Nexus - 1401 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

NEWS ... GLOBAL NEWS ... be underestimated. "For now, if our NATURAL MEDICINES: THE SAFEST WAY TO AVOID DEATH analysis is correct, J think it is important to report released on 12 October by the Acting Chair of the Coroners’ Council, correct the climate models so that they New Zealand, has shown that natural medicines have the lowest fatality rate include reliable sensitivity to solar activity." of all medical treatments in New Zealand. Tain Murray, senior fellow and global Despite extensive research, Coroner Dr Wallace Bain found that no deaths have warming specialist at the Competitive | g¢curred in New Zealand due to natural medicines such as vitamins, minerals Enterprise Institute, said the Mars warming | ang herbal products. adds another level of uncertainty to claims Dr Bain, who is also a trained pharmacist and lawyer, undertook the study in that the Earth's modest recent warming is a | the light of growing opposition to new legislation that will see New Zealand's result of human activity. ; natural health industry come under Australian laws. The safety of natural It is probably too much to claim that any | products is often cited as a reason for the need for such a move. one source is the principal driver of the The NZ Labour government plans that the Australia New Zealand Therapeutic warming trend on Earth," said Murray. Products Authority (ANZTPA) will soon replace the current Medsafe agency as (Source: Daily Policy Digest, 10 January | part of a "trans-Tasman harmonisation" push. Opponents fear this move will 2006, http:/Minyurl.com/9zlml) decimate New Zealand's natural health industry, as has already occurred in Australia. IS BIG PHARMA CALLING THE At i j i 7 present, lack of support from New Zealand First, the Maori and Green parties MEDICAL JOURNALS SHOTS? , is the only thing stopping the legislation coming into effect. oney talks, and the drug industry's Says Dr Bain: "In my capacity as Acting Chair of the Coroner's Council, | dollar talks loud and clear through | enquired of all Coroners as to whether or not from a search of their Coronial the pages of leading medical journals. | findings they could find any instances where there had been a problem with any That's the conclusion of Peter Getzsche | of these natural products. They were asked to provide any information from and his team at the Nordic Cochrane | jnquests where these products had been involved, whether or not a death had Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark, who _ | resulted. At the same time, the Coronial records held by the Ministry of Justice in compared reviews of drug studies funded __/ Wellington were searched at my request by ministry staff.” by pharmaceutical companies with similar Dr Bain's study returned a finding of zero deaths from natural remedies. reviews done without industry support. In contrast, deaths in 1998 (the last year of detailed official statistics available) _ Studies conducted without drug industry | caused by adverse reactions to pharmaceutical drugs killed 1,524 New funding reached similar conclusions to the | Zealanders, and deaths associated with medical injury (mistakes by doctors and systematic reviews held in the Cochrane | medical staff) killed 4,222 New Zealanders. online database, recognised as the gold Says Dr Bain: "A recent Australian study shows that 1 in 10 patients presenting standard for such analyses. Studies backed | tg a general practitioner had an adverse pharmaceutical drug event in the by drug companies, however, tended to | preceding six months, with 50% of those being in the moderate to severe range recommend the experimental drug without | and 8% requiring hospitalisation. reservation, even though the estimated "A New Zealand study reported in July of 2006 and referred to Parliament's effect of the treatment was similar, on | Health Committee pointed to previous research suggesting problems such as average, to that reported in the Cochrane _ | hospital-acquired infection, drug error and staff mistakes are costing this country Tevlews. . . around NZ$870 million a year. This prompted the Health Minister to ensure that Getzsche says that some industry-funded | District Health Boards gave priority to reducing such adverse events—most reviews were also biased in their methods, clearly identified as being drug induced." as they considered only studies held in the Also in Dr Bain's report is mention of a US study that puts complications company’s own database. resulting from medication errors in American hospitals at US$1.5 billion dollars (Source: New Scientist, 14 October 2006) per year. Studies also show that prescription drug errors double a person's risk of ' dying in hospital. Another study put the cost of a single adverse drug event to a ECSTASY FOR PARKINSON'S? | hospital in the US at US$2,500.. 9 9 t seems that ecstasy boosts the number of "The estimate of costs incurred by US hospitals as a result of drug-related injury dopamine-producing cells in the brain— | gr geath was put at US$76.6 billion, which was three times the cost of ail the type that declines in those with | giabetes care in the United States," says Dr Bain. Parkinson's disease, "What is ironic here is that what is being held out as a justification for high Previous human studies have suggested | regulation and compliance in the area of complementary medicines and natural that ecstasy is bad for the brain because it | products in New Zealand is public safety and risk. Despite a diligent search of damages serotonin-signalling neurons, | Coronial records and the literature, no instances have been found to demonstrate which play a role in memory. Jack Lipton | that in fact these products have any serious public health issue or risk. of the University of Cincinnati and his "The problem is clearly with prescription and other drugs," says Dr Bain. "The colleagues found that ecstasy prevents the Coronial and literature searches, in so far as natural products are concerned, and programmed cell death that normally | jinkages to public safety and risk can be described legally as de minimis non occurs when neurons are stressed, as | cyrat fex: that is, of minimal risk importance. happens in certain degenerative diseases "The law does not and should not concern itself with such trifles." including Parkinson's and in cell cultures. (Source: Press release, Coroners’ Council, New Zealand, 12 October 2006, via (Source: New Scientist, 27 October 2006) http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE06 10/S00037.htm) IS BIG PHARMA CALLING THE MEDICAL JOURNALS’ SHOTS? oney talks, and the drug industry's dollar talks loud and clear through the pages of leading medical journals. That's the conclusion of Peter Ggtzsche and his team at the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark, who compared reviews of drug studies funded by pharmaceutical companies with similar reviews done without industry support. Studies conducted without drug industry funding reached similar conclusions to the systematic reviews held in the Cochrane online database, recognised as the gold standard for such analyses. Studies backed by drug companies, however, tended to recommend the experimental drug without reservation, even though the estimated effect of the treatment was similar, on average, to that reported in the Cochrane reviews. Ggtzsche says that some industry-funded reviews were also biased in their methods, as they considered only studies held in the company's own database. (Source: New Scientist, 14 October 2006) NEXUS +9 DECEMBER 2006 — JANUARY 2007 www.nexusmagazine.com