Killers they say are safe… The deadly rub on "safe" topical drugs It has been a while since I warned people about the dangers of over-the-counter drugs, but a recent news item hammered home the need for these warnings perhaps more than any other occurrence in recent years. You may remember hearing about this. According to an AP article from June 9th, a 17-year-old New York girl named Arielle Newman died suddenly in early April of this year… From an overdose of a run-of-the-mill, topically applied "sports cream." The New York City medical examiner confirmed that Arielle, a cross-country runner for her Staten Island high school, died of methyl salicylate poisoning. This anti-inflammatory compound is the key ingredient in some pain-relief creams (Ben Gay and Icy Hot are the most well-known examples) that millions use to soothe muscle aches and soreness post-exercise - or just from the rigors of everyday life. Yep, that's right. This vigorous young girl in the prime of life - and presumably, the bloom of health - was laid low by using something YOU may have right now in your medicine cabinet, or may have even used earlier today… Expert sources quoted in the article caution that excessive exertion and bodily heat can contribute to the body's absorption of methyl salicylate - which is just one more reason (besides the inevitable pain most people try to rub out with sports creams, of course) NOT to do overdo it when it comes to exercise. Of course, I'm not saying that all use of joint-pain creams constitutes a deadly risk to you. But this unfortunate tragedy DOES underscore something I have been saying for years - that just because a product is sold over the counter or on the shelf as "medicine" (or health food) doesn't mean it can't kill or harm you. As you may know if you've been a reader of mine for long, my years of medical practice and research have convinced me of the dangers of all kinds of things that mainstream medicine (or popular culture) views as "safe." "I did not think an over-the-counter product could be unsafe." This is what poor Alice Newman, Arielle's mother, told the media sometime after her daughter's death. This is an opinion shared by the vast majority of Americans, in my experience. Nevertheless… * Take too much aspirin, or too often (like daily on the advice of your doctor) and you could actually harm your heart and clog your arteries (Daily Dose 4/29/2003). * Pop too many antacid tablets for too long and you could retard your digestion to the point of harming your bone density and mental capacity. * Brush with fluoridated toothpaste (or drink much fluoridated water) and you increase your brains' absorption of aluminum - which is linked to Alzheimers'. * Slather on too much sunscreen (ANY AT ALL is too much) and you deprive your body of vitamin D, increasing your risk of skin and other cancers. These are just a handful of the "safe" things the medical mainstream convinces us all that we can do without risk, yet which can be harmful to our health - or even deadly. As if this isn't bad enough, the mainstream also does a pretty good job of spreading enough hysteria and half-truths to discourage us from doing what really IS safe and good for us. Details in the next Daily Dose… | 
