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Andrew Castle: Tamiflu almost killed daughter
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Times of London (One of the UK's leading newspapers)
Posted: October 3rd, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/Swine_flu/ar...
The [UK] Health Secretary appeared on breakfast television this morning in a bid to reassure concerned parents after scientists warned that children should not be given Tamiflu. Instead he was confronted by a GMTV presenter who claimed that the drug had almost killed his daughter. Andy Burnham insisted that the Government was right to advise children to take the anti-viral drug despite a warning from researchers at the University of Oxford who called on the Department of Health urgently to reconsider its pandemic strategy. But he was tackled live on TV by Andrew Castle, Britain's former top tennis player, who said his older daughter, Georgina, had a respiratory collapse after being given the drug as a precaution during the containment stage of the pandemic. I can tell you that my child - who was not diagnosed at all - she had asthma, she took Tamiflu and almost died, he said. Georgina, 16, was given Tamiflu when five pupils at Alleyns School in south London were diagnosed with the illness in May. Castle, also a BBC tennis commentator, said he feared for his daughters life as medical professionals backed away from the potentially contagious child. He said: Nobody checked that she had swine flu beforehand. The Health Protection Agency just handed it out at Alleyns School in south London and a lot of kids suffered in the school very heavily. It almost cost my older child her life." The study published yesterday warned that Tamiflu can cause vomiting in some children, which can lead to dehydration and the need for hospital treatment.
Note: Remember that the drug companies often place profits above public health. For an article showing how Donald Rumsfeld, former chairman of the board at the pharmaceutical which produced Tamiflu, personally made millions from the sale of Tamiflu during the avian flu scare, click here. To read an article with more information showing that Tamiflu and Relenza may not be safe for children, click here.
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