Trouble with Statins

In 1987, the first of a new class of powerful cholesterol-inhibiting drugs collectively known as statins was introduced to the market.  By 2005, more than ten percent of the American public had been prescribed some version of the drug, and with sales pushing $20 billion annually, statins had become by far the biggest-selling pharmaceuticals of all time. 

The drug industry has consistently touted the safety and benefits of the drug, and pushed steadily to have what was originally conceived to be for the use only of those at high risk of heart disease approved by the FDA as a general preventative.  There was even talk not too long ago of adding it to the water supply, like fluoride.

But problems with statins have surfaced. It was known from early studies that statins could cause muscle aches and weakness, and in rare instances a severe muscle wasting disease known as rhabdomyolysis—which could be fatal.   But then, in 2001, the statin drug cerivastatin was withdrawn from the market by Bayer A.G. when some 52 fatal cases of rhabdomyolysis were reported resulting from its use.  Other  problems that weren’t noticed in the early clinical trials also were increasingly being reported in the real world, including memory loss, cognitive problems, neuropathy, and pancreatic, liver, and sexual dysfunction.  Then last year the FDA forced manufacturers to label the drugs as increasing risk of diabetes...one of the indicators for its use.

But prescribing statins is now standard treatment for elevated levels of LDL—the so-called “bad cholesterol,” and doctors who fail to follow the guidelines by prescribing it are liable for malpractice suits.  With the powerful pharmaceutical industry watching out for its commercial interests, doctors have been reluctant to express  worries they may have about the steady expansion in use of what some are starting to consider a dangerous drug. 

But some have started to speak out.  One of those is Dr. Barbara H. Roberts, director of the Women’s Cardiac Center at Miriam Hospital in Rhode Island, whose book The Truth About Statins: Risks and Alternatives to Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs was published last year by Pocket Books. 

In the introduction to her book, Dr. Roberts wrote that “In exposing the shoddy science that underlies many of the guidelines that doctors are told they must follow in treating their patients, and in exposing the rampant conflicts of interest among the FDA, Big Pharma, medical scientists, medical centers, and professional medical organizations, I risk being declared a pariah in the medical community.” 

In a phone interview, I asked Dr. Roberts why she decided to take that risk:

The Trouble with Statins

24 minutes

Wild Olympic Salmon Festival Rekindled

Did the festival rekindle the salmon, or did the fish rekindle the festival?

It's a question we may ponder interminably, but regardless of opinion, both the fish and the festival have returned:

Wild Olympic Salmon Festival
(15:42)

Organic Seed Alliance Turns Ten

Back in the 1970s a network of farmers from the north Olympic Peninsula formed a non-profit to serve as a marketing platform for the organic vegetable seed they were growing and saving. They called their enterprise the Abundant Life Seed Foundation, and worked in close collaboration to develop new varieties of vegetables that were well-adapted to local conditions and then sold them through a catalogue until, about ten years ago, their store house burned to the ground, destroying their inventory.

But a phoenix rose from the ashes in the form of the Organic Seed Alliance, which this week is celebrating its tenth anniversary.  The OSA no longer sells seed, but the continuing work to develop better local varietals, to train farmers to save seed, to monitor the spread and diversity of organic seed, and to advocate for open sourcing of plant genetics has brought the organization to national prominence.

Organic Seed Alliance Turns Ten
16:45

Are GMOs Dangerous?

Jeffrey Smith is the author of two self-published international best-sellers, and as a result is also one of the most vilified authors on the planet.   His books, Seeds of Deception and Genetic Roulette, detail the dangers of genetically-engineered food to both human health and planetary ecology, a journalistic endeavor that has earned him both acclaim and the kind of smear tactics the biotech industry has usually reserved for scientists who dare to investigate the effects of a technology that has the potential  to either save or doom the world.

In this edition of KPTZ Compass, the radio news magazine for the northeast Olympic Peninsula, I talk to Smith and to a scientist who helps to interpret his claims.

Are GMOs Dangerous?
30 minutes

Tribal Canoe Journey

Port Townsend is the one stop on the epic tribal canoe journey each year that is not on a reservation.  Nonetheless, working in tandem with the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, the town manages each year to roll out the red carpet for the paddlers, welcoming them with baked goods and fruit at the shore, providing campsites and dinner for up to 1300 visitors, along with traffic direction, signage, parking and shuttle services.  KPTZ Compass went behind the scenes this year to bring you this collage of voices from the people who make it happen:

Canoe Journey

11:47

David Walker on his life

My good friend David Walker didn't let even the news of his own impending death interrupt his daily routine.

For many years, David entertained what he called his "breakfast club," a group of men (mostly) who would come by the house he shared with his wife Della (who almost never rose to join the party) at what seemed to Della to be an ungodly early hour.

I was invited to only one breakfast club meeting, just a month before David died of cancer, and I interviewed him about his amazing and exemplary life:

David Walker Breakfast
27:46

Tales of the Town Tavern

For about a decade, the Town Tavern was Port Townsend’s living room, the place where a good part of the town partied, lived, worked, and dreamed.  It was a place where wandering souls cut loose by the blossoming counter-culture came to find new definition.   This is a special feature report on Tales of the Town Tavern, which was the title of a festive reunion of some of Port Townsend’s most colorful characters, who came together recently under the aegis of the Jefferson County Historical Society’ First Friday Lecture Series to swap stories about the legendary drinking establishment and rooming house that in the 1970s came to define the heart of the town.

Tales of the Town Tavern

30:25