Consuming Consciousness

Twenty percent of drugs approved by the FDA are later withdrawn from the market or are required by law to carry warnings that they may cause serious adverse effects. Dr. Jeffrey Dach recently published a newsletter article that explains how to spot and avoid possibly dangerous medication. He mentions three early warning signs which include:

1. The drug has been recalled or given a black box warning.
2. The drug is in litigation with numerous lawsuits against the drug company.
3. The drug has been banned in other countries.

The article includes pointers to a list of drugs with adverse effect warnings (“black box” drugs), a partial listing of recalled or banned drugs, links to Consumer Reports listings of risky drugs, and a description of the importance of litigation in keeping bad drugs off the market. A link to Yahoo search engine listings of drugs in litigation is included.