Some things just don't make sense. It doesn't take a "rocket scientist" to realize that a pharmaceutical drug that increases the risk of a terrible disease ( ALS) by 900% or more is probably not a good thing. So, why are statin drugs on the market, if the FDA's job is to protect us from dangerous products?
The answer, of course, is that the FDA receives a lot of money for reviewing and approving pharmaceutical drugs and they seem to be very forgiving when those drugs turn out to be causing deaths and injuries to those unfortunate individuals who take them, trusting their doctor to "know what's best for them".
The irony in all this is that, for all their possible side-effects -- including diabetes, Type-2 -- statin drugs only help one percent of those who take them for an extended period. The association with diabetes and statin use, by the way, is not rare.
And all this risk is incurred just to prevent the body from making a substance it needs and makes naturally-- Cholesterol. Hmmmm... If my cholesterol levels were found to be "high', I think I would try to find some natural way to reduce it, rather than taking my chances with statins.
It also doesn't matter to the FDA that the theory that excess cholesterol causes cardiovascular disease and heart attacks has been disproved. The news evidently hasn't reached the FDA and the makers of these blockbuster drugs. Why take them off the market if they're still selling, right?
My point in all this is that we, the potential victims of all this medical hucksterism, need the freedom (and ability) to think for ourselves. If we choose to use traditional herbs to help us enjoy life more -- such as kratom -- the FDA would have us thrown in prison and/or fined, if they had their way -- but the sale of potentially life-threatening pharmaceuticals is FDA-approved.
As we celebrate the freedoms we have left, let us also remember -- and fight to regain -- the freedoms we are losing to federal agencies that are overstepping their statutory boundaries.
As drugs like statins are increasingly found to be pointless and risky, we need to have the freedom to choose ancient herbs that have safely comforted humanity for centuries.