Where's the rest of the story?

An interesting study reports fluoride based serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drugs kill cancer cells in the lab.

This article includes no reference to how long the study lasted, nor did it say how long the drug continued to kill cells, or what dose was used.

What one has to wonder is which filing cabinet drawer or round file this will got to once replication occurs, and a review of the horrendous side effects associated with fluoride are.

Additionally there is no mention that fluoride based drugs suppress your thyroid and nothing is said about the known damaging side effects, including homicide and suicide.

Maybe the latter two refer to a new way to kill cancer...

Now what happens to this class of drugs and the Black Box warnings?
"This, combined with many years of experience in treating patients with these drugs, means that doctors can be confident that the treatment will not cause significant effects on normal tissues and is safe for virtually all patients."

New study claims Prozac can help in the battle with cancer
Prozac and other well established antidepressants could be the latest weapon in the fight against cancer, claim scientists who found they stop tumours from growing.

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent, 23 Apr 2010

Researchers in Britain have found that the commonly used drug suppresses tumour growth by as much as 90 per cent and could be used to boost the effectiveness of other cancer fighting treatments.

And because it has already been tested, it should mean that it could be available for use far more quickly than new drugs that have to go through numerous safety trials.

The team at the University of Birmingham found that the active ingredients from Prozac, medical name fluoxetine, could bring on apoptosis (a kind of natural death) in cancer cells cultivated in the laboratory.

Further trials on actual live tissue – blood with leukaemia – showed that it dramatically reduced tumour growth by up to 90 per cent.

Now they believe clinical trials on humans will see the results replicated in real cancer patients.

"We were thrilled to see these results," said Professor Barnes. "It shows a real opportunity to maintain the pressure on tumours in between chemotherapy cycles."

The findings, published in the journal Leukaemia Research, showed that both Prozac (Fluoxetine) and another antidepressant Chlomipramine were effective against cancer cells in leukaemia and lymphoma patients.

Professor Nick Barnes, one of the study leaders, believes that by using the drug along with traditional chemotherapy survival rates could be dramatically improved.

One of the big problems with chemotherapy is that it is so powerful that treatments have to be done in cycles as the drugs are so damaging to healthy cells as well as cancer cells.

That means cancer cells have the ability to regroup and spread in-between treatments. Prozac could be used to "keep a lid" on cancer growth between cycles.

Ken Campbell, a spokesman for the charity Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research, said: "This research holds the promise of safe, less toxic treatments for the most common group of blood cancers.

"This, combined with many years of experience in treating patients with these drugs, means that doctors can be confident that the treatment will not cause significant effects on normal tissues and is safe for virtually all patients." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7624419/Prozac-can-help-in-the-battle-with-cancer.html

SSRIs Can Lead to Cataract

More problems with this class of drugs, perhaps its time to rethink the problem of " depression"  and look for nutritional regeneration.  Safe and effective natural herbal remedies or homeopathy can also be of great help.

Cataracts From Antidepressants? Study: 22,000 U.S. Cataract Cases May Be Due to SSRI Antidepressants

By Daniel J. DeNoon, WebMD Health News

March 12, 2010 -- SSRI and SNRI antidepressants raise the risk of cataracts by about 15% -- enough to cause 22,000 extra cataract cases in the U.S.  each year, Canadian researchers suggest.

The study does not prove that antidepressants cause cataracts. And even if the finding is confirmed, the risk to an individual taking antidepressants is small.

But these widely prescribed drugs may pose a vision risk in elderly patients, suggest Mahyar Etminan, PharmD, and colleagues of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
"This study showed for the first time that SSRI use may be associated with an increase in the risk of cataracts," Etminan and colleagues conclude.
The researchers analyzed data collected from 18,784 cataract patients and 187,840 comparison patients between 1995 and 2004. All of the patients had heart disease and had undergone treatment for blocked arteries. Their average age was 73.
Only patients currently using antidepressants -- not those who had taken them in the past and stopped -- were at increased risk of cataracts. Even so, only 8.5% of cataract patients in the study had taken SSRI antidepressants at any time.
Not all SSRI antidepressants were found to increase cataract risk, although this may be because not enough people in the study were taking them for the researchers to detect a risk. Risk was found for three different antidepressants:

• Luvox raised cataract risk by 39%.
• Effexor raised cataract risk by 33%.
• Paxil raised cataract risk by 23%.
• Overall, use of any SSRI antidepressant raised cataract risk by 15%.

Assuming that 10% of Americans take SSRIs, that the increased risk is 15%, and that 1.5% of cataracts in the U.S. are caused by antidepressants, the researchers calculate that SSRIs may cause 22,000 extra cases of cataracts each year.

How Antidepressants Might Cause Cataracts

How could antidepressants cause cataracts?
SSRI antidepressants work by increasing the amount of serotonin in the brain. (Effexor is not strictly an SSRI, as it boosts norepinephrine as well as serotonin. - NB from NHN: These are called SNRIs)
Etminan and colleagues note that the lens of the eye has serotonin receptors -- switches that activate cellular functions. Animal studies show that serotonin can make the lens of the eye more opaque and lead to cataracts.
If the Etminan findings are confirmed, SSRI antidepressants would not be the first drug to increase cataract risk. Oral and inhaled steroids and beta-blockers have also been linked to cataract formation.
The Etminan study appears in the March 7 online issue of Ophthalmology. Pfizer, the maker of Effexor, and Abbott, the maker of Luvox, were contacted for comment but were unable to reply in time for publication.