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In 1939, in the laboratories of Geigy pharmaceuticals, Paul Mueller discovered that DichloroDiphenylTrichlorethane DDT killed insects more effectively that anything else then available. Robert Domenjoz, the later creator of imipramine, had the job of evaluating it. He did the testing on lice that was to make DDT one of the best-selling pharmaceuticals in the world. He asked … [Read more...] about Go Figure: A Geek Tragedy

In 1936, three workers at the Halowax Corporation in New York State, who had been working with chlorinated naphthalenes, developed chloracne - a skin condition that Viktor Yushenko's face brought dramatically to world attention in 2004, when he was standing as the pro-Western candidate for the presidency of Ukraine. Chloracne can be caused by many chlorinated compounds from … [Read more...] about Go Figure on Perversity

Editorial Note: In her comment, reproduced below, Sally was the person who best got to grips with what I was struggling with in last week's post and this week's and for the next few weeks. Drug induced injury is one sphere in which we get injured. Turning to other spheres may give us some ideas about how to handle the dilemma of a treatment induced injury - how to avoid being … [Read more...] about Go Figure: Digging for the Truth of Injuries

Editorial Note: Sally's first Go Figure post with its 100 comments outlines the basic dilemma facing RxISK - how can anyone who has been injured by treatment get people who have not yet been injured to wake up. The next 5 - 10 posts will pick up various ways this dilemma has been answered over the last century. All comments welcome along with any posts - something more than a … [Read more...] about Go Figure: The Silver Lining Clouds the View

Katinka Blackford Newman talks about her new book Its now nearly three years ago since I woke up and found myself in a mental hospital in North West London. I looked down and saw wealds on my arms where I had torn my skin apart. There was a mirror in the tiny room where I’d spent most of the last four weeks going through agonizing cold turkey from being taken off five … [Read more...] about The Pill That Steals Lives

Editorial Note: This post is from Sally MacGregor. In depositions and lectures I commonly state that I have had more support and information from colleagues working for industry than from clinical colleagues. I loved the analysis of the derailment of medicine and research through the comparison between a Republican and Empire structure, and the take-over of the former by the … [Read more...] about Study 329: Republic to Empire

Editorial Note: This is the final part of Laurie Oakley's series on Pharmaceutical Rape. All six parts with better imagery (no-one is enthusiastic about the Martin Shkreli images) and extra text are available here as a PDF Download. Pharmaceutical violence Pharmaceutical violence is a social issue as well as medical problem that demands a social response and medical … [Read more...] about Pharmaceutical Rape: Ending our Tolerance

Ed Note: This is the fifth and penultimate post in Laurie Oakley's Pharmaceutical Rape series. Pharmaceutical violence is a social injustice that can intersect with every other type of oppression and form of discrimination. Dehumanizing in its own right, pharmaceutical rape (and the cultural/medical denial of it) compounds the distress already experienced by persons in … [Read more...] about Pharmaceutical Rape: Discrimination

Editorial Note: This is part 4 of Laurie Oakley's series on Pharmaceutical Rape. Many who experience life-altering, adverse outcomes after taking their medicines as prescribed do not receive acknowledgment of what they have experienced, let alone the medical care they need. Medical systems do not recognize many treatment related outcomes and patients are therefore denied … [Read more...] about Pharmaceutical Rape: Doctors still know best

This is part 3 of Laurie Oakley's series on Pharmaceutical Rape. In our society We learn a social script in which a “good patient” obeys the orders of doctors as authority figures. The ideal patient is a passive patient, subordinate to the physician. We are expected to relate to doctors as experts whose judgment we should trust when being prescribed medication. Because of … [Read more...] about Pharmaceutical Rape: The Good Patient