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Roseville woman believes mother-in-law got cancer after taking recalled drug

"[I'm] very angry. I'm hurt. I'm upset for her, because she has been healthy her whole life. There's been nothing major, anything, until now."

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A Roseville woman says her mother-in-law got cancer one year after she started taking a popular blood pressure drug that the FDA recalled this week saying it could cause cancer.

The FDA says that several drugs containing the ingredient "valsartan" were found to have an impurity in them called N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) -- a probable human carcinogen.

"[I'm] very angry. I'm hurt. I'm upset for her," Cathleen McCarty explained about her mother-in-law, "because she has been healthy her whole life. There's been nothing major, anything, until now."

McCarty's mother-in-law, who is 66, began taking valsartan two years ago to treat high blood pressure. Last September, she was told she has cancer. Although they do not know yet whether the two are connected, McCarty believes they are and is hoping to sue the pharmaceutical companies. She's also upset that the FDA's advice to people who use the drugs is to keep using it until they find an alternative.

"It shouldn't be voluntary, it should be mandatory. Especially since it's a cancer-causing agent," she said.

The FDA believes this sudden presence of NDMA in the drugs is because of the way the substance was manufactured. The companies recalling their products include Major Pharameceuticals, Solco Healthcare and Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd.

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