Maker of Flea & Tick Treatment for Dogs & Cats Sacrifices 22,000 Human Lives for Corporate Profit
Under mounting pressure from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Bayer Corporation suspended the sale of its hugely profitable drug Trasylol in November 2007.
A blood clotting drug used during heart surgery to control bleeding, Trasylol was given to more than four and a half million people worldwide. About one and a half million Americans received Trasylol during its 14 year run on the US market.
Studies found that patients who received Trasylol during heart bypass, heart valve replacement and other cardiac surgery were more likely to die than patients who received other available blood clotting drugs. Deaths were due to heart failure, kidney failure, heart attacks and strokes the patients suffered after surgery.
In 2007, Bayer designed a major Canadian trial to show that Trasylol was better than other drugs in controlling bleeding. The trial was terminated, however, because of an increase in deaths among cardiac surgery patients using the drug. Patients receiving Trasylol had a 50 percent increased risk of dying compared with patients receiving other drugs.
What’s a few thousand deaths among friends?
60 Minutes reported in February 2008 that Bayer had known about Trasylol’s safety concerns for decades and about the abnormally high incidents of deaths associated with the drug since 2006. Yet Bayer continued aggressive marketing of the drug, raking in well over $300 million annually. The FDA permitted Trasylol to stay on the market, contributing to an estimated 1,000 deaths a month for the 22 months before its recall.
The 60 Minutes report went on to describe Bayer’s own internal study evaluating
the risk of patient deaths from Trasylol. Medical records of nearly 70,000 patients
were examined by a Harvard professor who was placed on the Bayer payroll.
What the professor found was that patients given Trasylol had an elevated risk
of acute renal failure.
Bayer concealed this study from the FDA during a safety review of Trasylol in
2006. The drug giant further charmed the FDA into allowing Trasylol to
stay on the market. More than a year passed before the FDA got around to
reviewing the adverse effects of Trasylol again. Finally, the FDA recalled the drug
but imposed no fine or penalty on Bayer.
What does this have to do with fleas & ticks on dogs and cats?
Another way Bayer works wonders is with its insecticide Imidacloprid, the active
ingredient in Advantage Flea & Tick treatment for dogs and cats. Laboratory test
results on file with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency show Imidicloprid
to be neurotoxic to dogs and other laboratory animals, also causing a breakdown
of coordination, labored breathing, reduced birth weight, increased birth defects,
and lesions of the thyroid.
Of course, Bayer has remained silent as a stalactite about these adverse health
effects on our precious pets. Could this be yet another 60 Minutes report in the
making?
Sooner or later, responsible dog lovers and cat lovers need to ask themselves
the question, Am I trusting the big drug companies too much with the safety of
my best friends? Sooner or later you need to ask yourself whether toxic
chemicals are really necessary when safe and natural flea & tick treatments are
readily available.
What’s my advice? You can’t ask the questions too soon, but you can ask them
too late.
About the Author
TripleSure.com. Gary Le Mon’s day job is in the insured financial services industry, but his evenings and weekends are spent crusading for animal rights, contributing to dog and cat rescue efforts, and making the Earth a greener, friendlier place to live.
Dog, Cat, and Rat
|
|
Wilton 2304-1050 101-Piece Cookie Cutter Set $11.16 Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Valentine’s Day…cookie cutters for every season, and more! With a complete set of letters and numbers, designs for cowboys, stars, cars and animals, you’ll be ready for any occasion. Durable plastic cutters come in a convenient storage container. Hand wash. (2-1/2 to 6-1/4)… |
|
|
Purse Size Deluxe Coupon Organizer Wallet ToCart #59 $12.99 Finally! The “Deluxe” Purse Size Coupon Organizer that is AMERICAN MADE! It is made of durable, colorful, material 4 1/2″ X 8″. It not only attaches to the cart, as in the picture, but will attach to any side of the cart, and to the handle also. Most purse size coupon organizers come with paper-thin divider cards, but the “Deluxe” Purse Size Coupon Organizer has 24 durable cards with tabs, made fr… |
|
|
Coupon Organizer Divider Index Cards 125 LB Stock 24ea $4.99 24 durable cards with tabs, made from 125# card stock that make it easy to locate your coupon category. It also comes with 24 alphabetized, numbered labels to make your coupons easy to file and easy to find!… |
|
|
Through a Dog’s Ear: Music to Calm Your Canine Companion, Volume 1 $10.09 Music can soothe the savage beast¿including your dog! Millions of dog guardians have grappled with behavior problems caused by their dog¿s anxiety¿ from fits of barking when their beagle is left home alone to the nervous whimpering of their dachshund during a thunderstorm. Now, psychoacoustic expert Joshua Leeds joins concert pianist Lisa Spector and veterinary neurologist Dr. Susan Wagner to c… |
|
|
Elton John – Greatest Hits $5.00 11 tracks of this greatest hits Cd…. |
|
|
Looney Tunes: Spotlight Collection, Volume One (The Premiere Edition) $10.72 They’re the clown princes of animation. They’re the international ambassadors of cartoon comedy. They’re the fabulously funny friends you grew up with! And now 28 of the very best animated shorts starring the very wackiest Warner Bros. cartoon characters have been rounded up on DVD for the first time ever in The Looney Tunes Premiere Collection! Just barely contained in two special edition discs e… |
|
|
Bolt (Three-Disc Edition w/ Standard DVD + Digital Copy + BD Live) [Blu-ray] $22.93 Features include: •MPAA Rating: PG•Format: Blu-Ray•Runtime: 97 minutes… |
|
|
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes [Blu-ray] $8.82 CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES – Blu-Ray Movie… |
|
|
Homeward Bound – The Incredible Journey (Walt Disney Pictures Presents) [VHS] $8.88 This remake of 1963′s The Incredible Journey gets a boost from the voice talent that brings its central characters to life. Don Ameche, Michael J. Fox, and Sally Field are, respectively, the voices of an old dog, a young dog, and a cat, all of whom coexist in a single household. Uneasy housemates at the best of times, they are forced to learn to rely on each other when the family relocates across … |
|
|
Victor M2524 Electronic Mouse Trap $18.52 Hot and cold running rodents? Try Victor Electronic Traps! Easier than conventional traps. You simply bait the Trap with peanut butter, rodents wander in for a snack and go nighty-night, for good. A green blinking light alerts you that the trap has worked and there’s something inside. Clean up is a breeze… simply shake out the catch into the trash. Indicator light blinks red when new batteries a… |
