Yes, Big Pharma wants to get your kids hooked on drugs as early as possible.
The Washington Post reported:
"In a further concession to the impact of the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States, a leading group of pediatricians is recommending that kids as young as 8 years old be given cholesterol-lowering drugs in hopes of preventing heart problems later in life. The academy is also recommending that children whose family history of cholesterol is not known, or who have risk factors for heart disease - have their cholesterol tested. The recommendations were published in the July issue of the journalPediatrics.
According to the recommendation, the best method for checking cholesterol is a fasting blood test. Children whose cholesterol is normal should have the test repeated every three to five years.
For those children older than 8 who have high levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol, doctors should consider giving them statins.
Shelov admitted that very little is known about the risks and benefits of using cholesterol-lowering drugs like statins in a large pediatric population.
Potentially, millions of children could be placed on cholesterol-lowering drugs, he said. 'At the same time, there needs to be a systematic look at the effects of these medications on children, because they do have side effects,' he added.
'If we are going to go ahead and do this, we're going to need guidelines on exactly who would warrant the therapy and careful measurement of any side effects,' Shelov said.
'It's possible that many children who start taking statins would not be on them for life.
But there is nothing to rule out the possibility that your children will be taking statin drugs for the rest of their lives. And if you watch the TV ads for statin drugs they caution that "these drugs are not recommended for women who are pregnant, nursing or who may become pregnant". So can you imagine the long term impact of these drugs will be on the reproductive system of little girls?
Parents consider the fact that there are no long term studies on the impact of placing a pre-pubescent child on statin drugs.
Consider the fact that many people on statin drugs experience side effects and need to take other drugs to treat the resulting ailments.
Consider the fact that the studies that propose that there is a direct correlation between high cholesterol and heart disease have come into question.
And finally, parents please consider the fact that if your child receives a healthy diet full of fresh fruits of vegetables, without fast foods and processed foods full of salt and sugar, and with lots of fun exercise, obesity probably won't be an issue.
The CBS evening news discussed the fact that there is no concrete evidence that statin drugs will prevent heart disease...