An FDA compromise of patient safety?(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)

I was prompted to write after reading Dr. Lazar J. Greenfield's comments about problems that don't seem to be addressed as they should be by the Food and Drug Administration ("Truth Decay at the FDA," Guest Editorial, Sept. 15, 2005, p. 6).

At least 10 years ago, I sent an article to the FDA, which showed that calcium citrate causes increased levels of aluminum in the bloodstream. Alzheimer's patients have increased levels of aluminum in their brain. I had called a trade-name manufacturer of calcium citrate and talked to one of its research pharmacists about this study, which came out of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. He was aware of the study, but told me that the aluminum levels were not toxic. I pointed out to him that one of the reasons lead was no longer used in our gasoline was because of the lead in the atmosphere. That level also was not toxic, but we know that exposure to heavy metals over time is cumulative.

I asked him if they knew ...