Re: RC: Re: Re: Re: Re: Animal By-Products in Feed

[Lynn Kinsky <lkinsky@silcom.com>]

>While the FDA had not approved thalidomide it was basically because the
>application was not made for the US market until it was obvious in
>Europe that
>there were problems with this drug. Given that the FDA works on the same
>basic
>test philosophy as its European counterparts, we were only spared
>because of
>the late application. This is a case study of how the drug approval
>process is
>seriously flawed.

>Am I going to take a drug that hasn't been on the market of 15 or 20
>years,
>not on your life.
>
>Truman

Then you could take thalidomide, which wouldn't have harmed you anyway --
it was actually a very safe tranquilizer almost impossible to OD on, but
unfortunately had very bad effects on a developing fetus during a very
narrow window of its development cycle.  What happened to the thalidomide
babies was tragic, but many times that sort of thing can't be caught in
animal testing.  The suicidal patients who killed themselves with other
tranquilizers after thalidomide was withdrawn was also tragic.

Fortunately hysteria did not totally dominate the situation and thalidomide
has been on the market for 15 years or so -- as a drug that can be used in
treating symptoms of leprosy or AIDS
(http://health.yahoo.com/health/Drugs_Tree/Medication_or_Drug/0748).  The
biological mechanism that had tragic results in one situation has helpful
results in another.


Lynn Kinsky (Santa Ynez, CA)
http://www.silcom.com/~lkinsky