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"You'll hear about this trend called the vitamin drip, where celebrities, models, musicians and athletes are getting IV nutrition delivered intravenously because it's supposed to reenergize them, it's supposed to beautify them," says Robbins, who traced where the nutrients are coming from and found that in some cases, they are coming from the same limited pool used to supply hospitals.
"So essentially, premature babies are suffering because they can't get access to the same nutrients that some celebrities are using to pretty-up before a photo shoot," says Robbins, who adds that people are also using the drugs for a hangover cure.
Why are celebrities getting the drugs, and not the infants in critical condition? Robbins explains there is no centralized database to direct the nutrients to the people who need them the most.
Special report: Because of nationwide shortages, Washington hospitals are rationing, hoarding, and bartering critical nutrients premature babies and other patients need to survive. Doctors are reporting conditions normally seen only in developing countries, and there have been deaths. How could this be allowed to happen?
Premature babies across the country are allegedly malnourished because some of the nutrients they need are being sucked up into celebrities freshly botoxed mugs via a trendy vitamin drip.
Famouses like Simon Cowell, Madonna, Cindy Crawford, and the Miami Heat’s Rashard Lewis are allegedly huge fans of these nutrient drips that make you feel and look like a sexy baby vampire. They take them before big events, photo shoots, or just when they just need a little kick. Rhianna even started a craze when she tweeted a photo of her IV line in 2012 — now “party-girl drip” is being used as a hangover cure and there are even vans in Las Vegas that can run as many as 14 IVs at a time
"I.V. is pretty much instant gratification," Dr. Kamau Kokayi said.
A 2012 report by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform places much of the blame on the FDA.
The report says that because the agency ramped up inspections and sent a flurry of warning letters, “four of America’s five largest manufacturers of generic injectable products” simultaneously shut down 30 percent of their manufacturing capacity. [\size]
FDA officials have responded that the increase of warning letters was only a “modest fluctuation” that didn’t correlate with the dramatic increase in shortages.
But records show that the number of warning letters related to drugs and biologics nearly doubled between 2009 and 2010, from 34 to 60, before falling to 48 the next year. The recent surge in shortages began in 2010.
Manufacturers are reluctant to talk. APP Pharmaceuticals, which produces calcium gluconate, sodium phosphate, and magnesium sulfate, and American Regent, which makes several IV nutrients currently in shortage, both declined to comment for this article.
“There’s no upside to our guys talking about that,” says a spokesperson for a manufacturers’ association. “Even if the FDA’s doing something terrible, we can’t criticize them. They regulate us. There’s not one cause of drug shortages. But if you call the FDA, they’ll say it’s our fault.”
Indeed, in a July 2012 letter to Congressman Elijah Cummings, a ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, FDA assistant commissioner Jeanne Ireland passed the buck. “The root causes of drug shortages . . . lie largely outside of FDA’s purview,” she wrote. “During 2011 nearly 70 percent of all drug shortages were related to manufacturing production problems, including quality-related issues and delays. . . . In 2012, quality-related problems and delays have continued to account for the majority of shortages, especially those involving sterile injectable drugs.”
“It appears that FDA failed to properly balance regulatory benefits and regulatory costs when the agency took actions that effectively shut down a significant amount of manufacturing capacity at most of America’s major producers of generic injectable drugs,” the congressional letter states.
The letter echoes an accusation in the original report that the FDA knew as early as mid-2011 that its enforcement measures might lead to shortages. That’s when FDA warning letters began to mention shortages, instructing manufacturers to contact the agency before making a decision that would result in a drop-off in production.
For whatever reason the OP decided to point the finger at 'celebrities' I have no idea nor do I wish to try and understand that kind of mindset.
Facts are - those preemies and babies in need who’re supposed to live? Their parents have the cash to get what they need.
The 'other babies'? The ‘poor’ ones? Well, it sucks to be them now doesn't it.
Where’s the conspiracy in that, lol.
peace
What part of 'those who can afford it will get what they need' didn't you comprehend?
Point being - the poor will die. The rich, will not.
Nothing new here.
peace