If you read my post the other day on food irradiation you will be aware of my dislike and distrust of the Food and Drug Administration. They have so much control over which drugs are allowed and those which are banned, but hey, where’s the profits in a healthy nation?

I learned from the podcast I put on that post that the FDA were aware of the dangers of the drug Vioxx, (known generically as rofecoxib and produced by the drug company Merk & Co ) but then the FDA knowingly allowed it to be prescribed, Vioxx ended up ( when taken as directed ) killing more people than the amount of Americans that were killed in the Vietnam War.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Vioxx eventually led to more than 27,000 heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths.

Vioxx is a COX-2 selective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). Vioxx was commonly prescribed to reduce inflammation and pain in osteoarthritis, arthritis, management of acute joint pain and for period pain.

I have a cracked disc in my spine from a rather stupid injury in 2001 ( My own fault) . This does of course give me some discomfort from time to time and gives referred pain throughout other parts of the body, but hell am I glad that when my GP offered me ( actually recommending me would be more to the point ) a prescription for Vioxx I declined. That was at a point when I started looking into natural food alternatives for inflammation reduction instead of popping pills, even then when I was recommended Vioxx I was aware of rumours that heart attacks were a common side effect. I was not that desperate for pain relief accept that prescrption but went from the doctors surgery to the co-op to buy strawberries and a pineapple.

My medicine that night felt more like a treat than a gamble with my life.

( NSAID’s ) such as Vioxx can reek havock on the body. Vioxx side effects included causing stomach ulcers, stomach bleeding and majorly increased heart attack and stroke risk to those who were taking it.

Osteoarthritis is the result of the body lacking the ability to manufacture a molecule known as glucosamine . This then leads to a lack of collagen which is the main protein of connective tissue.

Glucosamine, which can be bought in a tablet form from a good health food shop or as a gel, is derived from crustaceans, so not a good idea if you have allergic reactions to shellfish, but capsicums and comfrey are both effective at relieving joint pain. There always seems to be some food that will do the job when it comes to healing. Perhaps comfrey cream or a capsicum food extract would be things buy for anyone building up a natural “drug company free” medicine cabinet, although I did make my own comfrey cream once that was effective and smelt “oh so earthy” but the downside was that it did stain any clothes or bedding bright green.

Perhaps this is the best way for us to save our natural food supplies. Consumers do control the market but unfortunately the majority do rely upon and expect their doctors to prescibe something for any condition that they have. If more people looked for a natural alternative, which I believe is starting to happen then perhaps our foodstuffs being irradiated could be stopped, but alas that’s allready started and a lot of education is needed before the masses turn their backs on the big pharmacuticals for common ailments that need not even occur if diets were good and prescription drugs did not so often cause a different but worse condition that it was innitially designed to treat.