INTERNATIONAL LIBERTY NEWS NETWORK

February 26, 2002 - Zyban to be investigated - Responding to a public outcry about the multitude the deaths of scores of Zyban users, the European Union is finally reviewing the smoking cessation drug manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline. In addition to the deaths thousands of users have reported adverse reactions.

Zyban, originally developed as an powerful anti-depressant treatment, is aggressively promoted throughout the world.  When smoking bans go into effect, the glossy ads and television spots touting the wonders of Zyban are not far behind.  Reports of the possible deadly effects of Zyban have been plentiful in the United Kingdom and other European countries but have been ignored by the American media.  The lack of coverage has been linked to the large advertising revenue to be had from the massive pharmaceutical industry.

January 23, 2002 - Zyban deaths triple - The death toll continues to rise but not to worry.  GlaxoSmithKline, Europe's biggest drugmaker said the treatment poses no danger to smokers.  Tell that to the people who have died after quitting smoking and getting on Zyban.  Had those people continued to smoke or had they quit smoking without hooking into a cessation drug, they would probably be alive today.

A marketing campaign as aggressive as that by GlaxoSmithKline would not be tolerated by a tobacco company.  In America television viewers cannot sit through one hour of programming without being assaulted by cessation ads.  None of those ads mention that death may be the price for delivering to Big Drug's bottom line.

September 17, 2001 - Doctors say Zyban may be linked to deaths - Safety questions continue to be raised about the drug Zyban, increasingly recommended to people as a way to quit smoking. This report form Germany doesn't sound very alarming in itself, but it is just the latest in a series of alarm bells. Britain's drug regulatory body has stated that Zyban was primarily responsible for a one third increase in adverse drug reactions in the first quarter of the year, according to a June report from Reuters,  and in the same month Australian Broadcast News said 800 adverse reactions were attributed to the drug in its first seven months on the market, and it wasd suspected of having caused nine deaths. Click here  for more on the Zyabn controversy.

July 24, 2001 - Zyban blamed for permanent disabilities - "My daughter was fit and healthy before she started taking this drug, but now the doctors say she has to be on medication for the rest of her life. I am blaming Zyban for this," she said.

Another day, another dollar for Big Drugs but the human toll is increasing for those who are conned into quitting smoking using GlaxoSmithKline's "miracle" drug Zyban.  Although the drug manufacturer pooh-poohs the suggestion that Zyban may effect users negatively, it has been linked to at least 37 deaths and 5,350 adverse reactions.

The pharmacartel preaches the gospel that tobacco alone causes all sorts of serious ailments, GlaxoSmithKline, however, cautions that the horrendous reactions being reported by Zyban users are not necessarily caused by the drug alone.  Let's see, anti-tobacco ignores diet, heredity, exercise, alcohol, illicit drugs and environmental factors when assigning tobacco the sole blame for ailments but now asks us to believe that a multitude of factors are involved with the horrible experiences of people on Zyban.

July 5, 2001 - Zyban linked to spike in UK adverse drug reactions - LONDON (Reuters Health) - "The number of suspected adverse drug events being reported in the UK has shot up by over one third, mainly because of GlaxoSmithKline's smoking cessation drug Zyban, the Medicines Control Agency (MCA) said on Wednesday. The MCA's latest statistics show that 37% more so-called ''yellow cards'' recording adverse reactions were received from January to April 2001 compared with the same period in 2000. The number of serious reports also rose 16%. ``The main factor in the 37% increase is the large number of reports associated with the smoking cessation aid, Zyban,'' an MCA spokeswoman explained in a statement to Reuters Health."

June 18, 2001 - Hundreds of adverse effects to anti-smoking drug Zyban reported - "A Federal Government committee monitoring the anti-smoking drug Zyban, has had almost 800 reports of adverse reactions, in the seven months since the drug became available. There have been nine deaths which may be associated with the use of the drug. The Adverse Drug Reaction Committee in the Health Department says skin reactions, psychological disturbances and nervous system disorders are the most common reactions. A report by Dr Elizabeth Benson in today's Medical Journal of Australia, says publicity about the drug caused a rapid take-up of the drug. More than 200,000 prescriptions were issued to the end of March this year."

May 3, 2001 - Zyban trials for young people continues despite health concerns - Despite the international concern over several deaths that occurred to people taking Zyban, the American press continues to hype the drug.  This story is a blatant advertisement for Zyban masquerading as a human interest piece concerning an 18-year-old who wants nothing more than to be released from the addiction of cigarettes.  The silence of the American media is very strange considering its habit of whipping up the hysteria over every health risk, no matter how small.  Could the big bucks Big Drugs pumps into the media be prompting the circumspection of the so-called free press?

May 2, 2001 - Effects of smoking cessation on changes in blood pressure and incidence of hypertension; a 4-yearr folow-up study - "The trends for increased risk of hypertension for longer periods of smoking cessation were observed in subgroups of those who maintained weight as well as those who gained weight after smoking cessation." ... "We observed progressive increases in blood pressure with the prolongation of cessation in men, although at this time the mechanism remains unknown and must be clarified. This study implies that the cessation of smoking may result in increases in blood pressure, hypertension, or both."

April 26, 2001 - Anti-smoking drug linked to death - "...The occasional death among people taking Zyban was to be expected given they were smokers, often with a long-standing habit, and many were aged in their 40s and older with an increased risk of heart disease." On April 17 we reported about 3 more deaths in Australia, and hundreds of severe adverse reactions in the same country. The reported deaths in England have been raising an average of two a week for the past eight weeks. Above are the words of one of the moppets of the pharmaceutical industry, lying to the world to protect the interest of his masters.

Kerry was British, 21, convinced by state and media propaganda that she was affected by a disease that does not exist: smoking. David was 26. He died two months ago in Canada. Both are mainly victims of the ministries of health of their countries, sold to pharmaceutical interests.

Ministries of health do nothing, or even support the use of this drug, which kills people almost every day. There are only two possible explanations for that: callous indifference, to implement the repression of smoking with means that include killing people, or straight out corruption. Killing people "for their own good" is OK, if the purpose is to make you quit a politically incorrect habit, and if you are (or you are under the umbrella of) the drug industry. The professional antismokers who cry murder about theoretical, statistical, and scientifically unproven "tobacco-related" deaths or disease, are totally silent when the results of their activities actually materialise. The criminal politicians who sing the pharmaceutical song, conveniently turn their heads the other way, while the ecatomb continues, just because a few lying bastards have to make a lot of money. Forgive our rant but, given the circumstances, we are convinced it is appropriate.

April 17, 2001 - Smokers' 'cure' may prove fatal - Australia - Three deaths have been linked to the use of the anti-smoking drug Zyban and more than 500 people have reported an adverse reaction to the drug in the past five months. "With only three deaths, I am confident it's well below the expected death rate whatever the size of the population (taking the drug)," says a moppet of the pharmaceutical industry. What happened to the "If it saves one, we outta do it" motto (ab)used by the health cartel, is a mystery. "...The occasional death among people taking Zyban was to be expected given they were smokers, often with a long-standing habit, and many were aged in their 40s and older with an increased risk of heart disease," the moppet continues. Oh, well, then... if they were smokers... Of course, never mind that the "risk" of heart disease from smoking is so infinitesimally small, it is almost negligible; that belongs to the realm of truth, thus it is out of the league of the health cartel. "It doesn't just stop you smoking; it isn't in any shape or form the miracle pill we all want," says Michael Shephard, one of the victims. Speak for yourself, Michael Shephard, and get a brain... who wants to quit smoking, anyway? Smokers are beautiful!

April 13, 2001 - Family seeks probe in Zyban death - The family of a man who died while taking the smoking cessation drug Zyban is calling for an inquiry.  The man, a resident of the United Kingdom, was found dead after starting a course of the drug.  New figures reveal that the number of people who have died while on Zyban has doubled in less than two months. Zyban, originally developed as an anti-depressant, has been aggressively promoted as a "miracle" cure for the "addiction" of smoking tobacco.  Reported adverse reactions to the drug include chest pains, fits and seizures.  Deaths have been reported in Canada and Great Britain. Although the United States contains most of the world's Zyban users, the American Press, with a few exceptions, has seen fit to ignore the negative reports about the drug.

April 6, 2001 - Healthcast: smoking study helps teens stop - After the massive amount of problems and deaths caused by Zyban, one would expect at least caution by the pharmacartel. But how can you expect caution and responsibility from an industry that finances antitobacco? Not satisfied with making adults sick and even killing them, Glaxo goes now after children (thus doing exactly what the tobacco industry is accused to do), who have become the prime target of the drug industry.

March 15, 2001 - Taking Zyban to the Third World - Blithely proceeding with its aggressive marketing plan despite allegations of deaths caused by its product, GlaxoSmithKline launched Zyban in India to great fanfare.  The company hopes to persuade the government to waive duties under an exemption for "lifesaving" drugs.

March 14, 2001 - American press takes up Zyban story - "[Dr. Jerome] Giron has prescribed Zyban to about 100 patients, and only around a third have stuck with the drug for the full eight-week course, he said. 'I've found it's not very well tolerated. People have said that they feel ‘spaced out' and ‘jittery' like they were going out of their minds. There've been a lot of problems with nervousness.'"

March 10, 2001 - Debating Zyban's safety - Role of anti-smoking drug being probed in 24 deaths - "The drug is being investigated as the possible cause of at least four other deaths in Canada, including that of 26-year-old Montrealer David Landry in February, as well as of 18 deaths in Britain and one in Australia." "GlaxoSmithKline, the British-based pharmaceutical giant that makes Zyban, denies any proven link so far between its drug and the fatalities. So do investigators at Health Canada and other countries' health authorities."

March 10, 2001 - Zyban problems?  - In England, the youngest victim was a 21-year-old flight attendant with a 10-a-day cigarette habit, who had been in good health until she was found dead on the floor of a hotel room during a stopover.

March 7, 2001 - Zyban: the cure is worse than the craving it treats?  - Thousands of Zyban users are reporting severe adverse reactions to the smoking cessation device.  Deaths have been reported in Canada and the United Kingdom.  Reports of seizures, blackouts and erratic behavior have focused attention on the drug that has been aggressively promoted by anti-tobacco as a wonder pill that stops people from smoking. Certainly death and incapacitation tend to reduce smoking but when the cure is infinitely worse than the so-called problem, a closer look at the partnership between Big Drugs and the anti-tobacco enterprise in warranted.

March 1, 2001 - Smokers win't get bone operation - Doctors at a Toronto hospital have provoked controversy by saying they will no longer perform certain bone reconstruction operations on smokers.

February 26, 2001 - Kicking the habit: can anti-smoking pill kill? - His name was David Landry, he was 26, and he was trying to quit smoking. But in the end it was his life, not just his habit, that got snuffed out.

February 11, 2001 - Australia: surgery ban on smokers - "Doctors are refusing smokers potentially life-saving surgery until they quit their habit. Physicians and surgeons at Melbourne's top hospitals told the Herald Sun they are denying smokers elective treatment such as lung and heart transplants, lung reduction surgery, artery by-passes and coronary artery grafts. Alfred Hospital respiratory physician Associate Professor Greg Snell said reasons for the ban were medical and moral… "It is within our mandate to ration services and smoking is one way to define the patient population. "It is common practice to not do elective surgery, and certainly some lung operations, on people who smoke."

February 11, 2001 - Smoker dies after doctors refuse to treat him - ' The man, 56, is thought to be the first person to die since Australian doctors decided to take a stand on smokers and their treatment which, critics say, borders on “moral fascism”. Some doctors have refused to perform transplants and other life-saving operations on smokers on "medical and moral" grounds.'

Cigarette smoking in renal transplant recipients - "In examining the additive effects of covariates, patients who smoked but quit more than 5 yr before transplantation appeared to have better outcomes than patients who had never smoked. The reason for this is unclear. This effect was independent of other, major determinants of graft survival post-transplant. We might speculate that patients who were able to quit smoking were also patients who had other attributes that led to improved survival (!), attributes that were not taken into account in the multivariate analysis. For example, patients who were able to quit smoking may have been more adherent to medications (on what grounds are these cons speculating?). It is also possible that patients who were able to quit smoking adopted other lifestyles and habits that improved their survival after transplantation. In any case, this result should be interpreted with caution…" Actually, the cons have said that they have no clue, but look at how neatly the antismoking seed is implanted - and so is the justification to deny transplant, and let the smoker die. If the link does not work, click here.

October 19, 2000 - Side-effects worry over drug to quit smoking - A spate of people having fits and seizures while taking the new anti-smoking drug Zyban has raised concern among doctors about its safety.
 

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