Seroxat Litigation ** Exclusive - legal aid withdrawn
blogs created to prevent or detect a crime http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1997/ukpga_19970040_en_1
Saturday, 28 January 2012
about Gary Null, host to Evil Lin Pringle - poisoned by his own quack vitamin potions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Null
Null owns Gary Null & Associates, a company which markets dietary supplements, as well as a health-food store in New York City.[15] In 2010, Null claimed that he was sickened and nearly killed by his own dietary supplements.[1][3][2] He filed suit against a contractor involved in producing the supplement, "Gary Null's Ultimate Power Meal", claiming that the supplement contained 1,000 times the labeled dose of Vitamin D and that it had led to the hospitalizations of 6 consumers poisoned by excessive doses of the vitamin.[1] Null reportedly suffered severe pain and kidney damage from "Gary Null's Ultimate Power Meal", but continued consuming the supplement in the belief that it would relieve his symptoms.[1]
The New York Post noted that Null's near-death experience with his own supplement brand was "not exactly a ringing endorsement."[1] The Los Angeles Times wrote that Null's experience "should give pause to anyone lured by the extravagant claims of many supplements makers", and noted that it was common for dietary supplements to contain doses "wildly different than those indicated on their label" as a result of weak regulation.[3] Null's attorney cast the alleged vitamin poisoning as an isolated incident, saying: "We don't want anything to affect the physical well-being of anyone or the reputation of the company."[2]
Null owns Gary Null & Associates, a company which markets dietary supplements, as well as a health-food store in New York City.[15] In 2010, Null claimed that he was sickened and nearly killed by his own dietary supplements.[1][3][2] He filed suit against a contractor involved in producing the supplement, "Gary Null's Ultimate Power Meal", claiming that the supplement contained 1,000 times the labeled dose of Vitamin D and that it had led to the hospitalizations of 6 consumers poisoned by excessive doses of the vitamin.[1] Null reportedly suffered severe pain and kidney damage from "Gary Null's Ultimate Power Meal", but continued consuming the supplement in the belief that it would relieve his symptoms.[1]
The New York Post noted that Null's near-death experience with his own supplement brand was "not exactly a ringing endorsement."[1] The Los Angeles Times wrote that Null's experience "should give pause to anyone lured by the extravagant claims of many supplements makers", and noted that it was common for dietary supplements to contain doses "wildly different than those indicated on their label" as a result of weak regulation.[3] Null's attorney cast the alleged vitamin poisoning as an isolated incident, saying: "We don't want anything to affect the physical well-being of anyone or the reputation of the company."[2]
Fiddaman girl Evelyn Pringle guest on Gary Null show podcast - listen from 49 min in
http://thegarynullshow.podbean.com/2012/01/20/the-gary-null-show-01-20-12/
Guest Evelyn Pringle is an award-winning investigative journalist focused on exposing corruption in government and in American corporations. Over the past 8 years, she has written numerous exposes on the psycho-pharmaceutical complex with a focus on the government and drug-maker cartel that has a mission to over-medicate children. In 2009 she aided Senator Grassley's office in compiling data on TeenScreen and the pharmaceutical front organizations pushing for the drugging of US children
Friday, 27 January 2012
Thursday, 26 January 2012
CCHR’s Anniversary and Human Rights Awards Celebration 2011 - with FIDDAMAN & Jan Eastgate video clip
source - http://www.cchrint.org/dinner-2011-highlights/
The Flowplayer Free version is released under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3 (GPL).
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Dr Paul Duckett - idiot claims SEROXAT remains one of the world’s best selling prescription drugs -
Seroxat: A story about Politicians, Pharmacological Corporations, Academics and other corrupt b*****ds
Speaker: Dr Paul Duckett
http://www2.hud.ac.uk/hhs/capr/seminars/
Manchester Metropolitan University
Date: 20 October 2011 (Thursday - note change of day for this seminar only)
Venue to be confirmed
This seminar is being hosted jointly by the Centre for Applied Psychological Research and the Centre for Health and Social Care Research
This seminar will describe the work of the Seroxat and SSRI User Group in the UK. GlaxoSmithKline, a multinational pharmaceutical corporation, manufactures and markets the drug Paroxetine - a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) used in the treatment of, inter alia, ‘depression’ and ‘anxiety disorders’. The drug is marketed under the brand names ‘Seroxat’ in the UK and ‘Paxil’ in Australia and the USA. The Seroxat and SSRI User Group believe there is now considerable evidence to suggest that Paroxetine is clinically ineffective and potentially toxic for adults as well as children, yet Paroxetine remains one of the world’s best selling prescription drugs. I will describe how the UK political system, the medical profession, and the university sector have colluded with the pharmaceutical industry to promote GSK shareholder profits at the expense of public health
Speaker: Dr Paul Duckett
http://www2.hud.ac.uk/hhs/capr/seminars/
Manchester Metropolitan University
Date: 20 October 2011 (Thursday - note change of day for this seminar only)
Venue to be confirmed
This seminar is being hosted jointly by the Centre for Applied Psychological Research and the Centre for Health and Social Care Research
This seminar will describe the work of the Seroxat and SSRI User Group in the UK. GlaxoSmithKline, a multinational pharmaceutical corporation, manufactures and markets the drug Paroxetine - a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) used in the treatment of, inter alia, ‘depression’ and ‘anxiety disorders’. The drug is marketed under the brand names ‘Seroxat’ in the UK and ‘Paxil’ in Australia and the USA. The Seroxat and SSRI User Group believe there is now considerable evidence to suggest that Paroxetine is clinically ineffective and potentially toxic for adults as well as children, yet Paroxetine remains one of the world’s best selling prescription drugs. I will describe how the UK political system, the medical profession, and the university sector have colluded with the pharmaceutical industry to promote GSK shareholder profits at the expense of public health
Paul Duckett fails to mention the obvious scientology links to Fiddaman & seroxat USER group litigation - why, whats he got to hide?
This is a message in reply to Paul Cotterill's call for help with spending a Trust fund. I was going to send my message straight to Paul, but then I thought others on this list might need/want to hear about SUG.
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A3=ind0711&L=COMMUNITYPSYCHUK&E=quoted-printable&P=639053&B=------%3D_NextPart_000_0016_01C81F9A.23BCCEA0&T=text%2Fhtml;%20charset=iso-8859-1&pending=
Paul, well done for speaking up at the board of trustees meeting. Remarkable how radical sympathisers are out there in the most unexpected places. Your posting made me think of SUG.
Seroxat User Group (SUG) (http://www.seroxatusergroup.org.uk/) are a small, largely underfunded (surviving on just a couple of hundred pounds a year from private donations) organisation that supports people who have experienced ill effects from taking Seroxat (an SSRI anti-depressant) and seeks to ensure people are provided with adequate information on all the possible effects of taking the drug before they receive their perscription. As well as offering support to Seroxat users/survivors, the group is simultaneously seeking to take legal action against the drug manufacturer (GlaxoSmithKline). The legal action concerns GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)'s witholding of clinical data that showed the company knew about Seroxat's toxic effects (including increased incidence of violent thoughts and behaviour towards self and others) and lack of clinical efficacy (performs no better than placebo in treating 'psychiatric conditions'). Moreoever, SUG are working to hold the government to account for not adequately protecting the public against GSK.
Some of you who are based in the UK may remember a couple of BBC Panorama programmes on GSK and Serxoat. For those who haven't seen the programmes, you can view a 6min YouTube synopsis at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA7NrWdlMSE or access the whole documentary from a link on the SUG website [http://www.seroxatusergroup.org.uk/].
Thus, SUG are trying to take legal action against GSK both through taking out private citizen class action suits (which is difficult following the changes to Legal Aid in the UK that mean pro bono legal support is now much harder to obtain for those wanting to litigate against multi-national corporations) and through the government's Medicine and Health Care Products Regulatory Agency [MHRA] (which is difficult because MHRA have ties with the Department of Trade and Industry (now known as the Dept. for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) whose remit is to ensure the UK is a good place for companies like GSK to do business. Indeed, the MHRA legal investigation into GSK (MHRA were in effect forced into conducting a legal investigation following successful legal action in the USofA taken against GSK over the withholding of clinical data on Seroxat [aka Paxil] ) has now been running for over four years. MHRA have told SUG that they will not publically disclose the nature of the investigation nor publically disclose when (if!) the investigation might reach a conclusion.
Considering the massively powerful corporation they are confronting (GSK), it is remarkable how SUG have survived for as long as they have. Indeed, perhaps it is because SUG are taking on such a powerful, highly litigious multi-national pharmaceutical corporation that it is virtually impossible for them to get funding or government support.
Paul, I wonder if the funding you mention could be used to help such hard to fund organisations that are seeking social justice through holding corporations and government to account for state-corporate created and supported crime and social harm (ie., such groups are hard to fund because they are confronting head-on very powerful organisations whose tentacles of patronage and influence run long and deep into our economic, political and judicial systems). I am not pleading a special case for the Seroxat User Group (actually, that's a lie, I actually am because because I really believe in this group and desparately want to find support for them) but I thought it might be useful for you when you are writing up your paper - i.e., gives a concrete example of a group that is radical by virtue of being beligerent in pursuing it's agenda for social justice in the face of being crushed by an extremely powerful multinational corporation (e.g., GSK's pre-tax profits for the second quarter of 2007 was 1.89 billion pounds). Moreover, it is a group that has been left largely unprotected by governmental institutions (that are supposed to provide its citizens with statutory protection against harm) perhaps because of the degree to which this group's call for social justice threatens the economic and political status quo (challenging government institutions that pursue an agenda concerned with expanding UK economic growth and interests at the expense of local and global social justice). In this regard, though those who organise SUG do not identify themselves as radicals, SUG's activities and aims are among the most radical and socially progressive I have come across in my short life as a critical and community psychologist.
p
Paul Duckett
Division of Psychology and Social Change
Manchester Metropolitan University
England
Phone +44 161 247 2552
Fax +44 161 247 6364
email: [log in to unmask]
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A3=ind0711&L=COMMUNITYPSYCHUK&E=quoted-printable&P=639053&B=------%3D_NextPart_000_0016_01C81F9A.23BCCEA0&T=text%2Fhtml;%20charset=iso-8859-1&pending=
Paul, well done for speaking up at the board of trustees meeting. Remarkable how radical sympathisers are out there in the most unexpected places. Your posting made me think of SUG.
Seroxat User Group (SUG) (http://www.seroxatusergroup.org.uk/) are a small, largely underfunded (surviving on just a couple of hundred pounds a year from private donations) organisation that supports people who have experienced ill effects from taking Seroxat (an SSRI anti-depressant) and seeks to ensure people are provided with adequate information on all the possible effects of taking the drug before they receive their perscription. As well as offering support to Seroxat users/survivors, the group is simultaneously seeking to take legal action against the drug manufacturer (GlaxoSmithKline). The legal action concerns GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)'s witholding of clinical data that showed the company knew about Seroxat's toxic effects (including increased incidence of violent thoughts and behaviour towards self and others) and lack of clinical efficacy (performs no better than placebo in treating 'psychiatric conditions'). Moreoever, SUG are working to hold the government to account for not adequately protecting the public against GSK.
Some of you who are based in the UK may remember a couple of BBC Panorama programmes on GSK and Serxoat. For those who haven't seen the programmes, you can view a 6min YouTube synopsis at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA7NrWdlMSE or access the whole documentary from a link on the SUG website [http://www.seroxatusergroup.org.uk/].
Thus, SUG are trying to take legal action against GSK both through taking out private citizen class action suits (which is difficult following the changes to Legal Aid in the UK that mean pro bono legal support is now much harder to obtain for those wanting to litigate against multi-national corporations) and through the government's Medicine and Health Care Products Regulatory Agency [MHRA] (which is difficult because MHRA have ties with the Department of Trade and Industry (now known as the Dept. for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) whose remit is to ensure the UK is a good place for companies like GSK to do business. Indeed, the MHRA legal investigation into GSK (MHRA were in effect forced into conducting a legal investigation following successful legal action in the USofA taken against GSK over the withholding of clinical data on Seroxat [aka Paxil] ) has now been running for over four years. MHRA have told SUG that they will not publically disclose the nature of the investigation nor publically disclose when (if!) the investigation might reach a conclusion.
Considering the massively powerful corporation they are confronting (GSK), it is remarkable how SUG have survived for as long as they have. Indeed, perhaps it is because SUG are taking on such a powerful, highly litigious multi-national pharmaceutical corporation that it is virtually impossible for them to get funding or government support.
Paul, I wonder if the funding you mention could be used to help such hard to fund organisations that are seeking social justice through holding corporations and government to account for state-corporate created and supported crime and social harm (ie., such groups are hard to fund because they are confronting head-on very powerful organisations whose tentacles of patronage and influence run long and deep into our economic, political and judicial systems). I am not pleading a special case for the Seroxat User Group (actually, that's a lie, I actually am because because I really believe in this group and desparately want to find support for them) but I thought it might be useful for you when you are writing up your paper - i.e., gives a concrete example of a group that is radical by virtue of being beligerent in pursuing it's agenda for social justice in the face of being crushed by an extremely powerful multinational corporation (e.g., GSK's pre-tax profits for the second quarter of 2007 was 1.89 billion pounds). Moreover, it is a group that has been left largely unprotected by governmental institutions (that are supposed to provide its citizens with statutory protection against harm) perhaps because of the degree to which this group's call for social justice threatens the economic and political status quo (challenging government institutions that pursue an agenda concerned with expanding UK economic growth and interests at the expense of local and global social justice). In this regard, though those who organise SUG do not identify themselves as radicals, SUG's activities and aims are among the most radical and socially progressive I have come across in my short life as a critical and community psychologist.
p
Paul Duckett
Division of Psychology and Social Change
Manchester Metropolitan University
England
Phone +44 161 247 2552
Fax +44 161 247 6364
email: [log in to unmask]
Seroxat made man rob a bank ....ha ha ha Paxil USERS won't take responsibility for their life choices - FIDDAMAN
The lawyer for a man accused of a 2010 bank robbery plans to raise the defense at trial that Feliz Vega Jr.’s medication inhibited his ability to distinguish right from wrong.
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/crime-courts/2012-01-23/bank-robber-suspect-blames-medication?v=1327316926
In a status conference Monday that replaced the scheduled trial, Peter Johnson said he would be calling expert witnesses to prove Vega was mentally incompetent at the time of the robbery.
“What was working on him was negating any ability to form criminal intent,” said Johnson, referring to Vega’s anti-depressant drug Paxil.
But Assistant District Attorney Hank Syms waved away any claims of “involuntary intoxication,” telling Superior Court Sheryl Jolly he would object to any witness testimony that did not directly reflect on Vega’s state of mind when he entered the Bank of America at 1740 Gordon Highway on July 30, 2010.
He warned that he would be recommending the maximum sentence of four consecutive life sentences plus five years if Vega was convicted at trial in early February. Vega is charged with four counts of armed robbery and fleeing and attempting to elude.
Syms said that about a third of clients that make guilty pleas in court say they are on some form of medication. But Syms said this is the first time he’s heard this medication defense because most attorneys know better than to try it.
“What we have with this charade about ‘Paxil made him do it’ is the opposite of taking responsibility,” Syms said.
Syms said that Vega entered through the rear door of the bank about 5 p.m. wearing a ball cap, ski mask and batting gloves. He pointed a paintball gun at four tellers and told them to place cash in a multi-colored happy birthday bag, Syms said.
Vega escaped with almost $12,000 in cash, but one of the tellers had placed a satellite tracking device in the bag that led deputies to his location near Central Avenue. Vega led deputies on a high-speed chase for several blocks before crashing into a fence and a parked car on Starnes Street, Syms said.
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/crime-courts/2012-01-23/bank-robber-suspect-blames-medication?v=1327316926
In a status conference Monday that replaced the scheduled trial, Peter Johnson said he would be calling expert witnesses to prove Vega was mentally incompetent at the time of the robbery.
“What was working on him was negating any ability to form criminal intent,” said Johnson, referring to Vega’s anti-depressant drug Paxil.
But Assistant District Attorney Hank Syms waved away any claims of “involuntary intoxication,” telling Superior Court Sheryl Jolly he would object to any witness testimony that did not directly reflect on Vega’s state of mind when he entered the Bank of America at 1740 Gordon Highway on July 30, 2010.
He warned that he would be recommending the maximum sentence of four consecutive life sentences plus five years if Vega was convicted at trial in early February. Vega is charged with four counts of armed robbery and fleeing and attempting to elude.
Syms said that about a third of clients that make guilty pleas in court say they are on some form of medication. But Syms said this is the first time he’s heard this medication defense because most attorneys know better than to try it.
“What we have with this charade about ‘Paxil made him do it’ is the opposite of taking responsibility,” Syms said.
Syms said that Vega entered through the rear door of the bank about 5 p.m. wearing a ball cap, ski mask and batting gloves. He pointed a paintball gun at four tellers and told them to place cash in a multi-colored happy birthday bag, Syms said.
Vega escaped with almost $12,000 in cash, but one of the tellers had placed a satellite tracking device in the bag that led deputies to his location near Central Avenue. Vega led deputies on a high-speed chase for several blocks before crashing into a fence and a parked car on Starnes Street, Syms said.
Monday, 23 January 2012
NUMB DVD - Paxil [Seroxat] Documentary - director psychological dependence on the popular antidepressant Paxil - FIDDAMAN
http://www.numbdocumentary.com/numb/About_The_Film.html
Numb is a frightening journey into my own very personal attempt to break free from my physical and psychological dependence on the popular antidepressant Paxil.
When I realized that I was approaching my 10th anniversary of taking the drug, I knew it was time for me to reassess what it meant to be me. I was struggling to accept the way my emotions had become so blunted over the years. I wasn’t sure if it was me, or if it was me on the drug – but I needed to find out.
In the beginning my plan was simple – stop taking it and see what happens. Turned out that was a really bad idea! After a quick search on the Internet, I realized it wasn’t going to be that easy – and that, in some cases, withdrawal from these drugs can be very difficult and even dangerous. My first reaction was anger – I felt betrayed - no one told me ten years ago that I would have a problem stopping the drug or that there were risks involved. I felt trapped.
I went into pre-production right away, calling experts and doctors, setting up interviews and scheduling travel. Within a month, I was standing in my bathroom, cutting my first pill in half. I had no idea where I was headed but I knew I needed to go there.
I always knew that someday I would make a feature film – I just had no idea that I would end up being the subject! I’ll have to admit, in the beginning, making Numb was extremely exciting. I was embarking on a journey that I had no idea how it would turn out. You can see how enthusiastic I am as I start cutting my dose. But as the days go by, you can really see the impact of the withdrawal - and how fast my mental and physical state deteriorates. As I was filming, I kept thinking that there was no way that I was going to let other people see me in this condition – but luckily, I kept the cameras rolling.
Post-production was a long, difficult process. I wasn’t too excited about reliving the experience again and again in the edit suite – but I also knew that I couldn’t keep what I learned and experienced to myself. This was a story I had to tell – as personal and painful as it is – I had no other choice.
In the end, Numb took a great toll on me – it challenged my relationships, depleted my savings and threatened me physically and mentally – but I couldn’t be more proud of the work. As tough as the subject matter it is – and as difficult as it is to talk about – that’s exactly what we all need to do.
http://www.numbdocumentary.com/numb/About_The_Film.html
Sunday, 22 January 2012
2.4mR training for China Paralympics - giving the illusion of yachting to insanely jealous FIDDAMAN
2.4mR training for China Paralympics
more yacht racing of a type that makes Bob Fiddaman insanely jealous
Royal Victoria Yacht Club - Canada
Saturday, 21 January 2012
more about Kabbani's PSSG & Scientology link to Seroxat litigation here - via SSRI Crusaders
WONDER DRUG? http://health.dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/SSRI-Crusaders/message/7971
IRISH TATLER, ISSUE DATED DECEMBER 2002
distributed by Ramo Kabbani
Some alarming stories about side effects from wonder drug Prozac and related
anti-depressant drugs are now emerging
REPORT BY TOM FARRELL
Drug dependency nearly ended Ramo Kabbani's life. But the drug she battled
was handed out by a qualified GP, is being taken by 40 million other people
and is still lauded as a 'wonder drug.'
On 16 February, she will celebrate her fifth 'clean' year and a full decade
has passed since her descent into an anti-depressant-poisoned hell. Not
that she has yet fully escaped.
"It's taken me a long time to put back on the weight that I lost, my weight
plummeted to five stone," she says.
PROZAC NATION
"I also still have the seizures. I'd say it averages out at about nine in a
day although I have the odd day where I've not had any."
Ramo is chair of the UK Prozac Survivors Support Group (PSSG), founded in
March 198 to advise and help people prescribed antidepressants in the
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) class. This is the class that
has seen some atrocious side effects.
For the majority of people taking Prozac and similar medications, the impact
of these drugs on their lives has been positive. But Ramo's experience
serves as a grim medical parable. Where the use of medicine hinges upon
theories of 'chemical imbalances', and where drug companies are not fully
open about their possible side effects, a minority of patients are at great
risk.
"I'm no longer battling with anxiety-depression, that's the ironic thing,"
she says. "I've developed seizures through being prescribed these drugs.
I've no longer got the problem for which these drugs were prescribed but I'm
still battling with the problems that the drugs caused."
In August 1991, Ramo's fiancé died suddenly, one month before their wedding.
"I was never offered any bereavement counselling or any alternativeŠI was
just put on tablets and it was downhill from there."
Some months later, while working at Manchester's Fountain Street Employment
Service, she broke down. A visit to the GP led to the instant prescription
of fluoxetine (Prozac). Initially, she was transfused by an unnatural
'high', a manic sense of exaltation. Six weeks later, Ramo crashed,
becoming actively suicidal and haunted by insomnia, anxiety and dread.
Over the next few years each worsening side effect was met with one
response: another prescribed drug. She made several suicide attempts.
"There was one particular one which to be honest, I can't believe how close
I'd come," she says. "Looking back, I can see that I was in a trance-like
state. What actually brought me back to reality was I had Spot my dog who
was a little puppy at the time and he literally jumped up at me as I stood
in front of the bathroom mirror with a knife against my throat, ready to
slit my throat. My first thought was not 'Oh my God! What am I doing?' It
was 'Oh my God! I can't do this in front of Spot."
Ramo recalls the various cocktails of alcohol and pills she would take in
overdose: Sometimes, I'd be unconscious for about a week. The only way I'd
know I'd been out of it was that I'd go into the newsagent, look at a
newspaper date and I'd go 'Oh my GodŠ'
"I'd even started looking into my own funeral arrangements. And this is
somebody who used to live life to the full. I'd never felt down. I thought
'depression' was a case of the Monday morning bluesŠ"
A CHEMICAL IMBALANCE?
It was an angry encounter at the Royal Oldham Hospital in Manchester, with a
psychiatrist who was referred to as a neurologist (Ramo had previously
suffered 23 seizures in a day) that compelled her to research her own drug
therapy. Reading up on Prozac and other case studies set her towards
setting up the PSSG and weaning herself off drugs.
For millions of people, Prozac and its sister anti-depressants are very
helpful, releasing them from much psychic pain. But they are now being
handed out across GPs' desks, for everything from post-natal depression to
menopausal problems. Moreover, they are being marketed with a not fully
proven theory of 'chemical imbalance' that is based on the theory that
topping up the brain's supply of a chemical called serotonin will alleviate
depression.
Just as happened with the earlier so-called 'minor tranquillisers' of the
1960s, the benzodiazepines, including Atavan, Xanax and Miltown, a backlash
may now be imminent. In its own way, this could prove as unhelpful as the
current vaunting of SSRIs as 'miracle drugs', causing them to acquire an
unnecessarily sinister ring.
"It's going to be a replay of the benzodiazepine story." This is the
prediction of UCD -educated psychiatrist Dr David Healy, now based at the
University of Wales, Bangor. "Part of the problem with this will have been
caused by the pharmaceutical industry. The way they handle these things,
trying to deny there are problems means that when people get disenchanted,
they really do get very disenchanted and it's very hard for someone like me
who thinks that SSRIs can be useful to actually prescribe them. So they
move from a situation where they're being overused, to one where they're
being underusedŠ"
BLOWING IN THE WIND
Certainly, the drug companies, previously hailed as the saviours of millions
of depressed people, are now feeling an increasingly chill wind blowing.
The high point so far came in June 2001, when the Glaxo Smith Kline company
had to give $6.4 million to the family of a man who had shot to death his
daughter and grandchildren before turning the gun on himself, while put on
Seroxat (paroxetine) for sleeping problems.
Cases like this, involving aggression or suicide are extremely rare.
However, Seroxat, whose sales match those of Prozac, now looks as though it
could emerge as potentially highly addictive for some people. Last year,
America's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered Glaxo Smith Kline to
warn GPs that for some people, Seroxat packaged as 'Paxil' in the US) could
be as addictive as Valium.
Mark Harvey, a solicitor with the Cardiff firm Hugh James Ford Simey, has
something to say on the subject: "My feeling is GSK knew, and they
certainly know damn well now, their drug had the capacity to cause a lot of
harm to a small number of people. In particular in relation to coming off
it and they're not being honest to either prescribing doctors or patients."
Hugh James Ford Simey has already been contacted by over 120 people,
complaining of problems with Seroxat. They're coming in, says Mark Harvey,
at a rate of nearly three a week. In order to facilitate these people, the
firm is setting up a 'User Group' to form the focus for future litigation
against the drug companies. Many of these people have experienced 'cold
turkey-like symptoms while coming off the drug.
"I've seen an advert in the States. It actually says "Talk to your doctor
about non-habit forming Paxil," says Harvey. "That's outrageous, that's
clearly designed to catch patients and it deals with what they want to know,
which is if it's non-addictiveŠ"
Far from being a zealot against the use of drugs to treat psychological
distress, Dr Healy researched serotonin effects at Addenbrooke's Hospital in
Cambridge, after leaving Ireland.
But as the author of The Antidepressant Era (Harvard Press), he is candid
about the pitfalls of SSRIs, such as Prozac, Seroxat, Lustral and Cipramil.
"The estimates are that one in 20 of us gets so agitated on a SSRI that we
have to stop treatment," he says. "One in 100 of us going on a SSRI will
make a suicide attempt. One in 1,000 might commit suicide. There are other
hazards: probably 30-50% of us going on a SSRI will have problems trying to
withdraw. The withdrawal symptoms will be severe; for some people they may
continue for a year."
MOTHER'S LITTLE HELPER
"It's hard to know how many. It may be only five percent who really have a
severe problem. But if 40 million have gone on Prozac and 100 million have
gone on a SSRI, five percent is five million people so it is a major
problemŠ"
The relentless marketing has apparently repackaged not just the medicines,
but the condition they are used to treat. Depressed people lose serotonin
through 're-uptake' between the brain cells: take an SSRI and you get more
serotonin. But the biology of the brain is barely understood: serotonin
might not be the key to mood and the drugs may not even work by stimulating
it.
Anti-depressants were invented in the mid 1950s and the majority of people
who these days get Prozac or Seroxat would have once been given minor
tranquillisers. Thus when SSRIs were launched, the companies' emphasis was
on 'depression' as a chemical deficiency to avoid association with the minor
tranquillisers, by then known to be addictive.
BEYOND PROZAC
Limerick-based psychiatrist Dr Terry Lynch, author of the book Beyond
Prozac, is highly critical of the way a theory about depression has become
accepted wisdom. This he believes, reflects the doctors' relationship with
the drug companies.
"Certainly, I think psychiatrists and GPs to a certain degree need to feel
that they're the ones driving the whole thing. They're the ones with the
knowledge and the patient's job is to follow the doctor's advice," he says.
"I also think that the pharmaceutical companies are involved here because
over the past 50-60 years, medicine in general but maybe particularly
psychiatry has become very closely aligned to the pharmaceutical industry.
"Psychiatry has allowed itself to become very dependent on the industry for
funding of its meetings, of its research, of its ongoing education. I'm
guessing, but my sense is that the majority of psychiatric post-graduate
meetings are funded by drug companies and I think that that's unhealthy."
Among those people who have approached Hugh James Ford Simey regarding legal
action is Glenys (not her real name), a grandmother with no previous history
of depression. When she suffered her first panic attack, she was showing
symptoms that may well have been hormonal and associated with the menopause.
She did not meet the traditional diagnostic criteria for depression when
given Seroxat.
Previously, she had been given HRT, then Valium and Prozac; the Valium had
caused withdrawal problems, something that is a recognized risk. But Glenys
was not warned about problems coming off Seroxat. It seems she belongs in
the five percent Dr Healy warned would have severe withdrawal. Now off
Seroxat for 18 months, she has been told she may have to wait up to five
years for the physical and mental effects to clear.
"I have never had headaches really, until I started the menopause," she
says. "All I can say it's like it's crushing my head like an eggshell.
After the head, the face will burn, my body will shake and I'll get pins and
needles in my arms. It's just horrendous and the agitation is terribleŠ"
She plans to contribute to the 'Seroxat Users' Group' soon to be set up. In
the meantime, she waits for her problem to clear.
"I just feel it's taken part of my life away. I want to be normalŠI just
hope it hasn't done any permanent damage".
Contact the Prozac Survivors Group by e-mail at Pssguk@aol.com.
Alternatively, their helpline number is 0044 161 682 3296
IRISH TATLER, ISSUE DATED DECEMBER 2002
distributed by Ramo Kabbani
Some alarming stories about side effects from wonder drug Prozac and related
anti-depressant drugs are now emerging
REPORT BY TOM FARRELL
Drug dependency nearly ended Ramo Kabbani's life. But the drug she battled
was handed out by a qualified GP, is being taken by 40 million other people
and is still lauded as a 'wonder drug.'
On 16 February, she will celebrate her fifth 'clean' year and a full decade
has passed since her descent into an anti-depressant-poisoned hell. Not
that she has yet fully escaped.
"It's taken me a long time to put back on the weight that I lost, my weight
plummeted to five stone," she says.
PROZAC NATION
"I also still have the seizures. I'd say it averages out at about nine in a
day although I have the odd day where I've not had any."
Ramo is chair of the UK Prozac Survivors Support Group (PSSG), founded in
March 198 to advise and help people prescribed antidepressants in the
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) class. This is the class that
has seen some atrocious side effects.
For the majority of people taking Prozac and similar medications, the impact
of these drugs on their lives has been positive. But Ramo's experience
serves as a grim medical parable. Where the use of medicine hinges upon
theories of 'chemical imbalances', and where drug companies are not fully
open about their possible side effects, a minority of patients are at great
risk.
"I'm no longer battling with anxiety-depression, that's the ironic thing,"
she says. "I've developed seizures through being prescribed these drugs.
I've no longer got the problem for which these drugs were prescribed but I'm
still battling with the problems that the drugs caused."
In August 1991, Ramo's fiancé died suddenly, one month before their wedding.
"I was never offered any bereavement counselling or any alternativeŠI was
just put on tablets and it was downhill from there."
Some months later, while working at Manchester's Fountain Street Employment
Service, she broke down. A visit to the GP led to the instant prescription
of fluoxetine (Prozac). Initially, she was transfused by an unnatural
'high', a manic sense of exaltation. Six weeks later, Ramo crashed,
becoming actively suicidal and haunted by insomnia, anxiety and dread.
Over the next few years each worsening side effect was met with one
response: another prescribed drug. She made several suicide attempts.
"There was one particular one which to be honest, I can't believe how close
I'd come," she says. "Looking back, I can see that I was in a trance-like
state. What actually brought me back to reality was I had Spot my dog who
was a little puppy at the time and he literally jumped up at me as I stood
in front of the bathroom mirror with a knife against my throat, ready to
slit my throat. My first thought was not 'Oh my God! What am I doing?' It
was 'Oh my God! I can't do this in front of Spot."
Ramo recalls the various cocktails of alcohol and pills she would take in
overdose: Sometimes, I'd be unconscious for about a week. The only way I'd
know I'd been out of it was that I'd go into the newsagent, look at a
newspaper date and I'd go 'Oh my GodŠ'
"I'd even started looking into my own funeral arrangements. And this is
somebody who used to live life to the full. I'd never felt down. I thought
'depression' was a case of the Monday morning bluesŠ"
A CHEMICAL IMBALANCE?
It was an angry encounter at the Royal Oldham Hospital in Manchester, with a
psychiatrist who was referred to as a neurologist (Ramo had previously
suffered 23 seizures in a day) that compelled her to research her own drug
therapy. Reading up on Prozac and other case studies set her towards
setting up the PSSG and weaning herself off drugs.
For millions of people, Prozac and its sister anti-depressants are very
helpful, releasing them from much psychic pain. But they are now being
handed out across GPs' desks, for everything from post-natal depression to
menopausal problems. Moreover, they are being marketed with a not fully
proven theory of 'chemical imbalance' that is based on the theory that
topping up the brain's supply of a chemical called serotonin will alleviate
depression.
Just as happened with the earlier so-called 'minor tranquillisers' of the
1960s, the benzodiazepines, including Atavan, Xanax and Miltown, a backlash
may now be imminent. In its own way, this could prove as unhelpful as the
current vaunting of SSRIs as 'miracle drugs', causing them to acquire an
unnecessarily sinister ring.
"It's going to be a replay of the benzodiazepine story." This is the
prediction of UCD -educated psychiatrist Dr David Healy, now based at the
University of Wales, Bangor. "Part of the problem with this will have been
caused by the pharmaceutical industry. The way they handle these things,
trying to deny there are problems means that when people get disenchanted,
they really do get very disenchanted and it's very hard for someone like me
who thinks that SSRIs can be useful to actually prescribe them. So they
move from a situation where they're being overused, to one where they're
being underusedŠ"
BLOWING IN THE WIND
Certainly, the drug companies, previously hailed as the saviours of millions
of depressed people, are now feeling an increasingly chill wind blowing.
The high point so far came in June 2001, when the Glaxo Smith Kline company
had to give $6.4 million to the family of a man who had shot to death his
daughter and grandchildren before turning the gun on himself, while put on
Seroxat (paroxetine) for sleeping problems.
Cases like this, involving aggression or suicide are extremely rare.
However, Seroxat, whose sales match those of Prozac, now looks as though it
could emerge as potentially highly addictive for some people. Last year,
America's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered Glaxo Smith Kline to
warn GPs that for some people, Seroxat packaged as 'Paxil' in the US) could
be as addictive as Valium.
Mark Harvey, a solicitor with the Cardiff firm Hugh James Ford Simey, has
something to say on the subject: "My feeling is GSK knew, and they
certainly know damn well now, their drug had the capacity to cause a lot of
harm to a small number of people. In particular in relation to coming off
it and they're not being honest to either prescribing doctors or patients."
Hugh James Ford Simey has already been contacted by over 120 people,
complaining of problems with Seroxat. They're coming in, says Mark Harvey,
at a rate of nearly three a week. In order to facilitate these people, the
firm is setting up a 'User Group' to form the focus for future litigation
against the drug companies. Many of these people have experienced 'cold
turkey-like symptoms while coming off the drug.
"I've seen an advert in the States. It actually says "Talk to your doctor
about non-habit forming Paxil," says Harvey. "That's outrageous, that's
clearly designed to catch patients and it deals with what they want to know,
which is if it's non-addictiveŠ"
Far from being a zealot against the use of drugs to treat psychological
distress, Dr Healy researched serotonin effects at Addenbrooke's Hospital in
Cambridge, after leaving Ireland.
But as the author of The Antidepressant Era (Harvard Press), he is candid
about the pitfalls of SSRIs, such as Prozac, Seroxat, Lustral and Cipramil.
"The estimates are that one in 20 of us gets so agitated on a SSRI that we
have to stop treatment," he says. "One in 100 of us going on a SSRI will
make a suicide attempt. One in 1,000 might commit suicide. There are other
hazards: probably 30-50% of us going on a SSRI will have problems trying to
withdraw. The withdrawal symptoms will be severe; for some people they may
continue for a year."
MOTHER'S LITTLE HELPER
"It's hard to know how many. It may be only five percent who really have a
severe problem. But if 40 million have gone on Prozac and 100 million have
gone on a SSRI, five percent is five million people so it is a major
problemŠ"
The relentless marketing has apparently repackaged not just the medicines,
but the condition they are used to treat. Depressed people lose serotonin
through 're-uptake' between the brain cells: take an SSRI and you get more
serotonin. But the biology of the brain is barely understood: serotonin
might not be the key to mood and the drugs may not even work by stimulating
it.
Anti-depressants were invented in the mid 1950s and the majority of people
who these days get Prozac or Seroxat would have once been given minor
tranquillisers. Thus when SSRIs were launched, the companies' emphasis was
on 'depression' as a chemical deficiency to avoid association with the minor
tranquillisers, by then known to be addictive.
BEYOND PROZAC
Limerick-based psychiatrist Dr Terry Lynch, author of the book Beyond
Prozac, is highly critical of the way a theory about depression has become
accepted wisdom. This he believes, reflects the doctors' relationship with
the drug companies.
"Certainly, I think psychiatrists and GPs to a certain degree need to feel
that they're the ones driving the whole thing. They're the ones with the
knowledge and the patient's job is to follow the doctor's advice," he says.
"I also think that the pharmaceutical companies are involved here because
over the past 50-60 years, medicine in general but maybe particularly
psychiatry has become very closely aligned to the pharmaceutical industry.
"Psychiatry has allowed itself to become very dependent on the industry for
funding of its meetings, of its research, of its ongoing education. I'm
guessing, but my sense is that the majority of psychiatric post-graduate
meetings are funded by drug companies and I think that that's unhealthy."
Among those people who have approached Hugh James Ford Simey regarding legal
action is Glenys (not her real name), a grandmother with no previous history
of depression. When she suffered her first panic attack, she was showing
symptoms that may well have been hormonal and associated with the menopause.
She did not meet the traditional diagnostic criteria for depression when
given Seroxat.
Previously, she had been given HRT, then Valium and Prozac; the Valium had
caused withdrawal problems, something that is a recognized risk. But Glenys
was not warned about problems coming off Seroxat. It seems she belongs in
the five percent Dr Healy warned would have severe withdrawal. Now off
Seroxat for 18 months, she has been told she may have to wait up to five
years for the physical and mental effects to clear.
"I have never had headaches really, until I started the menopause," she
says. "All I can say it's like it's crushing my head like an eggshell.
After the head, the face will burn, my body will shake and I'll get pins and
needles in my arms. It's just horrendous and the agitation is terribleŠ"
She plans to contribute to the 'Seroxat Users' Group' soon to be set up. In
the meantime, she waits for her problem to clear.
"I just feel it's taken part of my life away. I want to be normalŠI just
hope it hasn't done any permanent damage".
Contact the Prozac Survivors Group by e-mail at Pssguk@aol.com.
Alternatively, their helpline number is 0044 161 682 3296
The Lawyer links Hugh James to Scientology via Prozac Survivors Group led by Rammo Kabani
Caroline Davies - http://www.thelawyer.com/seroxat-users-call-on-hugh-james/77616.article
Cardiff firm Hugh James has been instructed to act for the Seroxat Users Group on its lobbying of the Department of Health. The group wants an investigation into the increasing number of reported illnesses connected with the antidepressant drug Seroxat, produced by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.
Partner Mark Harvey is leading the now 400-strong group. He won the instruction through a referral from niche health-related litigation firm Alexander Harris, which acts for the Prozac Users Group.
Harvey has a reputation in this field, having acted on the Roaccutane and Minocycline cases as well as the anti-arthritis drug Opren, which resulted in a successful settlement.
Not all of the group's participants are interested in taking action. Harvey said: "We're not saying the drug's bad; we're saying that not enough people have been warned of the potential symptoms." Some users found it difficult coming off the drug, but GlaxoSmithKline, which has yet to instruct lawyers, maintains that Seroxat is non-addictive.
http://health.dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/SSRI-Crusaders/message/7971
Cardiff firm Hugh James has been instructed to act for the Seroxat Users Group on its lobbying of the Department of Health. The group wants an investigation into the increasing number of reported illnesses connected with the antidepressant drug Seroxat, produced by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.
Partner Mark Harvey is leading the now 400-strong group. He won the instruction through a referral from niche health-related litigation firm Alexander Harris, which acts for the Prozac Users Group.
Harvey has a reputation in this field, having acted on the Roaccutane and Minocycline cases as well as the anti-arthritis drug Opren, which resulted in a successful settlement.
Not all of the group's participants are interested in taking action. Harvey said: "We're not saying the drug's bad; we're saying that not enough people have been warned of the potential symptoms." Some users found it difficult coming off the drug, but GlaxoSmithKline, which has yet to instruct lawyers, maintains that Seroxat is non-addictive.
http://health.dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/SSRI-Crusaders/message/7971
Seroxat Litigation Notice - Litigation is "stayed" as Hugh James drops the case
Seroxat Litigation Notice
source -
http://www.seroxatusergroup.org.uk/litigation-update-20-01-12.pdf
The Lawyer 9th January 2012, published inaccurate information concerning the currently ‘stayed’ Seroxat litigation which is filed in the High Court of Justice, London.
In response to information having been disclosed to The Lawyer, a number of enquiries have been received concerning the status of the litigation.
In October, 2010 the solicitors then in charge of the case, considered there was insufficient evidence to proceed and advised the litigants to discontinue their claims. Approximately two thirds of the litigants followed this advice.
In the meantime, the experts in the case together with other specialists knowledgeable of the medical problems associated with Seroxat disagreed with the view of the legal team.
On 14th December 2010, evidence from representatives of the litigants, were heard at a
specially convened Legal Services Commission funding review. The outcome of this
meeting was an increase in the likely prospects of success for the litigation, above that
estimated by the solicitors who had led the Group Action. The Legal Services Commission then confirmed it would consider the opinions of the experts before its final determination of the funding certificate bearing in mind, the Group Action now comprised a smaller number of litigants.
The Legal Services Commission is currently considering the favourable opinion of new
Counsel and statements from the experts delivered by a newly instructed legal team; its
response is awaited.
The Seroxat Users’ Group will keep litigants updated by this website or enquiries may be made by email to: janice@seroxatusergroup.org.uk.
Dated 20.01.12
source -
http://www.seroxatusergroup.org.uk/litigation-update-20-01-12.pdf
The Lawyer 9th January 2012, published inaccurate information concerning the currently ‘stayed’ Seroxat litigation which is filed in the High Court of Justice, London.
In response to information having been disclosed to The Lawyer, a number of enquiries have been received concerning the status of the litigation.
In October, 2010 the solicitors then in charge of the case, considered there was insufficient evidence to proceed and advised the litigants to discontinue their claims. Approximately two thirds of the litigants followed this advice.
In the meantime, the experts in the case together with other specialists knowledgeable of the medical problems associated with Seroxat disagreed with the view of the legal team.
On 14th December 2010, evidence from representatives of the litigants, were heard at a
specially convened Legal Services Commission funding review. The outcome of this
meeting was an increase in the likely prospects of success for the litigation, above that
estimated by the solicitors who had led the Group Action. The Legal Services Commission then confirmed it would consider the opinions of the experts before its final determination of the funding certificate bearing in mind, the Group Action now comprised a smaller number of litigants.
The Legal Services Commission is currently considering the favourable opinion of new
Counsel and statements from the experts delivered by a newly instructed legal team; its
response is awaited.
The Seroxat Users’ Group will keep litigants updated by this website or enquiries may be made by email to: janice@seroxatusergroup.org.uk.
Dated 20.01.12
Friday, 20 January 2012
EMA Calls for Withdrawal of Certain Anxiety Medications - FIDDAMAN counterpoint blog ** Exclusive
EMA Calls for Withdrawal of Certain Anxiety Medications
January 20, 2012 — The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is recommending suspension throughout the European Union (EU) of all medicines containing meprobamate, a key ingredient in some anxiolytic medications.
The Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has concluded that the benefits of meprobamate do not outweigh its risks and that all marketing authorizations for oral medicines containing meprobamate be suspended throughout the EU.
A carbamate deriviative, meprobamate is used primarily to treat anxiety disorders, but according to the EMA, it is also used for migraine, digestive disorders, muscle tension or cramps, as well as insominia. It is marketed under the name Equanil and other trade names.
The EMA review of the meprobamate-containing medications was undertaken because of a July 2011 announcement by France's regulatory agency that it intended to suspend marketing authorizations of these agents because of "serious side effects."
After reviewing all available safety and efficacy data of the medications, including data from published studies, postmarketing surveillance, and poison control centers, the CHMP concluded that "there was a risk of serious and potentially fatal side effects, such as coma, in patients taking meprobamate-containing medicines under normal conditions of use. The Committee considered that these risks were increased due to the danger of unintentional overdose because of the small difference between the treating dose and the dose that can harm patient, including elderly people."
The CHMP also noted that there is a risk of addiction that can lead to "serious and sometimes fatal side effects" if patients stop the medication abruptly.
The final word on whether these medications are ultimately to be banned in Europe will be determined by the European Commission.
To avoid the risk of severe withdrawal symptoms and to ensure that prescribers have enough time to determine the most appropriate treatments for individual patients, the Committee has recommended that the withdrawal of the medicines from the market be carried out gradually, within 15 months of the European Committee decision.
In the meantime, the EMA recommends the following:
•Doctors should not start new patients on meprobamate-containing medicines.
•Doctors should review the treatment of patients currently taking meprobamate-containing medicines with a view to switching them to alternative treatments, in line with national recommendations for the condition being treated.
•Prescribers should be aware that the availability of meprobamate-containing medicines will decrease as the withdrawal from the market takes place according to national time frames.
January 20, 2012 — The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is recommending suspension throughout the European Union (EU) of all medicines containing meprobamate, a key ingredient in some anxiolytic medications.
The Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has concluded that the benefits of meprobamate do not outweigh its risks and that all marketing authorizations for oral medicines containing meprobamate be suspended throughout the EU.
A carbamate deriviative, meprobamate is used primarily to treat anxiety disorders, but according to the EMA, it is also used for migraine, digestive disorders, muscle tension or cramps, as well as insominia. It is marketed under the name Equanil and other trade names.
The EMA review of the meprobamate-containing medications was undertaken because of a July 2011 announcement by France's regulatory agency that it intended to suspend marketing authorizations of these agents because of "serious side effects."
After reviewing all available safety and efficacy data of the medications, including data from published studies, postmarketing surveillance, and poison control centers, the CHMP concluded that "there was a risk of serious and potentially fatal side effects, such as coma, in patients taking meprobamate-containing medicines under normal conditions of use. The Committee considered that these risks were increased due to the danger of unintentional overdose because of the small difference between the treating dose and the dose that can harm patient, including elderly people."
The CHMP also noted that there is a risk of addiction that can lead to "serious and sometimes fatal side effects" if patients stop the medication abruptly.
The final word on whether these medications are ultimately to be banned in Europe will be determined by the European Commission.
To avoid the risk of severe withdrawal symptoms and to ensure that prescribers have enough time to determine the most appropriate treatments for individual patients, the Committee has recommended that the withdrawal of the medicines from the market be carried out gradually, within 15 months of the European Committee decision.
In the meantime, the EMA recommends the following:
•Doctors should not start new patients on meprobamate-containing medicines.
•Doctors should review the treatment of patients currently taking meprobamate-containing medicines with a view to switching them to alternative treatments, in line with national recommendations for the condition being treated.
•Prescribers should be aware that the availability of meprobamate-containing medicines will decrease as the withdrawal from the market takes place according to national time frames.
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