New Drugs Approved To Treat Radiation From Dirty Bombs

[Kadie]

New Drugs Approved To Treat Radiation From Dirty Bombs

POSTED: 4:23 pm EDT August 11, 2004

WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Administration has approved two new products designed to combat possible health problems in the event someone sets off a so-called "dirty bomb."

The products are pentetate calcium trisodium injection (Ca-DTPA) and pentetate zinc trisodium injection (Zn-DTPA), both approved for treating certain kinds of radiation contamination.

Acting FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford told The Associated Press the products would speed up elimination of radiation from the body. And the faster the treatment, the better the chances of avoiding future health effects, including the development of cancers.

http://www.thekcrachannel.com/health/3643982/detail.html

[bobbieinok]

1. so what are we being set up for??????

[soothsayer]

5. Don't worry, the gov will stockpile this for themselves

Not for the great unwashed like ourselves.

[aquart]

2. How much are we paying for these "necessary drugs"???

To which Republican-contributor pharmaceuticals?

[SoCalDem]

3. Wow..A marketing coup...

Introduce the "product"..DIRTYBOMB....DIRTYBOMB..DIRTYBOMB

Scare the people half to death about it...

AND faster than you can say WHAM-O,,, our friend in the drug companies have come up with a "cure" for us.. How FABULOUS..


Will we be seeing the pretty ladies waltzing through fields of daisies, with that "oh-so-confident" look on their faces, as they tell us in their special way...why we need to TELL OUR PHYSICIANS THAT WE WANT THIS DRUG..


oh.. and never mind about the boils, diarrhea, stomach discomfort, glaucoma, lower back pain, warts, scurvy, facial hair growth,foot shrinkage, and the occasional monkey flying out of your ass.. etc..

[daleo]

4. Why did we ever worry about fallout during the cold war?

"The drugs, which will only be available by prescription, have been used for several decades as investigational drugs to treat patients in radiation contamination emergencies."

Somebody should have told us about these wonder drugs a few decades back. Reagan could have had his limited nuclear war, and we would have been just fine.

"Just take these pills until radiation levels have returned to normal."

[Trillo]

6. How do these injectable drugs relate to potassium iodine?

Should these meds ever be necessary, I wonder how much "treatment" is going to cost citizens?

[Rose Siding]

7. And how will they relate to the myriad vaccinations given to soldiers?

I'm hung up on thinking that at least some of the illnesses have to do with drug reactions of the various required shots.

[DrWeird]

10. I'm not quick to call them "drugs."

They're a bit like potassium iodine in that they medicate via inorganic chemistry. It's kind of like treating heartburn with Tums, or alcohol overdose with charcoal.

In this case they're using polydentate chelators. Kind of like the EDTA they put in shampoo in case you've got hard water. They bind to certain metal ions, presumably radioactive metal isotopes, and this, presumably, makes it easier for the body to expel. In the case of potassium iodine, taking large amounts of nonradioactive iodine keeps radioactive iodine from sticking around in your thyroid, it's a bit like Le Chatelier's principle.

These new "drugs" aren't your average pharmaceutical. Drugs can take decades and several billion dollars to develop. This is relatively trivial chemistry that I'm willing to bet has been around for years, thus a drug company isn't likely to have a patent for the drug itself, nobody's got a patent on KI. Although somebody might have one on formulation, or some such thing.

[Rose Siding]

8. Can the developers be run back to Halliburton or Carlyle?

Or are other contributors to benefit this time? The article doesn't mention the pharma involved.

I wish I had confidence in this admin's commitment to the sciences and healing, but I don't.

[mountainvue]

9. What pharmaceutical company

is going to manufacture these?

[scottxyz]

11. Duck and cover!

Just wrap yourself in tinfoil and that should block all those nasty gamma rays!

"Reduce the risk of cancer," my ass. What in God's name are they setting us up for now.

Ban the fucking WMDs and commit the entire international community to a worldwide effort to track them all down and get rid of them.

This includes companies like our own HALLIBURTON who have made millions of of selling nuclear stuff to the Middle East.

[Kool Kitty]

12. Duck and cover, indeed.

Forget about the tinfoil. I'm going to see if I can purchase an old school desk. They were supposed to protect us, right? Isn't that what the old drills taught us? Get under the desk or go into the hallway, face the wall and cover your head.

And then, kiss your ass goodbye.

I guess this stuff is going to be the new "Cipro", with everyone rushing out to stock up on it.

[Moderator]

13. Kick

Kick

[truthisfreedom]

14. do a little google search on radiation and prussian blue.

it's been used for an enormous amount of time to clear heavy metals and radioactive compounds from the digestive system.