Many drugs damage mitochondria. And this subject is now getting more attention because of autism research.
So I thought I'd put this link up for interested readers.

Here is a very recent Science News discusses mitochondrial damage as a source of chronic illness.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feat...ndria_Gone_Bad


This makes more sense to me because what is coming out of the new research is that ANTIBIOTICS and other drugs (like statins), can damage mitochondria. The autism community has some interesting new studies showing vaccines may do this and antibiotic treatment for ear infections or other things that happen to little kids, often precede the appearance of autism.
The mitochondria in our cells are basically similar and actually derived FROM bacteria. So agents that KILL bacteria, may kill our mitochondria too.

example:
http://www.autism.com/medical/resear...ntibiotics.htm

There already is a supplement made by Dr. Bruce Ames who studies mito deterioration as a cause of aging:
Juvenon
http://www.bruceames.org/

I recall reading a mito website long ago that suggested a genetic weakness for this. In order to have a dramatic disorder one needs genes from both parents. But it has been suggested that people with one copy of the recessive gene may be more prone to damage from the environment and aging.