Wyeth's charges and instead, she was subsequently subjected to an FDA sting operation and criminal investigation which "completely exonerated Dr. Hampshire, but she was still kept away from any further involvement with Wyeth products."

The report says Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote Commissioner Crawford, stating "it appears that there is a systemic problem with the pharmaceutical industry filing complaints against FDA employees and advisory panel members in an attempt to exclude those with dissenting views so that [the regulated companies] can obtain favorable results from [regulators]."

In a major address on the Senate floor, the Iowa senator went on to declare, "Brave whistleblowers have come forward to expose the too cozy relationship between the [FDA] and the drug industry ... The FDA cannot serve the American people and the interests of the drug industry at the same time."

The Senator's words were carved in stone when despite attempts to tamp down the rising death toll, in November 2006,  FDA "requested" a RECALL of ProHeart 6 and it was indeed, removed from the market.  The details, the lawsuit, background reported by this site (ref #3)

Whether they accept bribes or not, the pharmaceutical industry gambles that most drug regulators will look the other way or downplay problems rather than suffer personal persecution.  It works. 

ref #1 Sept 2010 USA Today

ref #2 January 21, 2006 MinutemanMedia.org

ref #3 Proheart 6 Recall & Lawsuit

Louis Clark - www.cjonline.com/stories/012106/opi_clark.shtml is president of the Government Accountability Project in Washington, D.C. GAP focuses on providing protection for federal employees who "blow the whistle" on wrongful actions by their employers. GAP's website is www.whistleblower.org  and email: info@whistleblowers.org

Jean Townsend has been a tremendous resource on veterinary practice and products:  She says "I have been in contact with Dr. Victoria Hampshire of the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine over the past several years - via telephone and e-mail.  I have always found her to be professional, helpful, and a person who just wants to do a good job.  It infuriates me that this could happen to her -  This may explain to my friends and colleagues why I do not trust the Pharmaceutical Companies - and likewise when it comes to Lobbyists and politicians.  In my opinion - greed and politics go hand in hand.

Jean Townsend - Johns Island, SC LuSwinton@aol.com
(Always for George - always for the Rimadyl Dogs)  B.A.R.K.S. - Be Aware of Rimadyl's Known Side-effects

http://www.thedogplace.org/PROJECT/Inserts/FDA-Approved-Death.asp #1012.1203