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Message: [QUOTE="Edward Sargent, post: 3612400, member: 912"] No I am not a physician but rather a PhD toxicologist who worked for Merck for 25 years and continue to consult. My specialty is occupational and environmental toxicology to support pharmaceutical manufacturing. Valsartan was recalled due to identification of an impurity called nitroso dimethylamine (NMBA) at very low levels. It is a known mutagen and suspect human carcinogen and it was introduced into the active ingredient during its manufacture. All companies manufacturing sartans (valsartan, losartan, irbesartan) did voluntary recalls until they could demonstrate that the NMBA impurity levels were below a safe level established by FDA and other drug regulatory agencies. There was no emergency recall, no one died and there was no "association with any cancers". As a matter of course the FDA recommended that you continue to take your medicine until your doctor could recommend an alternative. Unfortunately the recall was enough for the lawyers to start their ad campaign for class action lawsuits. So if you've taken any one of these antihypertensives and you've been diagnosed with cancer of the liver, pancreas, esophagus, stomach, colorectum or bowel or if you've had liver failure, there are class actions you can join. I didn't meant to recommend one drug over another, that is for you and your doctor to decide, but there are many hypertensives with different mechanisms of action. The most important thing is if you see consistent elevated blood pressure to see your doctor and get it taken care of. Be well [/QUOTE]

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