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Statin medications include Lipitor, Zocor, Prevastin and
more. They are generally given to individuals with a total
cholesterol level of over 200 but lately even those with cholesterol
levels at 170 are prescribed these medications. There is much evidence coming to light to suggest these drugs are not only
ineffective for preventing heart attack but may have many undesirable side
effects. Book review: How Statin Drugs Really Lower Cholesterol and Kill You One Cell at a
Time
by James B. Yoseph and Hannah Yoseph, MD
(Self published)
Information in this book includes the following:
Early statin research was carried out by Sankyo in Japan and Merck in the
United States. In the early studies, the research was halted when all the lab animals
developed cancer. The research also clearly showed that statins work by
disrupting the mevalonate pathway which may interfere with DNA
replication, causing the death of the cell.
Brown and
Goldstein, two of the main researchers for Merck, wrote a treatise
explaining how statins lower cholesterol and won a Nobel prize. Glaringly
lacking in their paper were the side effects of statin drugs.
The authors of the above book, feel that medical providers who prescribe
statins are either lacking in knowledge about the medications or pandering
to "the establishment". Truth be known, most providers due to lack
of time, end up using the pharmaceutical seminars for their continuing
education credits (CME's). These pharmaceutical companies wine and
dine the providers while providing intense seminars which are very biased
in favor of the featured medication or treatment and greatly lacking in
providing a true picture of the side effects and downside of the products.
The authors of the book suggest that a conflict of interest has motivated
some pharmaceutical companies to misbehave in a number of lawsuit cases
that are a matter of public record.
The NIH-backed National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) set national
policy for lowering cholesterol with statins. Sadly, those doctors on the
committee establishing these guidelines had financial relationships with
those pharmaceutical companies benefiting from the sale of statin drugs.
In an
advisory committee meeting held to review guidelines for lovastatin, the
meeting was not chaired by an FDA employee but by a Merck consultant. The
advisory committee included two Merck consultants and seven Merck
employees. Half of the audience was made up of Merck consultants.
Finally, the Japanese researcher Dr. Akira Endo, credited with finding the
first statin, refused to take the medication for his high cholesterol.
When queried about this, he replied with a Japanese proverb, "The indigo
dyer wears white trousers." To make sense of that you need to know indigo
dye is toxic. Since the book was written, many more side effects of
statin drugs have been observed, including rather significantly raising
the risk for cancer. However, despite all this, some nine million
people worldwide, take statin drugs on a regular basis. So it
remains a "cash cow" for the manufacturers.
Detailed article - How statins really lower cholesterol |