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Should You Be Worried About the Latest Drug Recall?
Cancer-causing chemicals in the popular heartburn drug Zantac have led to its removal from store shelves. Here’s what you need to know.
If you are one of the 75 million Americans suffering from high blood pressure, you may have been affected by the recent recalls of heart medicines found to be contaminated with cancer-causing agents, or carcinogens. Over the past 18 months, hundreds of lots of generic valsartan, losartan, and irbesartan, drugs known as angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs), were recalled. And in September, the FDA stated that the same type of impurity was found in medicines used to treat heartburn, including the popular over-the-counter drug Zantac. The alert has since led to yet more recalls.
To learn that a medicine you have been taking for years contains unacceptable levels of carcinogens is disturbing. So is the feeling that this has seemingly become a recurrent issue. If you are facing this circumstance, understanding some of the nuances and complexities of this issue might help you stay calm and navigate the decisions you will need to make next, such as consulting your doctor, talking to your pharmacist, checking the lists of contaminant-free drugs, and, ultimately, switching medications.
The contaminants found in the blood pressure and heartburn drugs are chemicals called nitrosamines, especially one named N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). Studies have found that NDMA can cause cancer in animals, and the compound is classified as “probably carcinogenic” to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. This means that although there is enough evidence from animal studies that NDMA can lead to cancer, the evidence in humans is still limited. (Red meat and certain types of insecticides and herbicides are listed in the same category.)
These nitrosamines are also far more common than we might assume. “NDMA is in virtually all municipal water supplies to some extent,” says C. Michael White, a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy. As it turns out, NDMA is a product of water treatment, and levels of up to 0.1 microgram per liter in drinking water are considered acceptable, according to the World Health Organization. It…
