The Ash Files

For over a century the Food & Drug Administration has been a ruling authority on national health legislation. With an annual budget of $6.5 billion, the federal agency controls dietary supplements, vaccines, and pharmaceuticals. Many see the government organization as a benevolent force that only endorses products deemed safe for human consumption. However, history repeatedly proves the institution’s authorization is not always synonymous with safety. Throughout the decades, FDA-approved drugs have altered or ended countless lives. Electric shock therapy was used on children until 2020. Accutane resulted in more than 20,000 suicides. Zantac exposed millions to dangerous carcinogens and Vioxx caused 27,000 heart attacks. Ironically, the very same regulators vehemently opposed importing harmless baby formula during mass shortages.

These FDA-approved drugs have wreaked havoc on society:

VALDECOXIB (BEXTRA)
Beginning in 2001, the NSAID was used to treat arthritis and menstrual pain. Only weeks later the inconspicuous pills were manifesting a plethora of afflictions. Bextra induced heart attacks, strokes, and gastrointestinal bleeding. Some contracted toxic epidermal necrolysis, a life-threatening skin condition. By 2009 Pfizer was criminally charged and ordered to pay $2.3 billion to victims.

TERFENADINE (SELDANE)
Terfenadine is an antihistamine used for treating allergic reactions. Users worldwide suffered from severe adverse events including arrhythmias, palpitations, and cardiac arrest. Hundreds succumbed to heart issues triggered by the decongestant. Despite the rising fatalities, it remained on the market for 13 years.

EFALIZUMAB (RAPTIVA)
Consumers used this immunosuppressant to treat their psoriasis but were plagued with a host of horrific ailments. An unfortunate percentage developed progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, a fatal disease that destroys the white matter of the brain and central nervous system.

TROGLITAZONE (REZULIN)
General practitioners recommended the anti-diabetic to adults with type 2 diabetes. Patients acquired terrible maladies in the form of urinary tract infections, internal swelling, and liver failure. After a surge in fatalities, 35,000 lawsuits were filed against Pfizer. They paid a $60 million court-ordered settlement.

SIBUTRAMINE (MERIDIA)
Physicians endorsed this appetite suppressant for individuals seeking weight loss. In exchange for shedding pounds, partakers gained numerous unwanted complications. Side effects included rashes, joint pain, substantially increased blood pressure, seizures, heart attacks, and strokes. Dozens died with thousands more enduring debilitating injuries.

BROMFENAC (DURACT)
People took the oral anesthetic for its pain-relieving properties. The pharmaceutical had catastrophic repercussions during its 11 months of distribution. Recipients sustained irreversible liver damage which required transplants. Others experienced psychosis, tremors, liver abnormalities, pancreatitis, peptic ulcers, myocardial infarctions, and hemorrhages.

LEVAMISOLE (ERGAMISOL)
Doctors suggested this antihelminthic to those with worm infestations, rheumatoid arthritis, and cancer. It was widely circulated from the late 1980s through the early 2000s. Levamisole suppresses white blood cell production which leads to neutropenia, agranulocytosis, and thrombotic vasculopathy. Such disorders transform into retiform purpura, a purple discoloration around the eyes.

Whether these instances are due to incompetence or something more sinister, it is apparent that the Food and Drug Administration has failed to protect citizens. Associate Director of the Office of Drug Safety, Dr. David Graham, once stated “FDA is inherently biased in favor of the pharmaceutical industry. It views industry as its client, whose interests it must represent and advance. It views its primary mission as approving as many drugs it can, regardless of whether the drugs are safe or needed.” Prescribed medications cause 2.74 million hospitalizations annually and are the 4th leading cause of death in America. Money talks and financial gains are nearly infinite when it comes to global pandemics. Coronavirus inoculations bring in $1,000 in profits per second. Bureaucrats must be salivating at the prospect of monkeypox.