September, 01 2009, 03:52pm EDT
Dangerous Interactions With Oxycodone and Other Commonly Prescribed Drugs Pose Threat, Public Citizen Says
Oxycodone in Combination With 35 Drugs Listed on WorstPills.org Can Increase Toxicity or Decrease Effectiveness
WASHINGTON
Patients who take oxycodone for pain relief in combination with
certain other widely prescribed drugs may be at risk of experiencing
dramatically altered effects ranging from excessive sedation and
respiratory depression to decreased painkilling effects, Public Citizen writes in the latest edition of Worst Pills, Best Pills News released today on WorstPills.org, the organization's drug safety Web site.
Because it is an opioid drug, oxycodone (sold generically, as well
as Oxycontin, Percodan and Tylox) is eliminated from the body by a
specific liver enzyme (CYP3A4). This enzyme is commonly inhibited by
other drugs, and when drugs that inhibit the enzyme are taken with
oxycodone, the blood levels of oxycodone may increase by as much as
four times the proper blood level, increasing the risk of side
effects.
Conversely, other drugs can increase the activity of this enzyme,
causing the body to process and eliminate oxycodone more rapidly. As a
result, the drug's painkilling effects are reduced substantially.
"It is very important that people taking oxycodone know how the drug
will interact with other medications they may be taking," said Sidney
Wolfe, M.D., director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group. "If
you are taking oxycodone, along with one of the 35 drugs listed on
Worstpills.org as either increasing oxycodone's toxicity or reducing
its analgesic effects, you should talk to your doctor to find
alternatives that are less likely to interact."
More than 14 million prescriptions were filled for oxycodone in
2008. The drugs that interact with oxycodone can be found in a table
included with the article on Worstpills.org.
Worst Pills, Best Pills News is a monthly newsletter
available in print and electronic formats through Public Citizen's
subscription Web site, . The article about oxycodone interactions will
be available free for the next seven days. The site has other
searchable information about the uses, risks and side effects
associated with prescription medications.
WorstPills.org is an unbiased analysis of information from a variety
of sources, including well-regarded medical journals and unpublished
data obtained from the Food and Drug Administration, that allows Public
Citizen to sound the alarm about potentially dangerous drugs long
before they are banned by the federal government and to recommend safer
drugs. For example, Public Citizen warned consumers about the dangers
of Vioxx, ephedra, Baycol and Propulsid years before they were pulled
from the market.
READ the article.
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
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Baltimore Blocks EPA Plan to Dump Toxic Wastewater From East Palestine
"Too often cities with high rates of concentrated poverty and environmental degradation are asked to shoulder the burden for corporate malfeasance," said a Democratic City Council member. "East Palestine and Baltimore deserve better."
Mar 28, 2023
A local Democratic lawmaker in Baltimore on Tuesday credited community members and clean water advocates for helping to secure an environmental victory, as the City Council unanimously approved a resolution to block shipments of contaminated wastewater from East Palestine, Ohio.
Days after water treatment company Clean Harbors informed Baltimore and Maryland officials that it intended to receive 675,000 gallons of contaminated wastewater containing vinyl chloride and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from the site of a toxic train derailment in February, Councilmember Zeke Cohen introduced a resolution on Monday to stop the shipment.
The treatment facility where the wastewater would be going, the resolution noted, has been operated by the state since March 2022 "due to catastrophic failures at the facility that led to illegal releases of partially treated sewage."
"Ongoing sludge management issues" have also been identified as a cause of a recent explosion at the plant, which treats water that ultimately flows into the Chesapeake Bay, and the neighborhoods surrounding the facility "have an air toxics risk in the 80th-100th percentile and wastewater discharges in the 90th-100th percentile, nationally."
"The decision to send at least 675,000 gallons (that's at least 20 train cars) of contaminated water to an already environmentally overburdened community is reckless," tweeted Cohen on Monday as he introduced the resolution. "We stand in solidarity with the people of East Palestine. We understand all too well the long-term costs of environmental injustice."
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Environmental justice group Blue Water Baltimore demanded to know last week why U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials "believe it is appropriate to send the toxic waste that is too dangerous for East Palestine to the shores of Baltimore."
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The February 3 derailment involved several train cars carrying vinyl chloride and has so far led Norfolk Southern to remove more than eight million gallons of wastewater from the town, shipping it to facilities in states including Michigan and Texas.
Residents of East Palestine have reported symptoms including headaches and vomiting since leaders told them the town was safe to return to following a brief evacuation. Soil near the crash site has been found to contain levels of dioxin that far exceed the cancer risk threshold recommended by scientists.
Democratic Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said late Monday that following the City Council's unanimous adoption of Cohen's resolution, city lawyers concluded he could legally modify a sewage permit and halt City Harbors' plan, which was overseen by the EPA.
"Thank you to Mayor Scott for taking bold and decisive action to deny Clean Harbors from discharging toxic water from East Palestine into our wastewater collection system," said Cohen.
The council member said the victory "was made possible because elected officials listened to voices on the ground."
Residents of the Houston area spoke out last month about plans to inject toxic wastewater from East Palestine into the ground in a suburban area, and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, blocked a shipment of contaminated soil earlier this month.
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U.S. Congressman Tim Burchett was accused of saying "the quiet part out loud" after the Tennessee Republican responded to the massacre in Nashville on Monday by arguing there's not much Congress can do to prevent mass shootings.
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Update:
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted 55-41 to reject an amendment from Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, that would have empowered the president to wage war against Iran.
Earlier:
The U.S. Senate is set to vote Tuesday afternoon on a Republican amendment that would explicitly authorize the president to take military action against Iranian forces.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the amendment's author, is looking to attach the measure to a resolution that—if passed—would repeal the 1991 and 2002 authorizations for use of military force in Iraq.
The amendment's text contends that Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution "empowers the president to use force against forces of Iran, a state responsible for conducting and directing attacks against United States forces in the Middle East and to take actions for the purpose of ending Iran's escalation of attacks on, and threats to, United States interests."
Brian Finucane, a senior adviser for the Crisis Group's U.S. program, called the Cruz amendment "pernicious" and warned that it would "have Congress endorse broad Article II authority for POTUS to use force against Iran, [without] even a caveat about actions amounting to 'war' in the constitutional sense."
The amendment's prospects for passage are unclear, but the Senate is chock-full of Iran hawks—including some on the Democratic side. The amendment needs 60 votes to pass.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) issued a statement on Tuesday voicing opposition to "sunsetting any military force authorizations in the Middle East."
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