Vancouver Magazine’s take on adverse drug reaction testing
March 5, 2010 at 3:49 pm Terra 1 comment
- Bruce Carleton (left) and Michael Hayden. Photo courtesy of Vancouver Magazine and Mark Maryanovich.
About 40,000. That’s how many admissions BC Children’s Hospital sees every year for adverse drug reactions and in Canada over 5,000 children die each year from these reactions.
These are scary-large numbers but two doctors at the Child & Family Research Institute, Dr. Michael Hayden and Dr. Bruce Carleton, are doing everything in their power to change that number by developing an inexpensive genetic test that helps predict if a kid’s own genetic make-up will react with certain prescribed medicines.
In Vancouver Magazine’s latest issue you will find the astounding story of what happens when a patient’s own genes turn medicine into a lethal substance: “Drug Testing to Save Lives”.
You can also read a previous post to inform yourself about what to do if you should ever encounter someone reacting to their medication. Adverse drug reactions are much more common than anyone is aware and we are happy to see the issue brought to light in publications like Vancouver Magazine.See also: Vancouver Magazine Editor’s Note
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Chris Brown | March 5, 2010 at 6:56 pm
Scientists continue to bilk the public purse and help to invisibilize wanton irresponsibility in health authorities by pretending that adverse reactions are caused by a single condition that can be identified by a marker. As Health and Welfare pointed out to the provinces in the late 1980′s, sensitivity is caused by a compendium of diseases, deficiencies, injuries and naturally occurring anomalies. Encouraging other ideas is irresponsible, and only serves to hide the fact that Canada Vigilance and other groups know there is an existing, publicly insured method of diagnosing sensitivities and protecting patients rather than counting the injured and killed. The method was identified in a 1985 Ontario Ministry of Health report and it is encouraged by the College of Family Physicians of Ontario. It’s use, by seniors, has been encouraged by the Manitoba Human Rights Commission. BC is in a bad spot because of the irresponsibly hostile attitude of your Medical Officer of Health, Perry Kendall. Pretending that reducing adverse drug reactions is dependent on future science is irresponsible and dangerous.