Filner to the VA: Suspend drug study IMMEDIATELY!

NEWS FROM…
CHAIRMAN BOB FILNER
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 17, 2008

http://veterans.house.gov
Filner to the VA: Suspend drug study IMMEDIATELY! IT MAY CAUSE SUICIDE!
Washington, D.C. – House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner (D-CA) provided the following statement on reports that reveal that veterans are being recruited for VA tests on drugs with violent side effects:
“Today’s news report that the VA is conducting experimental drug tests on our veterans is appalling.
“Once the FDA issued the warning that it had received reports linking Chantix to suicidal thoughts and aggressive and erratic behavior, the VA should have immediately suspended this study and notified participants of the possible dangers. Instead, the VA took more than three months to notify patients and they did so in bureaucratese that did not clearly state the side effects of the drug.
“There were only 940 veterans in this study. Why didn’t the VA just call them and bring them in immediately?!
“This warning came too late for James Elliott, a decorated Army veteran, who came close to ending his own life in ‘suicide by cop.’ He says the VA used him like a lab rat and treated him like ‘a disposable hero’.
“Nearly 40 suicides and more than 400 incidents of suicidal behavior have been linked to Chantix, yet the VA has chosen to continue the study and administer Chantix to veterans with PTSD.
“The VA must immediately suspend this study until a comprehensive review of the safety of the protocol is conducted.”
###

Sphere: Related Content