Yaz Birth Control Pill Dangers

Birth control "pills" are not candy, they are dangerous drugs, that according to San Diego neurologist Frederic Martin, M.D., at best, dramatically increase the risk for stroke. DDS. Doctor denial syndrome. Doctors seem to routinely ignore the additional, or side, affects for drugs. Or are they just afraid to inform their patients?

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/yaz-birth-control-investigation-14742773

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/studies-find-yaz-risky-leading-birth-control-pills/story?id=14741760

In the case of Carissa, who had a massive double embolism after taking "Yaz" to clear up her hormonal acne, and is now blind, the deep tragedy is that she could have pretty easily cleared up her acne with herbs and acupuncture, and gotten healthier in the process. In my San Diego acupuncture practice I have a wide variety of treatments for the various kinds of acne, including hormonal acne, that I have had excellent results with over the past 20 years. Please see my next article.

"No one can say for sure whether Yaz caused Carissa's blindness, but Yaz contains a unique hormone called drospirenone that some experts say may trigger more blood clots than other birth control pills. Clots can cause serious breathing problems, a stroke or even death."

And on the deregulation that has led to the proliferation of marketing driven drugs,

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/10/2011102183428585240.html

And of course, no deregulation horror story would be complete unless a big pharmaceutical company was poisoning people due to the Federal Drug Administration's (FDA's) lack of a will or a way. For that we have Bayer, the makers of birth-control pill Yaz, to thank.

This past week Nightline ran a scathing report on the company's over-marketed, under-tested (which is to say, not much at all) birth-control product, which increases a woman's chance of getting an embolism by a healthy 630 per cent. In the past, only listening to Rush Limbaugh could accomplish that.

"[Yaz spent] 10 times the amount marketing this pill than they did testing whether it would kill people."

- Mike Papantonio, plaintiff's lawyer

Preeminent plaintiff's lawyer Mike Papantonio (of Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Rafferty & Proctor), who is fighting for many of the victims of this corporation (or person or whatever status we're granting them this week) pointed out to me that Yaz spent "10 times the amount marketing this pill than they did testing whether it would kill people, and even committed such marketing fraud in the process that the toothless FDA ordered them to stop lying in their ads."

The problem is that massive deregulation has turned the project of letting the FDA regulate pharmaceuticals into something that is pretty much akin to paying Alex Rodriguez to hit a ball in the playoffs, or electing Rick Santorum the mayor of Fire Island.

Until 1997, the FDA did not even allow broadcast advertisements for prescription drugs, and the US is one of only two countries in the world (New Zealand being the other) that even allows this type of advertising. It seems that other developed nations have this crazy idea that you should decide what prescriptions you need based on a doctor's advice, and not that of a talking bee on television.

As of 2003, over $3bn per year was being spent on mass media pharmaceutical advertising. It is almost enough to make you puke - if one of their pills is not already causing you to do that.





copyright Eyton J. Shalom, M.S., L.Ac. San Diego, CA All Rights Reserved, Use With PermissionAyurveda, Acupuncture, and Chinese Medicine in San Diegohttp://www.bodymindwellnesscenter.com