In addition to being incompetent, it looks like the bureaucratic brains in charge of the US Food and Drug Administration are illiterate to boot.

Studies have found that women who take bisphosphonate meds – drugs that are supposed to fight off osteoporosis – may actually have an increased risk of brittle bones and femur fractures.

These unlucky women don’t even have to be doing anything strenuous. They could just be walking along and suddenly – CRACK! – a bone breaks for no reason at all.

But when the FDA found out about these studies, they sprang into their usual inaction – quickly issuing a statement saying there’s no clear connection between these meds and hip fractures… and telling women to keep right on taking them!

See no evil, hear no evil… read no studies, especially when they concern a class of drugs that did $US3.5 billion in business in 2008 alone.

So let me tell you what the FDA won’t: Long-term use of meds such as Actonel, Boniva, Fosamax and Reclast have been linked to femur fractures. Studies found bones turning to peanut brittle at four years, and an increased risk of fracture at five years or more.

The studies, presented at the annual conference of The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, also found that the fractures tend to happen to otherwise perfectly healthy active women – not nursing-home patients.

But that’s not the only bad news about these meds… that’s just the latest bad news, because bisphosphonates have been linked to heartburn, abdominal pain, fever, bone and muscle pain, low energy and low levels of calcium in the blood.

And if you think that’s bad, these meds have also been linked to esophageal cancer and necrosis of the jaw.

For more on osteoporosis and other health issues, see Elaine Hollingsworth’s Take Control of Your Health and Escape the Sickness Industry , available at www.doctorsaredangerous.com