The Canadian government health regulator has been keeping information about the dangers of off-label drug use secret. The Toronto Star discovered that Health Canada has been gathering information about how often people suffer serious adverse effects or death from practices like the prescribing of unapproved psychiatric drugs to children, but has never released the information publicly. The revelation reportedly stunned even longtime experts and elected members of the government. āIf itās for off-label use, then itās never been shown to be effective and now itās causing serious safety problems,ā York Universityās Dr. Joel Lexchin told the Star. āThe job of the health regulator is to protect public health. If theyāre withholding information that could do that, then theyāre abdicating part of their job.ā
Senator Art Eggleton is deputy chair of a government committee reviewing off-label prescribing, and he did not know the data existed, either. āThatās incredible. Itās unacceptable,ā Eggleton told the Star.
Dangers of off-label drug use kept secret (Toronto Star, June 26, 2014)
All data including drugs and therapies should be publicly available. That’s just common sense and there is no excuse for keeping these things secret. It’s all about “we want to cover up something” for money and avoidance of responsibility .
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