Oe #10

PUBLIC CITIZEN
It's likely that you or a loved one is taking a medication thatwill be mentioned in our pages over the next 12 months.
And it's definite
that you'll want to
know about it.
new breakthrough or a more effective or affordable treatment).
Now file the issue away. Keep each issue. You'll get an index for the whole • In the past three years alone, over 400 medications were
year so you can quickly find a reference to any drug you are prescribed later on.
mentioned in Worst Pills, Best Pills News. Many of them were
among the most prescribed in their categories.
It is not our intent for you to discontinue using any drug based on our publica- • Over the last five years, there were numerous drugs we
tion without first consulting your physician. But you will get the data you need to warned our readers not to use.months and sometimes
have an informed conversation with your doctor to determine the best course of years before they were finally withdrawn from the market!
Think of It This Way –
• We want to make sure you know about it when one of your
If One of Your Medications is Mentioned in Our Pages,
medications shows up in our pages. So, right now, we're
You DEFINITELY Want to Know About It.
letting you try our newsletter for an entire year RISK-FREE.
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ing a penny. Just remove the RISK-FREE YEAR and HALF-PRICE labels from
the first page of this letter, affix them to the enclosed One Year No-Risk Subscription Form, and mail it with your payment in the envelope provided. Read this next paragraph, and then I'll tell you why it is vitally important You'll get an entire year – 12 issues – for only $10. That's half off the regular price.less than a dollar per issue. And you'll also get this guarantee: On May 9, 2001, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a public health advisory about a drug called terbinafine. There were If you are ever less than 100% satisfied with Worst Pills, Best Pills News, cases in which this drug may have caused liver failure, including whether it's a month from now or 10 months from now, just cancel your subscription for a full refund of the subscription price.
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without discovering the potentially fatal flaw. Third, the FDA still allows it to be Imagine – being treated for a toenail fungus and dying of liver failure! Now – here's why this is important to you. There are hundreds of medica-
tions on the market that are extremely dangerous either by themselves, or when taken in combination with other drugs. There are many others that have not been tested long enough or thoroughly enough. And there are hundreds more that are Editor, Worst Pills, Best Pills News simply a waste of money because they have little or no effect.
P.S. If you're a senior citizen, be sure to use the SENIOR BONUS label to get That is why Public Citizen's Health Research Group, which I founded with Ralph Nader over 30 years ago, publishes a newsletter called Worst Pills, Best PillsNews.to help you do what the FDA doesn't always do – protect yourself from My name is Dr. Sidney M. Wolfe. I'm a physician. I'm an author. I've testified before Congress on the very issue I'm speaking to you about now. And I'm outraged about thousands of people who are needlessly harmed each What Our Readers Know. And What You SHOULD Know.
year by the very medications that are supposed to be helping them. You should be In past issues of Worst Pills, Best Pills News, our readers discovered.
More Importantly, You Should Make Sure
• That so called "super-aspirins" like CELEBREX and VIOXX are much You Don't Become a Victim.
more expensive, no more effective, no safer on the GI tract and possibly less safe on the heart than ibuprofen.
That's why I'm offering you the chance to get a full year of Worst Pills, Best Pills News at half price and with no risk whatsoever. I'll come back to that in a • That despite its FDA approval, the antipsychotic drug GEODON is moment. First, though, a frankly alarming piece of information.
more dangerous and less effective than previously-available medica- There Are Drugs on the Market Right Now –
Drugs That YOU May Be Taking – That You Should Simply Not Use.
• That among ACE inhibitors (used to treat high blood pressure), generic In Worst Pills, Best Pills News, we don't pull punches, and we don't hedge our bets. We tell you exactly what drugs you should stay clear of and why. In fact, we • The 90 oral prescription drugs with "Black Box Warnings" for special problems, especially those that can lead to death or serious injury.and often come right out and say, flatly, "DO NOT USE" certain medications. As I mentioned earlier, our DO NOT USE warnings often come many months, and some- you have no way of knowing about them unless you specifically ask times years before drugs are withdrawn from the market. For instance: your pharmacist (or unless you read Worst Pills, Best Pills News).
It Can Happen In So Many Ways.
• LOTRONEX (alosetron). We warned readers in August 2000. It was Of course, doctors are supposed to know about dangerous drug interactions.
• PROPULSID (cisapride). We warned readers in August, 1998. It was And they usually do. But there are just so many interactions. And what if you get one medication from Doctor A and another from Doctor B? That's what happened often with an allergy drug called Seldane, which caused life-threatening abnormal • REZULIN (troglitazone). We warned readers in January, 1998. It was heart rhythm when taken in combination with erythromycin. (Seldane is now off • BAYCOL (cerivastatin). We warned readers in March 1998. It was We've also seen cases where one doctor was prescribing a medication withdrawn in August of 2001 – over 3 years later! to treat symptoms that were being caused by another medication prescribed by Think of how many people were affected by taking these drugs after our warn- Same thing with pharmacies. One pharmacy may catch a dangerous interac- tion, but if you use more than one pharmacy, it could be a problem.especially since there are so many dangerous drug combinations, like insulin and Inderal; Prozac and It’s still going on. Consider something that’s been in the news recently— Desyrel; Tagamet and Dilantin; Demerol and Nardil; and Calan Sr. and Quinidine or Ephedra. In February 2000—over three years ago—we warned readers about thedangers of Ephedra. In September, 2001, we petitioned the FDA to ban it. And peo- ple (like Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler) are still dying from its use.
And then there are the medications that are just plain dangerous. And if And in February, 2001 – over two years ago – we reported what has since you're thinking, "Well, that's what the FDA is for – to make sure drugs are safe," just become accepted fact: the value of postmenopausal hormone replacement remember the drugs I mentioned earlier that were withdrawn from the market after therapy is not only greatly exaggerated, but it can actually increase the risk of a they had been used by patients.and after they had caused irreparable harm and In recent issues, we issued DO NOT USE warnings for MERIDIA, AVANDIA, Bottom Line – Look Out For Yourself.
LOZOL, MACROBID, and SPECTROCEF. We issued important warnings about Worst Pills, Best Pills News Makes It Easy.
RELENZA, DIABINESE, BEXTRA, VIOXX, CELEBREX, and ST. JOHN’S WORT. We reported on the dangerous effects of ZYBAN, and PLAVIX.
Here's how it works. Each issue of Worst Pills, Best Pills News has an index right on the front page. Scan it to see if any medication you take is on it. Then look How long will it be before these drugs are withdrawn? How many people will through the issue and see if any condition you have is discussed (you may discover a they injure before they are? And will you or a loved one be one of them? (more important drug information on next page) America has a drug problem, but it's not the one you think.
We are one of the biggest drug-consuming countries in the world -- of prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, legal drugs.
The druggies in our culture are not necessarily the 17-year-olds you imagine. They're our parents, our grandparents, us! That's the shocking truth I learned from Dr. Sidney Wolfe, Director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group and Editor of WORST PILLS, BESTPILLS NEWS.
Every time Dr. Wolfe appeared on my TV show, the audience response was phenomenal. Viewers wanted to know how to protect their loved ones -- and themselves -- from the dangers of adverse drugreactions.
That's why Dr. Wolfe started this newsletter, filled with the latest life- saving information drawn from hundreds of published medical referencesand sources.
In WORST PILLS, BEST PILLS NEWS, you'll learn which popular drugs not to use, adverse effects of new drugs, and the combinations of medi-cines you should never, never take! You don't know when you or a loved one will be affected by this Believe me, this is a non-profit group with nothing to gain but your well-being. Why not try a risk-free subscription now. You'll thank me for it.
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