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The document was provided to CNN by the office of Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-New York, who has
called for tightening FDA regulations on drug safety. “The case demonstrates the need for Congress to
mandate the complete disclosure of all clinical studies for FDA-approved drugs so that patients and their
doctors, not the drug companies, decide whether the benefits of taking a certain medicine outweigh the
risks,” he said.
This would certainly be a step in the right direction, but it is simply not the way in which the FDA is
moving. In a bold move designed to sell even more prescription drugs, the FDA has announced its
intention to bypass doctors and allow pharmacists to prescribe certain drugs directly to consumers. The
move would subject patients to prescription-strength pharmaceuticals, even though they had not been
examined, diagnosed with any condition or given a non-drug alternative treatment plan by the person
prescribing the drugs. It is a "drugs only" approach that moves the U.S. medical system another step
closer to being the world largest legalized, drug-pushing cartel.
This is how the FDA justifies its recent move, as stated in a Federal Registry notice:
"Some groups have asserted that pharmacist interaction with the consumer could ensure safe and
effective use of a drug product that otherwise might require a prescription. Because pharmacists have the
training and knowledge to provide certain interventions, they may be able to ensure that patients meet the
conditions for use and educate patients on appropriate use of the drug product.” Why do we need doctors
then, you might ask? Who are the “some groups?” Will this move by the FDA do anything to reduce the
number of doctor-caused diseases and fatalities? Isn’t it likely that drug dispensaries will increase their
profits by this move? And who is going to suffer most from this from of legalized drug pushing?
Unfortunately, drugs like Prozac are already considered harmless recreational drugs. By making drug
acquisition even easier, this disturbing trend will only continue.
The 1988 Eli Lilly document indicated that 3.7 percent of patients attempted suicide while on Prozac, a
rate more than 12 times that cited for any of four other commonly used antidepressants. The document,
which cited clinical trials of 14,198 patients on fluoxetine, the generic name for Prozac, also stated that
2.3 percent of users suffered psychotic depression while on the drug. This was more than double the next-
highest rate for patients using another antidepressant. In addition, the paper noted that 1.6 percent of
patients reported incidents of hostility, more than double the number that patients on any of four other
commonly used antidepressants reported. Finally, the trials reviewed in the document said that 0.8 percent
of users of Prozac reported causing an intentional injury—eight times the rate associated with any of the
other antidepressants.
In the paper, entitled "Activation and Sedation in Fluoxetine Clinical Trials," the authors said that the
drug may produce nervousness, anxiety, agitation or insomnia in 19 percent of patients, and sedation in 13
percent of patients.
The British Medical Journal reported that the documents disappeared in 1994, during the case of
Joseph Wesbecker, a printing press operator who had killed eight people at his Louisville, Kentucky,
workplace five years before while taking fluoxetine. He then shot and killed himself.
The FDA has recently warned that antidepressants can cause side effects such as agitation, panic
attacks, insomnia and aggressiveness. This is truly bad news for people in Great Britain where Prozac is
being taken in such large quantities that it can now be found in Britain's drinking water. Environmentalists
are calling for an urgent investigation into the revelations, describing the buildup of this antidepressant as
“hidden mass medication.” The Environment Agency has revealed that Prozac is building up both in river
systems and the groundwater used for drinking supplies.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., Prozac has been in major waterways for months already. A Baylor University
toxicologist (Brooks) discovered traces of Prozac's active ingredient (fluoxetine) in the tissues of blue gill