Diclofenac Deaths May Dwarf Vioxx Disaster: Health Agencies Helped It Happen

'The world was shocked by the number of deaths caused Vioxx, but that number may be dwarfed by another NSAID, diclofenac. Vioxx was sold only by prescription. Diclofenac is sold both by prescription and over the counter.

The increased risk of heart attack from taking Vioxx is 45%, and the increased risk from diclofenac is 40%. Though the risk from diclofenac is slightly lower, over the counter sales have driven the number of doses taken enormously. Pulse, a publication for general practitioners in the UK, analyzed in January 2010 that the rise in over the counter sales was double the rate of the decrease in GP prescriptions. Therefore, heart attack deaths from diclofenac probably dwarf the Vioxx tragedy.

And our pharmaceutical regulating agencies have turned a blind eye to it, not even providing us with information to let us make rational decisions for ourselves.'

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Big Pharma Manufactured: A Nation of Drugstore Addicts

'In the United States, abuse of prescription drugs "is now the second most important drug abuse issue after cannabis," it said, with 6.2 million people hooked on them in 2008.'

'"Abuse of such drugs has been spreading over the world in recent years," said Hamid Ghodse, director of the International Center for Drug Policy at St George's University in London and one of the report's authors. "It needs to be tackled urgently."

Ghodse said it was difficult to get comprehensive data on the abuse of pharmaceuticals, which he described as a "hidden problem," but in Germany, for example, an estimated 1.4 to 1.9 million people were addicted to prescription drugs.'

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