The idea of running a petition for people in the UK to sign and address to the office of the Prime Minister, is an attractive one. It was born out of the realisation that many people are having problems that they have attributed to statin therapies. The clinical researchers are unwilling to consider effects that are not clinically significant and many of the adverse effects of statins are likely to be under-reported.
This is particularly true of effects that can be ascribed to the process of getting older, because forgetfulness and muscle aches or strange feelings in the body, can be written off as age-related symptoms. This has the effect of relegating statin-mediated peripheral neuropathies, general myopathies and amnesia to the realm of the comment from the GP that begins with the patronising “it’s your age, dear”.
The medical profession is not hearing the roar from the people who have taken statins and subsequently suffered with long bouts of depression and general tiredness, feeling generally unwell, muscle problems, nervous system difficulties, sleep disturbance, amnesia and mood swings. Sadly, many of the statin taking population have had their lives (effectively) ruined by these medications.
Much of the available research into the good that statins can do, is funded by the pharmaceutical companies that produce the statins. The tightening of guidelines for good practice and the competition for QOF points to increase the take home pay of the GP are some of the reasons for an increase in statin prescribing. If the prescription of statin therapies continues to increase at just its present rate (doubled in the last 8 years) it is likely that millions of people are going to be harmed... on a scale that will make the Thalidomide disaster appear to be a very minor incident.
The medical profession have been known to be wrong before now and they are wrong, en masse, again. Signing the petition if you are a UK citizen is one positive thing you can do to halt the madness that is the statin gravy train. The statin gravy train is worth billions of dollars in revenue. It benefits the drug companies and the GPs via QOF points while the benefits for patients are doubtful and the harm to patients is obvious.
The UK e-Petition is to be found at the following link:
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Statins/
There is also a Global e-Petition and you can sign this one as well. It permits you to sign without leaving any personal details because it is the IP address that is used to validate each signatory. Another useful feature is that you can write 500 words about your experiences with statins and leave them in support of your signature.
The Global e-Petition is to be found at the following link:
http://www.gopetition.com/online/11757.html
To see some of the comments that have been left with signatures, just click on the signatures link at the top right hand side of the page and then when viewing the list of signatures, just run your mouse over the ‘View’ link and hold your mouse over it. This will display the comment left by the person who signed the petition at that point.
