Last week, I voiced my concerns about the trustworthiness of the pharmaceutical industry. Based on past actions, it is very reasonable to believe that they would influence studies, push drugs for things that they were not studied or proven effective for, cherry pick studies, bribe, commit fraud, and lie. Not that every company has been found guilty, or that they are doing that right now, but it is fair and understandable for us to question the medications we are told to take.
The other major issue is safety. Let me ask… have there been medications that were approved by the FDA, and we were told were safe, only to find out later that they were, in fact, not safe? Yes… many! Some of these caused many deaths.
Some of these negative outcomes were because information was withheld by the drug manufacturer. Other times, it was because the true and full effect of the drug was not known until much later, once more people took it, and over a longer period of time than any of the studies that were performed to prove safety.
I had a patient years ago who had cervical cancer. When they removed her uterus, she was told she had a DES cervix. They told her that based on the deformity and condition of her cervix, it was clear that her mother had taken a drug called diethylstilbestrol while pregnant. This was a drug that was given to prevent certain pregnancy complications. It turned out that not only was that drug ineffective for the purpose for which it was prescribed, but caused serious, deadly side effects in the girls born to the women taking the drug.
When my patient asked her mother if she took that drug, her mother said that they all took it, as the doctors touted it as so important and effective. Her mother played cards each week with six other women, five of which were pregnant. They all took DES, and all had baby girls. When my patient reached out to these other girls, every single one of them had cervical cancer, and one had died by the age of thirty.
So, in terms of safety, we know that ALL drugs have some side effects. Often times, the benefit of the drug outweighs the side effect. But we often do not know the exact side effect or severity of the side effect because, no matter how well studied, every human is different. What doesn’t cause harm to me may cause harm to you. So, safety is never fully known or understood.
The other issue is reflected well in the story above. We can’t possibly know the long-term effects of these chemicals until much later. A study may show a drug is safe during the trials, but they cannot tell you about the long-term safety with certainty until it is in the population for that longer period of time.
This applies to any drug, but needs to be considered especially with the emerging coronavirus vaccine. Why? Because the type of vaccine being developed (mRNA vaccine) has never been produced before, and because of the speed at which it is being developed, and the short time that it can be studied on humans.
It would be great to have a solution to this pandemic, but we have to ensure that the treatment is not more dangerous than the disease. This applies to any and all drugs. And I am not giving you any medical advice or recommendations, but merely sharing common sense information to help you make the best decisions possible. Many will act like you are reckless, careless, selfish, anti-medicine, or a downright lunatic to even question Big Pharma, but you would be silly not to. Once you have all of the information, you can then utilize your freedom to choose. I, personally, respect whatever decision you make.
