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America's First Terror War
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Today's Stories May 22, 2007 Robert Fisk May 21, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Nicole Colson John Ross Stephen Fleischman M. Shahid Alam Ron Jacobs Peter Rost, MD Alan Farago Paul Buchheit Website of
the Day
May 19 / 20, 2007 Andrew Cockburn Uri Avnery Peter Gelderloos Saul Landau Robert Fantina Fred Gardner Ralph Nader Jean Daniels Reza Fiyouzat Missy Beattie Robert Alvarez Sonja Karkar Dave Lindorff Jeff Sher Julian C. Holmes Clancy Sigal Prairie Miller James Murren Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
May 18, 2007 Adam Jones Sharon Smith Christopher Brauchli Peter Rost,
MD Denise Maloney Pictou David Swanson Ali Khan Susan Rosenthal,
M.D. Samer Assad CP News Service Website of the Day
May 17, 2007 Tariq Ali Yifat Susskind Dave Zirin Brian J. Foley W. John Green Eric Johnson-DeBaufre Badruddin Khan Martha Rosenberg China Hand Dan Vojir Website of the Day
Patrick Cockburn Ashley Dawson Joshua Frank Corporate Crime
Reporter Ray McGovern Glen Ford Joe Bageant Sonja Karkar Mickey S. Huff John Chuckman Kaz Dziamka Website of
the Day
May 15, 2007 Michael Neumann Patrick Cockburn Ashley Smith Marc Gardner Dave Lindorff Ben Terrall Ron Jacobs Harvey Wasserman Marcus Mabry Dr. Susan Block Website of the Day
May 14, 2007 Jennifer Roesch Jeffrey St.
Clair George Bisharat Diane Wachtell Ramzy Baroud Rosemary and
Walter Brasch Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed Roberto Rodriguez Jonathan Culp Website of
the Day
May 12 / 13, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Patrick Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Diane Farsetta Ralph Nader Jean Bricmont Marcus Breen Joe Bageant Conn Hallinan Fred Gardner Juan Santos
Eve Bachrach Missy Comley
Beattie Ron Jacobs Niranjan Ramakrishnan Susie Day Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend May 11, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Kathleen Christison Mike Ferner John Holt Laurie Hasbrook Christopher
Brauchli Margaret Kimberley Dave Lindorff Nicole Colson John V. Walsh Website of the Day
May 10, 2007 Tariq Ali Patrick Cockburn Neve Gordon Marjorie Cohn David Rosen Alan Farago John Hellman Kathy Rentenbach BANCO Richard Rhames Website of the Day
Jeff Leys Patrick Cockburn Glen Ford Paula Rothenberg Kathryn Weber John Chuckman Jordan Flaherty Dave Lindorff Stephen Lendman Website of
the Day
May 8, 2007 Dave Lindorff Patrick Cockburn Corporate Crime Reporter Ralph Nader Malini Johar Schueller Juan Santos Dave Zirin Joshua Frank Evelyn Pringle Eamonn McCann Website of the Day
May 7, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Monica Benderman Greg Moses Rannie Amiri Fitrakis / Wasserman Fred Wilhelms Ramzy Baroud Bruce K. Gagnon T. W. Croft Sonja Karkar Website of the Day
Alexander Cockburn William Blum Uri Avnery Franklin Lamb Fred Gardner Lawrence R.
Velvel Missy Beattie Robert Fantina Carla Blank Linn Washington,
Jr. Stephen F. Jackson P. Sainath Anthony Papa James T. Phillips John Ross Stephen Lendman Ben Terrall CounterPunch
Newswire Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
May 4, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Col. Dan Smith Norman Solomon Azmi Bishara Ron Jacobs Dave Lindorff Kevin Zeese Bob Fitrakis Janet Kauffman Website of
the Day
May 3, 2007 Jeff Halper Christopher
Brauchli Dave Zirin Corporate Crime
Reporter Robert Fisk Mike Ferner Mike Whitney Pham Binh Dave Lindorff Michael A.
Johnson Website of the Day
May 2, 2007 Saul Landau Dr. Susan Block Carla Blank Margaret Kimberly Kevin Zeese Carlos Villareal Michael Dickinson Tim Shorrock Alevtina Rea William S.
Lind Website of the Day
Andrew Cockburn Fred Gardner Chase Madar Ralph Nader John V. Walsh Joshua Frank Leslie Radford Shaun Harkin Dave Lindorff Peter Rost,
MD Peter Linebaugh Website of
the Day
April 30, 2007 Frank Menetrez Paul Craig
Roberts Ray McGovern Manuel Garcia,
Jr. Diana Johnstone Sherwood Ross Peter Rost, MD Robert Jensen Kevin Zeese Jane Stillwater Website of
the Day
April 28 / 29, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St.
Clair Fred Gardner David Orchard
Alan Maass Joe Bageant Robert Fantina Hanan Ashrawi Ron Jacobs Nicole Colson Ben Terrall Missy Beattie Harvey Wasserman Cindy Beringer Mike Roselle RAWA James McEnteer Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
Eva Liddell Phyllis Bennis Mike Whitney Michael F.
Brown Jordan Flaherty Margaret Kimberly Christopher Brauchli Jacob Mundy Website of the Day
Andrew Cockburn Franklin Lamb Patrick Cockburn Roger Morris Henry Siegman Alevtina Rea Paris Nikolas Kozloff Alan Farago Matthew S. Miller Website of
the Day
Sharon Smith David Price Diana Johnstone Brendan Cooney Sonja Karkar Brian Concannon Lee Gaillard Leah Fishbein Dave Lindorff Neal Galloway Website of the Day
April 24, 2007 Ishmael Reed Lila Rajiva Paul Craig Roberts Patrick Cockburn Ralph Nader Mike Whitney Website of the Day
April 23, 2007 Saul Landau Patrick Cockburn Robert Fantina Sam Husseini Corporate Crime Reporter Elizabeth Lalasz Harvey Wasserman Dave Lindorff Gary Leupp Stephen Lendman Website of the Day
Alexander Cockburn Fred Gardner Kristoffer Larsson Barbara Rose
Johnston Manuel Garcia, Jr. John Scagliotti Marjorie Cohn Patrick Cockburn Diana Johnstone Ron Jacobs Evelyn Pringle BANCO Paul Richards Dan Bacher Ben Terrall Sherwood Ross Remi Kanazi Aseem Shrivastava Poets' Basement Website of
the Day
April 20, 2007 Doug Peacock Diane Farsetta Tom Clifford Amira Hass Nicole Colson Sonja Karkar Heather Gray Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban Agustin Velloso Matthew Koehler Website of
the Day
April 19, 2007 Emad Mekay
/ Patrick Cockburn Larry C. Johnson Norman Solomon Saul Williams Sunsara Taylor Harvey Wasserman Christopher
Brauchli Anthony Papa Dave Lindorff Website of the Day
April 18, 2007 Lila Rajiva Landau / Hassen Charles Fisher
/ Diane Christian Kevin Prosen China Hand Peter Rost,
MD Justin Akers Chacón Jerry Kroth Sherwood Ross Niranjan Ramakrishnan Alice Cherbonnier Website of
the Year?
April 17, 2007 Jean Bricmont
/ Paul Craig
Roberts Frida Berrigan Alison Weir John Walsh Jason Hribal Evelyn Pringle Ben Terrall Stan Cox Soren Ambrose Website of the Day
April 16, 2007 John F. Sugg Ismael Hossein-Zadeh Carl G. Estabrook Paul Craig Roberts Uri Avnery Ralph Nader Eamon McCann Lee Sustar Mike Whitney Don Fitz Stephen Lendman Website of the Day
April 14 / 15, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Jorge Mariscal Jeffrey St. Clair Dave Marsh Dr. Trudy Bond Joe Bageant Fidel Castro Alfredo Molano Alan Farago Michael Neumann Fred Gardner Ron Jacobs Gail Dines Linda Ford Missy Beattie Dan La Botz Giuliana Sgrena Laura Carlsen Abu Spinoza Elizabeth Schulte Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
April 13, 2007 Patrick Cockburn Stephen Soldz George Ciccarriello-Maher Laith al-Saud Dave Zirin John Ross Ramzy Baroud Harvey Wasserman Lopez, Olivo and Garcia Dols, Fukumori,
Judd and Tillett-Saks Website of the Day
April 12, 2007 JoAnn Wypijewski Paul Craig
Roberts Marjorie Cohn Evelyn Pringle Ron Jacobs Norman Solomon Joe DeRaymond Nicola Nasser Nikolas Kozloff William S.
Lind Siegfried L. Sassoon Website of
the Day
R. T. Naylor Vijay Prashad Patrick Cockburn Winslow T. Wheeler Jack Balkwill Alan Farago Russell D.
Hoffman Peter Rost, MD Mike Whitney Dave Lindorff Susie Day Website of the Day
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May 22, 2007 The FDA and SSRIsA Misleading Suicide WarningBy EVELYN PRINGLE On May 2, 2007, the FDA announced its most misleading warnings to date about selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants when it said the drug makers would revise the current black box warning of an increased risk of suicidality in children and adolescents to include adults, but only young adults ages 18 to 24. Apparently at the ripe old age of 25 the increased risk no longer exists. An FDA advisory committee held a public hearing on December 13, 2006 to review drug company data that show SSRIs to be associated with suicidality in adults. The commonly prescribed SSRIs in the US include Prozac, by Eli Lilly, Paxil by GlaxoSmithKline, Zoloft by Pfizer, and Celexa and Lexapro by Forest Labs, along with various generic versions of the drugs. Many of the world's leading experts on psychiatric drugs traveled to Washington to appear at the hearing, some of whom have spent years investigating the adverse events associated with SSRIs, to testify about the need to extend the back box warnings about suicidality to all age groups. Needless to say, advocates and experts alike are outraged over the limited warning, which is widely viewed as another gift to the drug makers by the FDA. "Keeping up with its support of the Psychiatric community and pharmaceutical industry the FDA has again taken the low road," says Kelly Patricia O'Meara, author of "PSYCHED OUT: How Psychiatry Sells Mental Illness and Pushes Pills That Kill." "Not only is it continuing to minimize the adverse reactions of the antidepressants on the entire population," she notes, "it has now become a cheerleader for the psychiatric community." "When will the well-being of the American People," Ms O'Meara asks, "get the protection it needs and deserves from the nation's leading drug watchdog and when will this nation's lawmakers stand up and be counted on this issue?" Attorney Karen Barth Menzies is one of the nation's most relentless advocates in the legal field when it comes to pushing the FDA to add warnings about adverse events to the labels of SSRIs. In fact, she has traveled to Washington to speak on behalf of SSRI victims numerous times. "As I stated in my testimony before the FDA in December 2006," Ms Menzies notes, "it is not the FDA's job to promote the virtues of particular drugs nor is it FDA's job to suggest what treatment people should receive for a particular medical problem." "Even the FDA's Dr. Robert Temple said as much during the December hearing," she points out. "Yet that is what the FDA has done with its announcement of the expanded warnings on antidepressants," she says. "Aside from the very serious risks of these drugs," she explains, "there is an overarching issue related to their over-prescription and drug manufacturers preying on vulnerable people by telling them they have a disease that must be treated with their medication." A partner in the Baum Hedlund law firm, Ms Menzies considers the FDA's expanded warning a hollow victory. "While it appears that the FDA has finally taken the issue more seriously," she notes, "it is 20 years and thousands of lives too late." In addition, in the agency's press release and accompanying Q & A document, Ms. Menzies warns, "The FDA has made some seriously misleading statements that will lead patients and physicians into a false sense of security." Ms Menzies says she believes "without question" that drug makers are putting pressure on the FDA. "Despite the controversy over the failures of the FDA in the past several years," she points out, "it appears that the FDA simply cannot muster the guts to act without industry influence." Critics say the nation's regulatory agencies under the Bush administration have evolved into a protection network for drug makers, in large part, because the industry has created a revolving door where top officials move directly from their government employment into high-paying positions with drug companies. The latest evidence of this charge appeared in the media on May 4, 2007, with a press release by Prozac-maker Eli Lilly, announcing that Alex Azar II will be joining Lilly as senior vice president, who until February 3, 2007, was the Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services and served as the "chief operating officer of the largest civilian department in the federal government." "Azar supervised all operations of the HHS, including the regulation of food and drugs," the press release said, and agencies under his direction included, among others, the FDA. Azar follows in his former partner, Daniel Troy's footsteps in defending the drug industry. While Troy left his position as chief counsel at the FDA to work for a law firm representing drug companies, Azar (also a lawyer) went straight to the drug industry itself. At Lilly, Azar will be responsible for "public relations, governmental affairs, public-policy planning and development, external and internal communications, corporate branding and community relations." According to the Indianapolis Star, Azar "takes over the Lilly post as seven states are suing the company, alleging that it promoted off-label uses for Zyprexa, its top-selling drug approved for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. "Like other pharmaceutical companies," the Star points out, "Lilly also faces an array of public- policy challenges, including criticism that it is too cozy with doctors and regulators." There is one positive to be noted, at least Troy and Azar are no longer pretending to be protectors of the public health. Experts say the suicidality risk applies to all SSRI users. "The simple truth is that antidepressants cause suicide in all age groups," according to psychiatrist, Dr Peter Breggin, a court-certified expert on SSRIs, and author of "The Anti-Depressant Fact Book." "Dragged kicking and screaming into admitting that children and now young adults are at risk for antidepressant-induced suicidality," he says, "the FDA continues to evade reality." "If the relatively insensitive drug-company rigged short clinical trials pick up suicidality in any age group," Dr Breggin says, "it's almost a certainty that they are causing actual suicides in all ages." Many other experts agree that safety decisions should not be based on drug maker studies. "The fundamental problem continues to be that the FDA is basing their decisions on studies that are designed and paid for by the very companies that make these drugs," said Dr Timothy Scott, author of, "America Fooled: The Truth about Antidepressants, Antipsychotics and How We've Been Deceived." "It is a case," he says, "of the fox guarding the chicken house." "The research designs used by these studies," he notes, "are incredibly unfair and yet the FDA is allowing this system to continue." "Dishonest research designs," Dr Scott says, "do not give an honest assessment of the physical or the psychological dangers of long-term antidepressant use." "Independent research investigations," he states, "repeatedly find adverse events are much, much higher than the rates reported in the studies submitted to the FDA by the drug manufacturers." For over a decade and a half, Attorney Menzies points out, SSRI makers have enjoyed enormous financial benefits from their manipulations of the clinical trial data and the FDA continues to ignore all evidence aside from data provided by the drug companies. "The FDA is ignoring," she says, "independent analyses conducted by scientists in the field, as well as historical and foreign regulatory actions dating back over 20 years." Ms Menzies states that clinical trial data from before SSRIs were even approved, signaled the suicidality risk. Documents obtained in litigation show that as early as 1984, Eli Lilly was aware of an increased risk of suicidality with Prozac. Attorney Menzies calls the FDA's statement that "scientific data does not show an increased risk in adults older than 24, and that adults ages 65 and older taking antidepressants have a decreased risk of suicidality," "extremely misleading." "Rather than accurately informing the public that suicidality can occur in some people at any age," she notes, "this new warning gives the false perception that certain age groups are entirely safe while others are not. I know for a fact from my review of internal drug company documents that that is not true," she says. Critics also find this statement disturbing in light of other independent studies, including a study reported in the May 1, 2006, London Free Press, conducted at the Toronto's Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, that identified suicides among older Ontarians, 66 and up, and found that for patients who were prescribed antidepressants in the 6 months before their deaths, the risk of suicide in the first month for those taking SSRIs was nearly 5 times higher than for seniors taking older antidepressants called tricyclics such as Elavil. Other experts also object to the piecemeal addition of SSRI warnings. "When the FDA ordered a black box warning for only those 18 and under, it defied common sense that as soon as one turned 19, one was safe," says Dr Bruce Levine, PhD, Clinical Psychologist, author of "STAR*D Wars: The Corruption of the National Institute of Mental Health and the Failure of Antidepressants." "And now that the warning will extend until 24," Dr Levine adds, "it defies common sense that one becomes safe on one's 25th birthday." "While some people report antidepressants have benefited them," he notes, "legitimate science shows that these antidepressants are no more helpful for depression than a placebo or no treatment at all." According to a study analyzing clinical trials submitted to the FDA for drug approval, the efficacy data submitted to the FDA for the six most widely prescribed antidepressants approved between 1987 and 1999, "the pharmacological effects of antidepressants are clinically negligible." The Emperor's New Drugs: An Analysis of Antidepressant Medication Data Submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by Irving Kirsch, Thomas J. Moore, Alan Scorboria and Sarah S. Nicholls. According to Kirsch, "[a]lthough antidepressant medication is widely regarded as efficacious, a recent meta-analysis of published clinical trials indicates that 75 percent of the response to antidepressants is duplicated by placebo." Kirsch & Sapirstein, G. (1998). Listening to Prozac but hearing placebo: A meta analysis of antidepressant medication. Two recent studies conducted in the UK report that exercise in a green environment may be the best remedy for depression. In response to the high cost of drugs, the rise in prescriptions and the fact that 93 percent of GPs reported that "they have prescribed antidepressants against their better judgment owing to a lack of alternatives," the studies found that "participating in green exercise activities provides substantial benefits for health and wellbeing." The "green activities" included gardening, walking, running and bicycling, particularly in a "green" environment. Another of the world's leading experts on psychiatric drugs, Dr David Healy, author of, "The Creation of Pharmacology (Harvard 2002)," also a frequent visitor traveling from the UK to Washington to testify at FDA hearings, says, "The clinical trial data pointing to a risk was compelling 17 years ago." "In between 1990 and now," he notes, "the FDA and drug companies have argued that their assessment of risk benefit ratios has not warranted issuing warnings." "But if we look at the supposed benefits," he explains, "in milder depressions - the vast majority of people who get antidepressants - the FDA analysis in December 2006 showed that only 1 in 10 people who are given antidepressants in clinical trials respond to the drug." "Four out of 10 respond to being seen and given sensible advice," he notes. "Putting this 1 in 10 response rate against a 1 in 100 rate of suicidal acts might not seem a bad bet," Dr Healy says, "but suicidal acts are not the only risk of treatment - patients can become severely anxious, homicidal, are at increased risk of broken bones, strokes and bleeds into the gut and other organs, weight gain and its attendant risks." He also notes that one in two patients on antidepressants experience sexual dysfunction and that it now seems that in a proportion of these people, the problem may be permanent. "In the case of children," he says, "there are additional risks like failure to grow." Another serious adverse event with SSRIs is a discontinuation syndrome. Psychiatrist Dr Grace Jackson, author of, "Rethinking Psychiatric Drugs: A Guide for Informed Consent," warns that some patients may not be able to return to living without the drugs, not because they develop a "craving," but because the withdrawal effects they experience during drug cessation are intolerable and are misinterpreted by doctors as "proof" of depressive relapse, for which "lifelong therapy" is mandated. Over the past several years, many new adverse events related to SSRI use have emerged, including life-threatening birth defects in infants born to mother's taking SSRIs during pregnancy. But because SSRI makers have hidden negative studies for years, experts say patients and doctors were not informed of all the known risks associated with SSRIs. "Informed consent cannot be obtained for antidepressants--or for any pharmaceutical--unless all of the drugs' risks are known to the prescribers," according to psychiatrist, Dr Stefan Kruszewski, Faculty, Eastern University, Department of Addictions. "They cannot be known," he says, "if all of the data is not made available to review or made public - as was the case with Paxil." According to Dr Healy, a bigger issue stems from company efforts to make billions of dollars out of these drugs by having them given to people who have little to gain from treatment and a lot to lose." Dr Healy says most patients with milder depression would get well if seen by a sympathetic physician or therapist and describes three side effects that have resulted from the SSRI controversy:
Clinical pharmacologist, Andrew Herxheimer, also says doctors should be advised not to prescribe drugs, especially SSRIs, to patients with only mild or moderate depression, and if prescribing is deemed necessary, to use the lowest dose that is effective for the individual. According to Dr Levine, the SSRI makers are not as unhappy as some might think with the warnings and negative publicity. "Patents have run out or are soon to run on all their big sellers," he explains, "and they are preparing their next generation of worthless, dangerous but patented drugs to replace the SSRIs." Ms Menzies reports that there is a big push to switch people over from taking antidepressants to antipsychotics under the guise that people aren't depressed after all, they actually have bipolar disorder. "It is a very cleverly orchestrated marketing scheme and it's a continuation of the manipulation of a vulnerable population," she says. Vince Boehm, another persistent advocate for warnings on SSRIs agrees, "This is all about marketing, and not about safety." "This latest ploy" regarding the expanded antidepressant warnings, Boehm explains, "is a delaying action on the part of the manufacturers with FDA complicity." "The FDA just commissioned a series of three year studies to evaluate the adult suicide problem," he notes, "and by the time these studies are done and released, the bulk of the medications listed in this announcement will be either off or going off patent." Evelyn Pringle is an investigative journalist. She
can be reached at: (Written as part of the Paxil
Litigation Monthly Round-Up, Sponsored by Baum Hedlund's Pharmaceutical
Antidepressant Litigation Department)
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The Gang's All Here: Judy Miller, Bob Woodward, Jeffrey Goldberg, Rupert Murdoch, Bill O'Reilly...End Times Leaves No Reputation Unstained!  Buy End Times Now! CounterPunch Books! Saul Landau's Bush and Botox World with a Foreword by Gore Vidal  Click Here to Order!  Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair           The Occupation by Patrick Cockburn            CITY BEAUTIFUL By Tennessee Reed        Bruce Springsteen On Tour By Dave Marsh                   |
