Infamous OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma used front organizations and sponsored research to deceive the World Health Organization and corrupt global public health policies with the goal of boosting international opioid sales and profits, according to a Congressional report (PDF) released Thursday, May 22.
The investigation identified two WHO guidance documents that appear to parrot some of Purdue's misleading and outright false marketing claims about the safety and efficacy of their highly addictive opioids.
The findings, released by Reps. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), land as the country is still grappling with an epidemic of opioid abuse and overdoses. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioid overdoses kill an average of 130 Americans every day.
Clark and Rogers say that the motivation for the investigation follows a 2017 warning letter Congress members sent to the WHO. Given the opioid epidemic unfolding in the US, the lawmakers warned the WHO that opioid makers would try to expand into international markets, which could potentially trigger a global epidemic. But the Congress members say they didn't get a response (though the WHO disputes this).
"When the WHO failed to respond to the letter, we began to question why they would remain silent about such a significant and devastating public health epidemic," the report reads. "The answers we found are deeply disturbing."
Based on public records, the report outlines a tangle of organizations and individuals that connect financial threads from Purdue to WHO.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 25 2019, @03:14PM (1 child)
Kudos for posting about hemorrhoids under your pseudonym. I had a flare up a couple years ago and while not removed, the doctor cut it to relieve the pressure. By the time I got home the pain was even worse and my wife called in for a pain killer. I was prescribed tramadol which I took I think for four or five days, maybe a week.
Tramadol was interesting. It didn't make me high and it didn't take the pain away -- it simply made me totally apathetic about the pain. I knew the pain was there and at the same time, I didn't care. It was a strange drug to say the least. Without the tramadol though it was like being tortured -- it was insanely horrible. With it, I could get through those few days. I'm honestly very glad it was there for me and when I was done, I had no ill effects from using the tramadol - no withdrawals, no depression, nothing.
Definitely going to look up the espom salt thing. Hemorrhoids are no joke.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 25 2019, @03:31PM
Oh butt they are ;)