Professor urges ABC to pull Catalyst episode on cholesterol drugs, says it could result in deaths !

Sent in by our good friend Lisa.

A leading public health physician is warning the ABC not to air a second program on cholesterol, saying it could result in deaths.

Last week Catalyst claimed the notion that saturated fat and cholesterol causes heart disease is the biggest myth of medical history.

This Thursday's program is about anti-cholesterol drugs known as statins, which are widely used in Australia.

The chair of the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Medicines has written to the ABC in a private capacity, warning the program might cause people not to take their drugs.

Professor Emily Banks says that will lead to more cardiovascular disease events and deaths.

"If people stop using their statins or if they don't start them when they should be, it's very likely that it will result in death," she said.

"It's likely that if this program goes ahead, and it does the unwarranted undermining of statins, that there will be people who didn't have to have a heart attack and didn't have to die from a heart attack, who will die through reducing use of statins."

Thursday's scheduled program is the second in a two-part series. Promotions say it examines how the benefits of statins have been exaggerated.

More on this story here.

Eddie