Tough Questions for VA on Suicide-Linked Chantix

Tough Questions for VA on Suicide-Linked Chantix
VA Secretary To Appear Before Congress Tomorrow
By MADDY SAUER and VIC WALTER
July 8, 2008

The Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs will appear before Congress tomorrow to answer questions about why his administration continued to recruit veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan for studies of pharmaceutical drugs linked to suicide and other violent side-effects. The controversial tests were the subject of an ABC News/ Washington Times investigation last month.

In one of the human experiments involving the anti-smoking drug Chantix, VA doctors waited more than three months after a statement was issued by the Food and Drug Administration before warning veterans about the possible serious side-effects, including suicide and neuropsychiatric behavior.


In the meantime, a new report out in today's Washington Times says that doctors at the VA began raising red flags as early as last year about Chantix, prompting a quiet investigation last fall.
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