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When Are Expired Drugs Truly Expired?

If you have wondered what you should do with expired medicines — whether and how you should get rid of them, if they’re unsafe to use or whether some might still work perfectly well; this article from the July 7, 2022 NY Times will help you to gain some insight.

Download Can You Use Expired Medicine - The New York Times

Medicine for the 99%

"Can we incentivize pharmaceutical companies to produce much-needed drugs? In a Talk at TEDxCanberra, Thomas Pogge proposes a $6 billion plan to revolutionize the way medications are developed and sold.

Overtreatment

An important article appeared in the Health Section of the NY Time on October 4, 2011.

"Has American health care become overly aggressive? Many primary care doctors think so, according to a survey published last week in Archives of Internal Medicine. More than 40 percent of 627 primary care doctors who responded to the survey thought their own patients were overtreated; only 6 percent thought the patients received too little care.

"In another study published in the journal, doctors who reviewed the charts of elderly patients were able to discontinue nearly half of their medications without any detriment to the patients.

"If you take medications on a regular basis, have your doctor review your drug regimen periodically. Ask whether you may be able to wean yourself off a drug like a proton pump inhibitor if you make diet or lifestyle changes."

See: Steer Towards the Path of Least Treatment. 

Drug Side-Effects

"The average drug label lists 70 possible side effects and some drug labels list more than 500."  This should come as no surprise to anyone who takes a medication.  Gina Kolta has a short, lucid article about why so many side-effects are listed for the drugs we take in the Sunday, June 5, 2011 NY Times.  "Side-Effects:  These Drugs Have a Few"  .