|
|
|
|
ASPIRIN (ACETYLSALICYLIC ACID) E. Priestley Nov., 1997. (Updated April, 1998, April 2005) From its discovery by Hippocrates when he brewed up willow leaves to give mothers relief for pain during childbirth followed by its mass production just over 100 years ago aspirin has been stated by many to be safe and effective, but is this so? What research has been done to show just how many are really adversely affected by this drug. To establish how many are affected by any adverse drug reactions (ADR's) is very difficult because the system of "Yellow Cards" provided for doctors to report the ADRs is only voluntary and not a requirement. A survey reported in The Pharmaceutical Journal dated 2nd. November, 1996 showed that of over 20,000 patients admitted to hospitals in the U.K. only 6.3% of those admitted because they had been made ill by an ADR had the ADR been reported by their doctors. The "Yellow Cards" are provided as tear-off cards to be sent to The Medicines Control Agency and are in the back of the British National Formulary (BNF) the book doctors in the U.K. use when prescribing. The BNF is written by the British Medical Association and The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. The very low 6.3% level of reporting of ADR's by doctors is also higher than the actual total ADR's if long term effects of drugs, which are just about never reported, are taken into account. Conditions like cancers, Parkinson's, diabetes, arthritic, heart disease etc. have probably near zero ADRs reported even though the BNF does state that conditions like cancer, which can manifest years later as an ADR should be reported. Establishing whether a drug is safe or not from animal testing is a waste of time, unreliable, and can be downright dangerous for those who later take the drug. Animals are not humans and the fact that the pharmaceutical industry do their own testing, pay for the writing of medical papers etc. all means that any assurances of safety of a drug can be ignored. The first real test of the safety of a drug is when it is prescribed to the public. The terrible mutating effects of thalidomide was only noticed when prescribed to the public and completely missed (or overlooked) in laboratory tests beforehand. My Oxford University “Gaddum’s Pharmacology book states that only about half of drug side-effects are found in animal tests. Most, if not all the members of the Committee of Safety of Medicines, the body responsible for the passing drugs as safe to use, have either direct or indirect financial connections with the pharmaceutical industry so any notion that there is really any protection for the public before a drug is put on the market can be dismissed. E.M.Davies in his textbook on Adverse Drug Reactions notes with one asthmatic drug, that there were a least 6,000 deaths due to the drug before anyone noticed it. This does not exactly inspire confidence in any of the testing before or reporting of ADRs. Given all the above facts on very poor drug testing for safety and near zero reporting of adverse drug reactions is it possible that a drug like aspirin, which has been in use for many years but only used by a large proportion of the population in recent decades, has been killing and injuring many due to its side effects which have gone unnoticed and unreported?. The September, 1997 BNF drug book used by doctors daily has entries on seven pages on the various uses of aspirin, for painkilling, anti platelet, migraine, poisoning by, rheumatic disease, myocardial infarction and on compound of aspirin. Page 427 of this book probably gives the best and most comprehensive list of cautions and side-effects when used in musculoskeletal and joint disease. Under "cautions" it notes that aspirin should be used with care in cases of asthma, allergic disease, uncontrolled hypotension, hepatic or renal impairment, dehydration, pregnancy, the elderly and G6PD deficiency (a condition very rarely suffered by Caucasians). It also notes that there is an association between the administration of aspirin and Rey's Syndrome a condition of infiltration of the internal organs with fats. When aspirin and other drugs which are documented to destroy the bone marrow in pre-cancerous conditions like aplastic anaemia which produces millions new cells a second the bone marrow is replaced by fatty none blood producing deposits.. The Committee of Safety of Medicines has therefore stated that aspirin preparations should not be given to children under the age of 12 and that the drug is not suitable medicine for children with minor illnesses. Under the long list of side-effects listed in the same BNF book are a high incidence of gastro-intestinal irritation with a symptomatic blood loss, increased bleeding time (this is the same reason for the one given above because of the effects on the bone marrow and destruction of platelets in conditions like aplastic anaemia and thrombocytopenia) bronchospasm, nausea, ulceration with occult bleeding and occasionally major haemorrhage including subconjuctual, hearing disturbances such as tinnitus leading rarely to deafness, vertigo, mental confusion, angioedema,, rashes, myocarditis, blood disorders particularly thrombocytopenia (platelet destruction causing the serious and often fatal haemorrhages). The American Journal of Pathology 1949 has a section on the effects of the atomic bombs on the victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Page 863 describes in detail the symptoms of those dying in the 3rd to 6th weeks and those further from the blast surviving clinical symptoms. These effects are exactly as stated in medical textbooks like Bowman and Rand's Pharmacology when it states the effects of drugs, including aspirin, toxic chemicals and ionising radiation are exactly the same. The page 863 mentioned above also gives the destructive effects on the bone marrow causing aplastic anaemia and thrombocytopenia, the fatal haemorrhaging etc. exactly the same effects described as side-effects of aspirin.and related drugs. Investigations by myself into bone marrow disorders showed that taking aspirin and related drugs carries a high risk of being referred to a haematologist in the future although none of the many I spoke to were given any satisfactory explanation of their drug induced blood disorder. Bowman and Rand's Pharmacology notes that the incidence of cancer in the atomic bomb victims was high and higher the nearer the victim was to the source of the blast. As aspirin has exactly the same effects, especially if taken in high doses over long periods, there is no escaping the fact that aspirin can and does cause some cancers. Looking at the molecular structure of aspirin it does contain chemicals that are known to cause cancer. The many news reports of aspirin causing headaches and other symptoms for which it was taken are therefore accurate and are the exact same symptoms listed in medical papers and textbooks as those exposed to toxic chemicals and ionising radiation's which preceed the development of a serious blood disorder. Aspirin is an "over the counter" drug which makes it near impossible to investigate how many deaths and serious injuries are caused by its effects on the bone marrow and destruction of platelets leading to haemorrhage. There are many unanswered questions, which are never asked by the medical profession, like how many of the total of all those who die of a brain haemorrhage do so because of aspirin or a related drug taken in the period beforehand. We do know a substantial number of people die through liver damage etc. from those who take an overdose or just take too many without realising the dangers. In addition undoubtably many die through overwhelming infections like pneumonia and septicaemia due to aspirin reducing the numbers of white cells which fight infection.
|
|
Send mail to
webmaster with questions or comments about this web site.
|