Why Does the FDA Think Eating Buttered Cigarettes or Egg Shells is OK?

Not to mention driving under the influence—and murder.

Earlier this month, Robert O’Neill, the (now retired) Navy SEAL who claims to have shot and killed Osama bin Laden, was arrested for driving under the influence in his home state of Montana. In a statement to USA Today, O’Neill said he had not been drinking and driving, but had taken a prescribed sleep aid to deal with long-standing insomnia.

As more and more people take these strong and often toxic sleeping pills, such stories will only proliferate. Recall our past coverage of Robert Stewart storming into a nursing home where his estranged wife worked and killing eight people. His defense was that he was under the influence of Ambien, one of the most common sleep aids, and therefore not in control of his actions.

In 2013, US Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the killing of sixteen Afghan civilians. He had admitted to regularly using sleeping pills and drinking alcohol.

The dangerous effects of sleeping pills are known to both drug companies and the FDA. The information sheets dispensed with the sleeping aids like Ambien state, in small print, that medications in this class have occasional side effects like sleepwalking, “abnormal thinking,” and “strange behavior.”

Ambien users even sued the manufacturer because of bizarre sleep-eating behaviors while on the drugs. People were eating things like buttered cigarettes and eggs, complete with the shells, while under the influence of Ambien. An attorney called people in this state “Ambien zombies.”

Other studies have shown that sleeping pills bring an increased risk of dying early or getting cancer. Another recent study showed that anticholinergic medicines sold as over-the-counter sleep aids are associated with cognitive impairment and an increased risk of dementia.

Because of the many side effects associated with Ambien, the FDA seems to be extremely cautious about approving future sleeping drugs. As we’ve argued before, the FDA approval process for sleeping pills is something of a façade: the clinical trials required for sleeping pills such as Ambien investigate the drug’s effectiveness only for the short-term—and they are approved only for short-term use, when in reality people take them for years. What is far worse is the safety review, which is clearly inadequate.

The FDA has no apparent problem approving drugs that cause people to crash cars, eat buttered cigarettes, and perhaps even commit violent acts, but actively works to restrict consumer access to natural medications that have a superb safety record as well as effectiveness. As we’ve said many times before—the FDA’s hostility toward supplements and natural medicine has almost nothing to do with safety and much more to do with ensuring bumper profits for Big Pharma.

Other articles in this week’s Pulse of Natural Health:

Is Monsanto’s Glyphosate Actually Helping the Environment?

Seven Casualties in the War on Natural Health

Open Letter: Glyphosate Testing

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