Posted on 09/14/2010 1:05:53 PM PDT by Andrea19
...The hearing, being held to discuss the anti-tussive ingredient dextromethorphan found in cold medications, could catalyze a rulemaking process that would require any medicine containing dextromethorphan to be restricted by prescription.
This move would represent an enormous government intrusion into personal consumer decision based on negligible evidence that dextromethorphan presents any kind of risk. Nanny staters are quick to point to a 70 percent increase between 2004 and 2008 in emergency room visits involving dextromethorphan to justify this intrusion; they fail to acknowledge that this puts dextromethorphan-related visits at a little over 1 percent of all drug-related incidences. Moreover, this number doesn’t include visits that are the result of an adverse reaction, which made up about thirty percent of these instances in 2004.
What’s more, the FDA has failed to show how reclassifying cough medicines would address its concern that these medications are abused: prescription drug abuse is twice as common as recreational use of medicines containing dextromethorphan. This signals the tenuous footing of the FDA’s argument for restricting access to common cold medications...
Read more: http://www.atr.org/coalition-warns-fda-hands-off-cold-a5387#ixzz0zXGUHIId
(Excerpt) Read more at atr.org ...
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Can you still get codeine cough syrup just by signing for it without a prescription? Terpin hydrate with codeine used to be the best stuff for clearing out my lungs when a cold really took hold, but they took terpin hydrate off the market because there was no proof that it worked (BS, the stuff worked but no one wanted to fund a hundred million of dollars of testing for a chemical that was a couple bucks a bottle instead of fifty for a prescription).
The FDA is a growing concern - they want control over consumer cold remedies, and they want the ability to regulate the sale of genetic test kits which allow consumers to get early warning of conditions like heart disease and Alzheimer’s. The arrogance and over-reach of this bureaucracy are getting completely out of hand. They need to be checked.
Here’s an idea: Abolish the FDA.
You might like that idea unless, of course, you think that you are so stupid and such a danger to yourself that you will just start buying repackaged whiskey as a cure for cancer without a government nanny to protect you.
btt
we heard about the cough syrup today on the radio and it’s abuse. Well, if it is abused then it is abused but not by those using it for colds and treatment. I’ve seen people toss their head back and take a swig or so. We take it with a spoon as directed and...we don’t take it longer than the recommended 4-6 hour period.
Common sense folks...common sense.
Maybe they are the same people who think the world would be better off if the human population was reduced below 1 billion (better off for the animals, that is)...
Dextromethorphan ought to be in everyones medicine chest, as it can improve stroke victioms if given promptly after the stroke.
By the way, the FDA is a revolving door. They come from the drug industry, work at FDA for a couple of years, then go back to industry. Their job at FDA is to make one company very happy so they will hire them at a large salary.
Seems to be a lack of common sense, and ever changing studies. One year Food A is good, the next year it’s eee-vil. I don’t know about the FDA; but from what I see, if some people do abuse cough syrup, they are trying to sleep, but might as well buy cheap liquor in that case.
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