skandalon

An especially disturbing section of the book delves into a lawsuit brought against Eli Lilly by survivors of a rampage by Joseph Wesbecker, who was the company’s worst nightmare: a Prozac user who went on the rampage in 1989 with an AK-47. Fortunately for Eli Lilly, the 1994 trial was concurrent with the O. J. Simpson trial, the facts were carefully manipulated, a secret settlement was made between plaintiffs and the drug company even as the trial continued, and Prozac avoided a warning label about possibly violent or suicidal behavior. All the particulars of this remarkable legal travesty are laid out here.

✖ Via The New York Times: “Exploring a Dark Side of Depression Remedies” by Janet Maslin, June 29, 2000.

The quote above is an excerpt from the review of the book Overcoming the Dangers of Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil and Other Antidepressants With Safe, Effective Alternatives by Joseph Glenmullen, M.D. (383 pages. Simon & Schuster). On the same subject, read also “Papers indicate firm knew possible Prozac suicide risk” by Tom Watkins, January 3, 2005:

An internal document purportedly from Eli Lilly and Co. made public Monday appears to show that the drug maker had data more than 15 years ago showing that patients on its antidepressant Prozac were far more likely to attempt suicide and show hostility than were patients on other antidepressants and that the company attempted to minimize public awareness of the side effects. (more)

Previously on Skandalon: Eli Lilly and Co.

• Sep 03, 2010 link notes tagged: technology rampage lawsuit antidepressant drug Prozac depression suicidal suicide homicide violence psychiatry pharmaceutical science industry capitalism individuation

It sort of makes sense, actually: Junk food consumption is correlated with violent crime. Virtually all the criminals in prison across the country are nutritionally imbalanced due to their consumption of processed junk foods and their lack of sufficient nutritional supplementation. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if a study revealed that fried snack foods like Doritos are a favorite food among violent criminals. These are, after all, the kind of people depicted in some Doritos advertisements.

In my view, the violent Doritos commercials accurately reflect the senseless, violent behavior that typifies people (younger males, mostly) who consume large quantities of processed junk foods, sugary soft drinks and gimmicky “sports drinks.” These are the people who end up being put on antidepressants and other psychotropic drugs, after which they sometimes end up in a school shooting rampage.

It might make a good Doritos commercial, actually: A kid grows up on junk food and diet soda laced with aspartame. He’s drugged up on Ritalin and Prozac. One day he brings a semiautomatic rifle to school, barges into a classroom and opens fire on his classmates, shooting and screaming, “I WANT MY F*@!KING DORITOS!”

✖ Via NaturalNews: “Doritos ads represent sick, demented nature of junk food companies and their products” by Mike Adams Feb. 27th, 2010

I’m not sure if he meant to say TV cause violence or junk food cause violence. The two are probably linked (as previous studies already suggested). I’d really like to get my hands on the correlation coefficients used for this “analysis” though. Food consumption may be part of the explanation, it may also be a side effect caused by other factors (the same goes for television). Furthermore, I’m not very confortable with the whole scapegoating practice : blame it on the Doritos. Somehow, I doubt Doritos alone explain those (and I’ll avoid the cliché consisting in naming famous killers who were vegetarians).

Mike Adams is the Editor of NaturalNews.com. You can read his bio on his official website.

Learn more about Doritos’ latest marketing campaign Viralocity.

• Feb 28, 2010 link notes tagged: communication technology food junk television violence murderer rampage viral