High blood pressure and the African American community seem to go hand in hand. In fact, more than 40 percent of non-Hispanic African-American men and women have high blood pressure. For African-Americans, high blood pressure also develops earlier in life and is usually more severe. With these numbers also cause for a high number of African Americans taking high blood pressure medication. Nearly 100 million prescriptions were written for blood pressure in 2016 and continues to grow.
Ongoing 2018 blood pressure recalls began back in July when three drug companies, including Teva Pharmaceuticals, began recalling medications containing valsartan. Here’s a full list. With this recall, companies like Teva Pharmaceuticals is now pulling back all of its valsartan drugs on the U.S. market.
Other blood pressure drugs have been recalled over concerns they also contain trace amounts of NDEA. In early November, another blood pressure drug, irbesartan, was recalled, followed in mid-November by a voluntary recall of losartan potassium hydrochlorothiazide tablets, also prescribed to treat hypertension.
In each case, a recalled drug was contaminated with either N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) or N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA).
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Both chemicals are believed to causecancer in humans. Research also suggests NDEA can cause liver and blood cell damage.
NDEA is used to make rocket fuel and can also be found in
