X-Message-Number: 547.3
To:
Message-Subject: Re: Thalidomide
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 91 9:15:34 CST
From: (Jeffrey Adam Johnson)
These articles came from Libernet early this year. Perhaps the individuals
writing them might be contacted for more detailed information.
...............................................................
From: ingr!uunet!dartvax!uunet.uu.net!microsoft!fritzs
Message-Id: <>
To: uunet!dartmouth.edu!libernet, uunet!ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu!6600mld
Message-Subject: Thalidomide
Date: Mon Feb 25 12:05:44 1991
| I am not very familiar with Thalidomide. I know only that it was purported
| to cause severe birth defects in newborns. Could someone please fill me in
| on this topic? Or suggest books? Email response would be fine; I don't
| know if this topic is suitable for the list.
|
| Thanks.
|
| Matthew Deter | @ | Taxes are not levied for
| UC Santa Barbara | | the benefit of the taxed.
Thalidomide was a really fine sedative. Its major plus is its incredibly
high toxic level -- you couldn't suicide on it -- people tried in Europe
and just couldn't. This "safety" caused the drug to be prescribed heavily
in Europe for psychological complaints related to pregnancy.
The problem is that it crosses the placental barrier *in higher primates*
and causes birth defects in the first trimester (usually missing arms
and/or legs). It causes *no* problems in rodents -- like lab rats.
The effects of the drug were discovered in Europe while it was pending
approval by the FDA in the US. The FDA uses this as a calim that it is
defending the health of the American people. In matter of fact, what
saved us was not their vigilence but their sloth -- they had no lab tests
in place that would have detected the problem.
Fritz Sands
==========================================
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 91 07:02:51 PST
From: ingr!uunet!dartvax!uunet.UU.NET!xanadu!michael (Michael McClary)
Message-Id: < >
To: uunet!xanadu!dartvax.dartmouth.edu!libernet
Message-Subject: Thalidomide
> From: microsoft! (Fritz Sands) Mon Feb 25 12:05:44 1991
>
> | I am not very familiar with Thalidomide. I know only that it was purported
> | to cause severe birth defects in newborns. Could someone please fill me in
> | on this topic? []
>
> Thalidomide was a really fine sedative. [] incredibly high toxic level
> -- you couldn't suicide on it []
>
> The problem is that it crosses the placental barrier *in higher primates*
> and causes birth defects in the first trimester (usually missing arms
> and/or legs). It causes *no* problems in rodents -- like lab rats.
An interesting consequence of the FDA's "Thalidomide Disaster" hotbutton
is that research on Thalidomide is now nearly impossible in the US.
This is bad, because rumors have it that Thalidomide has shown promise
as an anti-cancer drug in research conducted in Israel, and about three
years ago I saw an article on how US researchers had found it very
effective (in animal tests) against otherwise-nearly-untreatable
autoimmune disorders affecting the skin.
The thrust of the article was a description of what the US researchers
had to do to get the drug, which they could not get (even for research)
in the US: They traded another drug capsule-for-capsule with researchers
in a South American country where Thalidomide was still legal but the
FDA-equivalent had a similar bug-up-the-butt about the other drug.
==========================================
Date: Mon, 04 Mar 91 16:30:14 GMT
From: Kevin Purcell <ingr!uunet!dartvax!liverpool.ac.uk!KPURCELL>
Message-Subject: Re: Thalidomide
To: Libernet <>
On Mon Feb 25 12:05:44 1991 microsoft! said:
>The problem is that it crosses the placental barrier *in higher primates*
>and causes birth defects in the first trimester (usually missing arms
>and/or legs). It causes *no* problems in rodents -- like lab rats.
One other point that should be noted about Thalidomide is that the drug,
like most complex carbon compounds,is chiral that is it comes in two
optical isomers. These differ only in 'handedness' like left- and right
handed glove or left-hand and right-hand coordinate systems). --
identical components with the same conectivity but slightly different.
The body is very sensitive to different chiralities.
It turns out that one form is active in the body as a sedative, the
other is a teratogen (causing birth defects). The original synthesis was
did not distinguish between these two optical isomers producing them in
equal quantities, with the unfortunate results. More recent synthesis of
this drug can produce only one optical isomer and thus it is potentially
safe. But nobody will now use it -- the name lingers on.
I fear we have drifted off the libertarian track, but this is an
important point: the public only remeber half truths, they are rarely
interested in the truth (I think that is a sufficiently libertarian point).
I had the good fortune of not having a mother that need the drug (I was
born in July 1961).
Kevin
==========================================
======================================================================
Jeffrey Adam Johnson Internet:
("I speak only for myself.") UUCP: uunet!ingr!b17d!jaj!jeff
======================================================================
"It is error alone which needs the support of government.
Truth can stand by itself." - Thomas Jefferson, "Notes on Virginia"
======================================================================
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 91 02:06:02 MST
From: rutgers!dehnbase.fidonet.org! (LIBERTY.Echo)
Message-Subject: FDA Cite Request
To:
From: Keith Hamburger <>
To: Libernet (Edgar Swank)
Date: 18 Nov 91 23:08:00
In a message to All <11-15-91 03:09> Libernet (Edgar Swank) wrote:
[L(] I seem to recall reading either here or elsewhere that the FDA kills
[L(] more people than it saves by restricting availability of drugs here
[L(] that are available, sometimes without prescription, in other
[L(] countries. But I don't know an exact source I can quote. Does
[L(] anyone here know of one??
One source is the authors of the books "Life Extension" and others, Durk
Pearson and Sandy Shaw. I am planning on contacting them directly and using
such data in future campaigns. Some others to contact would include the Life
Extension Foundation.
Keith
--- QuickBBS 2.75 (Eval)
* Origin: Coffee House (1:128/76)
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 91 11:39:04 EST
From: (Mark Kaminsky (Contractor))
Message-Subject: FDA info request
To:
A few days ago somebody requested references about the FDA and
how they cause deaths by regulating drugs. I recently finished
reading "Life Extension" by Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw (1983 Warner
Books) and they cover some of this in the book's "Appendix E:
What Is the Government Doing About Aging Research?" (53 pages).
They quote extensively from a study by Dr Sam Peltzman
"Regulation of Pharmaceutical Innovation" American Enterprise
Institute, 1974, Washington, DC. He shows that the attitude of
"if we save one life by delay - it's worth it" kills thousands
who would have been saved by having new drugs sooner. In the "Life
Extension" references section they also list other studies and
books on the subject (they also throw in some books by Rand,
Hayek, Friedman (both D&M), Mises, Poul Anderson, etc).
BTW, I highly recommend this book to those, like myself,
who are turned off by the mysticism and pseudo-science
in the health-food movement. The subtitle of the book
is "A Practical Scientific Approach" and it is. They
explain every thing they recommend scientificly and cite
journal articles, although it's slow going at times
and I found myself wishing that I had access to my old
Organic and Bio-Chem textbooks from college to help me with
some of their points.
Mark B. Kaminsky -
Computervision/Prime Computer, Bedford, Massachusetts, USA
My goal is a simple one: To live forever - or die trying.
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 91 14:21:56 EST
From: John G Otto <>
Message-Subject: NHI, FDA catalog search
To:
A quick catalog search yielded the following items of possible interest to
people researching the FDA and/or nationalized health insurance - there are
many, many more, but these looked the most promising:
Jean Mitchell, _Market Forces and the Public Good_
Morton Mintz, _By Prescription Only_ on ineffective and harmful drugs, 1976
Rita Ricardo-Campbell, _Drug Lag_, ISBN 0-8179-3552-5, 1976
Food & Drug Law Institute, _FDA: Safeguarding America's Health_, funded by
AMA and various pharmaceutical companies
House Comm. on Gov't Operations, _FDA Failure to Prevent Deceptive Claims...
1990
Steven Fredman & Robert Burger, _Forbidden Cures_, 1976,
ISBN 0-8128-2074-3
Walter Sanford Ross, _The Life/Death Ratio_, ISBN 0-88349-139-7
AEI, _New Drugs: Pending Legislation_, ISBN 0-8447-0179-3
AEI, _Reforming Federal Drug Regulation_, 1976, ISBN 0-8447-2084-4
Henry G. Grabowski & John M. Vernon, AEI, 1983, ISBN 0-8447-3517-5
AEI = American Enterprise Institute
There were also a number of entries for reports of congressional hearings
regarding regulation of medical devices - last year's precursors to HR2597.
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