ANOTHER BLACK EYE FOR ANIMAL STUDIES

Add Vioxx, the infamous pain reliever that was withdrawn for doubling the risk of heart attacks and strokes, to the rogues' gallery of medicines and additives that were given the wrong bill of health thanks to animal studies. This is being underscored by a lawsuit by a PCRM member charging that Merck "relied too heavily on animal studies to support the drug's safety" even in the face of a 2000 study where "Vioxx had five times the rate of heart attacks among users as naproxen." Stay tuned.