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Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Activism / FDA Approves Tamiflu for Newborns Despite No Safety Evidence

FDA Approves Tamiflu for Newborns Despite No Safety Evidence

by Sarah Pope / Affiliate Links ✔

On December 21, 2012, the FDA expanded use of the anti-viral drug oseltamivir, known by the brand name Tamiflu, to children as young as two weeks old.

Crazy?

Absolutely.

Surprising?

Not in the slightest.

While shocking, this recent move is yet another demonstration of the FDA’s unrelenting spiral to complete and utter lunacy in its decision making.

How the FDA could approve a drug like Tamiflu for children so young when it is already under scrutiny in Japan for a possible link to suicide and other abnormal behavior in children is totally incomprehensible.

As recently as April 2012, the FDA even recognized that oseltamivir, the active ingredient in Tamiflu, was associated with “abnormal behavior, delirium, including symptoms such as hallucinations, agitation, anxiety, altered level of consciousness, confusion, nightmares, delusions” as possible side effects of pediatric patients taking the drug.

The most compelling reason which calls into question the FDA’s approval of Tamiflu for infants is a 2010 study published in the The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal which found that off label use of Tamiflu in babies resulted in 84 of the 157 infants (average age 6.3 months) experiencing complications from the medication the most serious being meningitis (1%), pneumonia (6%), and otitis media (1%). 

No Safety Studies on Tamiflu for Babies

There are certainly no controlled, randomized, placebo-controlled trials on the safety of Tamiflu for babies as testing on babies is obviously considered unethical – so what possible evidence could the FDA have used for this unfathomable decision?

Did the FDA just extrapolate data from previous studies on Tamiflu use in adults and older children to justify the decision?  Is this possible despite the fact that infants have not yet developed a blood-brain barrier that is able to keep a chemical out of the brain, which grows at its most rapid rate the first year of life? In addition, a baby’s detoxification mechanisms are also inadequately developed to remove a chemical out of the body quickly enough to prevent damage.

Neither of these biological facts were obviously considered in the decision.  Babies were simply assumed to handle the drug in a similar manner to adults or adolescents!

It is abundantly clear in the rendering of this decision that the FDA was only attempting to please Roche, the manufacturer of the active chemical ingredient in Tamiflu, whose shareholders are undoubtedly extremely concerned about the December 15, 2010 report from the World Health Organization (WHO) that viral resistance to Tamiflu is growing.

The FDA was not in any way attempting to protect the public or help save babies’ lives from the flu by expanding Tamiflu to infants.  Rather, it seems quite apparent that the move is an attempt to boost Roche’s short-term profits from the drug before expanding viral resistance renders Tamiflu ineffective and it becomes yet another Blockbuster drug relegated to the Big Pharma dustbin.

Didn’t know that your tax dollars are being used to pay the salaries of Federal bureaucrats who frequently operate as de facto corporate employees rendering decisions solely to benefit the bottom line of private companies?  Welcome to the Brave New World of Corporate Socialism.

 

Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist

Sources: Tamiflu Side Effect Concerns Grow After Japan Deaths

FDA Approves Neurotoxic Drug for Infants Less Than One

FDA Expands Tamiflu’s Use to Treat Children Younger Than 1 Year

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Category: Activism, Healthy Living, Healthy Pregnancy, Baby & Child
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: Amazon #1 bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her four eBooks Good Diet…Bad Diet, Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

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Reader Interactions

Comments (82)

  1. Wow really

    Dec 21, 2014 at 2:13 am

    Okay, soooo…. I hate to break it you all you conspiracy buffs but NO medicines currently in the market now are actually TESTED on infants under 12 months. None… Like really. So if your whole basis for shock is the fact that this drug hasn’t been tested on babies for its effectiveness ( really?) then start throwing out every and any medicine you may have in your closet now….it wasn’t tested either.

    There are other ways to determine efficacy of a drug…and aside from the hallucinations ( very concerning) the other side effects mentioned are actual symptoms/ complications of the flu itself…so…. Yeah, if those alarm you so should getting the flu in the first place.

    Yeah, just thought I’d sprinkle some sense into the fear min getting being spewed on here….but don’t mind me,

    On with the freaking out!!!

    Reply
  2. Penelope Paisley via Facebook

    Mar 12, 2013 at 4:28 am

    How long until doctors start waking up and realizing they’re doing the dirty work for the biggest evil?

    Reply
  3. Cindy Swalboski Stauffer via Facebook

    Mar 11, 2013 at 10:22 pm

    Oh and a side effect? More diarrhea… Wtf? How can they even call this a treatment for flu?!

    Reply
  4. Cindy Swalboski Stauffer via Facebook

    Mar 11, 2013 at 10:20 pm

    I was scared and gave it to my son at 2.5 years old when he had swine flu. Big mistake. He must have been hallucinating, was uncoordinated and running into things and waking up with nightmares. I didn’t do my research in advance (we were rushed and scared) and later I found out it decreases the illness maybe one day! Sooo not worth it. Not to mention that I am sure that tamiflu use will just cause flu virus to mutate more and tamiflu will become even more ineffective…

    Reply
  5. Gabriella Iacobone via Facebook

    Mar 11, 2013 at 7:44 pm

    Jana-the MIDWIFE insisted?! It really is a scary world when you can’t even trust a midwife, or often ND’s (they usually recommend a lowfat, vegetarian and soy-filled diet, ugh.) It’s up to us to take care of ourselves, sadly.

    Reply
  6. April Brown via Facebook

    Mar 11, 2013 at 6:45 pm

    In 2003, I contracted the flu while in the hospital with my 10mth old recovering from RSV. Her pediatrician gave me a Rx for Tamiflu. LLL didn’t know much about it. While I did get better, my baby would not nurse because all of a sudden she was sleepy. I stopped taking the Tamiflu and she wasn’t sleepy anymore, nursed and got better.

    Reply
  7. Tamera Hicks via Facebook

    Mar 11, 2013 at 6:32 pm

    Nothing EVER surprises me any more!!!

    Reply
  8. Marilu Martinez-Vargas via Facebook

    Mar 11, 2013 at 6:20 pm

    Sadly, too many are taught to never question the doctor.

    Reply
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