Thinking outside the black box At least the FDA is consistent in its inconsistency. Just a few weeks after doing us all a favor by rejecting the latest attempt at replacing Vioxx, the agency is back in the news for an entirely more predictable reason: Having clear knowledge of a drug risk and not informing the general public until it was too late. Ten years ago, the FDA approved the blood-sugar-regulating drug Avandia. Five years later it called for warnings to be added to Avandia's label after analyzing reports of heart failure that occurred after the drug hit the market. For whatever reason, the memo calling for that warning must have gotten lost in a sea of red tape. Fast-forward to today, another five years later, and we're just now finding out about this risk, thanks to a recent study published in the journal Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety: Researchers found that Avandia increased the risk of heart attack by 43 percent. As scary as that news is, it's not altogether surprising, based on the track records of other patented drugs. But let's look at the even bigger problem here. Rather than demanding that Avandia be yanked off the market entirely when eveidence of these risks surfaced nearly a decade ago, all the FDA did was call for a warning to be added to the label. There are warnings on packs of cigarettes too, but that doesn't stop people from smoking. And imagine if their doctors wrote them a prescription for two or three cigarettes a day and told them not to worry about that black box printed on the side of the pack. Who's going to heed a few little letters -- even ones that could easily be replaced with a skull and crossbones -- when their doctor is telling them that this is something they need to be taking? At any rate, regardless of the FDA's lack of conviction about Avandia's risks, there's no need to subject yourself to them. Dr. Wright has written numerous times about strategies for keeping your blood sugar levels in check and even preving the onset of Type 2 diabetes altogether. Subscribers can view a complete listing of his articles on this topic by visiting www.wrightnewsletter.com, logging on with the username and password listed on page 8 of your most recent issue, and entering the term "diabetes" into the search field. | 
