Are you depressed? It may have less to do with your mood than your birth control pills, high blood pressure pills, antibiotics or even anti-hair-loss drug according to new research. New risks have also emerged with popular gastroesophageal reflux disease medicines and even the top-selling painkiller Tylenol.
There are two reasons the risks associated with popular drugs seem to trail their aggressive promotion. Certainly, as millions use brand name drugs, dangerous side effects and adverse events are seen that did not emerge in much smaller clinical trials. Who knew? But also, as AlterNet has noted before, dangerous side effects that might be considered major drawbacks to prescribing the drugs often emerge only when drugs have gone “off patent” and all their profit potential is realized. For both reasons, drug safety activists recommend waiting five years before taking a “new” drug—until it is not “new” anymore.
