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» The Pharmaceutical Drug Racket Continued fi a ‘ supply and is not a true account of how dan- Considering WHO's report, how come gerous these chemical substances really are. have an estimated 205,000 drugs and at all."® No drug can be pinpointed to affect pow Many Drugs Do We Need? combinations thereof been produced— only the organ it is designed to treat, and most of which have long since been most drugs have broad effects and some Already over 30 years ago, Dr Walter withdrawn... affect virtually every organ system in the Modell of Cornell University's Medical On 14 October 1981 the Swiss weekl body.* Saree = Time taf Geet _ Weltwoche reported that UNIDO Dru toxic because thi woecaiiy ‘S ScMoricd's arerye Crug capers’, wae (United Nations Industrial Development conned of rertificial | pn dp — | in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics: py had set up in collaboration it iad i s When will they realize that there are ith WHO a list of ly 26d that v e rato: ey wi a list of mere! rugs thai = rpc ay i, I big too many drugs? No fewer than 150,000 were considered indispensable aa the business, nearly all medicines were com- preparations are now in use. About Third World... posed of natural plant-derived ingredients '5/000 new mixtures and dosages hit the The UNIDO report emphasized that of that were far safer than today's drugs. | Market each year, while about 12,000 the 26 "indispensables", 9 should have Unfortunately, the drug companies today die off... We simply don't have enough special priority. choose to chemically synthesise the ingredi- diseases to go around. At the moment And which drug topped the list of these ents instead, because they are cheaper to _the most helpful contribution is the new 9 that were considered even more indis- produce and can be patented, giving the 97g to counteract the untoward effects pensable than all the other indispens- companies monopoly rights on their sales.* of other new drugs: ables? Acetylsalicylic acid, meaning our Since 1961, the number of drug prepara- good old Aspirin, which was discovered poy alge a pe tions marketed worldwide has increased to almost 100 years ago and has proved the next drug your doctor tries to prescribe for you, the authors recommend that you ask 205,000 with a proportional rise in new mal- _ itself less harmful than most other drugs. him or her to look up the drug for you in dies. Perhaps because it is one of the few still their copy of MIMS Annual or MIMS (bi- Further, Ruesch reveals: in use today that had not been devel- monthly).“ These books, which doctors In 1980, the Geneva-based World oped by animal tests? i have at their disposal, give disturbing details Health Organisation (WHO) published a Some people think that even the list of on the toxic effects of individual drugs. You _list of 240 drugs that were considered 9 more indispensable than others is too will discover that your doctor would more __ "essential" or sufficient for Third World long. than likely be reluctant, because he or she needs. Since the Third World's health knows that after seeing the details for your- has been touted as being very much in Some Erman esttly Tested Drugs That self you would most probably refuse the need of Western help, the 240 drugs _Injured and Kill drug. However, be wamed: the information should more than suffice for Western Paracetamol (painkiller\—1,500 people had in MIMS is only what the drug companies _ populations as well. to be hospitalised in Great Britain in 1971. Some per | Tested Drugs That Injured and Kill Paracetamol (painkiller\—1,500 people had to be hospitalised in Great Britain in 1971.