Faculty Bibliography

The FDA has issued several warnings about the dangers of Seldane, which are well known, over the last few years, but has not acted to take the drug off the market. Monday the agency said that it was now proposing to withdraw approval of Seldane, Seldane D and generic versions of the drugs because several newer and safer antihistamines were available

The FDA on Jan 13, 1997 proposed to ban Seldane, a widely prescribed antihistamine, because of rare but potentially deadly side effects. The agency said that Seldane can cause fatal heart-rhythm abnormalities, particularly when it is taken with other drugs. The FDA proposed to withdraw approval of Seldane, Seldane D and generic versions of the drugs because several newer antihistamines were available and they were considered safer

The Food and Drug Administration proposed yesterday to ban Seldane, a widely prescribed antihistamine, because of rare but potentially deadly side effects. Seldane can cause fatal heart-rhythm abnormalities, particularly when it is taken with other drugs, the federal agency said. The FDA has issued several warnings about the dangers of Seldane, which are well known, over the last few years, but has not acted to take the drug off the market. Yesterday the agency said it was proposing to withdraw approval of Seldane, Seldane-D and generic versions of the drugs because several newer and safer antihistamines were available. The agency advised users of Seldane to consult doctors about switching to alternative antihistamines. Among them are Nasalcrom, or cromylin, which was approved for over-the-counter use this month, and the prescription drugs Allegra, Claritin and Hismanal. The agency also suggested intranasal steroids like Beconase, Flonase, Nasacort and Vancenase

The FDA on Jan 2, 1997 proposed a ban on the use of any tissue from a wide variety of animals in feed to prevent the spread of mad cow disease if it ever occurred in the US

It is 27 years since Dr Franz Ingelfinger announced that a manuscript would be rejected by his journal, the New England Journal of Medicine, if it had been published elsewhere. Many other medical journals have since adopted this so-called Ingelfinger rule. The restrictions resulting from the rule have generated enormous controversy in medical journalism, as shown by the first of the two-part article The Ingelfinger rule, embargoes, and journal peer review. Critics say that the rule restricts the free flow of information, whereas proponents claim that information from a paper released early may be inaccurate because the paper has not been subjected to peer review. Yet peer review itself has also come under scrutiny, with its many limitations rarely being openly discussed

The suggestion that garlic has protective effects against heart disease has been challenged by a study in England that found that a powdered form of the clove was no better than a dummy pill in lowering cholesterol and fats in the blood