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Guest
World Experts Demand End to Child Drugging in the US - Part I
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/01509/child-drugging.html
Washington, DC: On October 12, 2007, experts in the field of psychiatry
and child development from all over the world arrived in Washington to
attend the annual conference of the International Center for the Study
of Psychiatry and Psychology. This year's conference focused on one
specific goal - to end the mass-prescribing of psychiatric drugs to
children.
In addition to the seminars and presentations by psychiatric experts and
academics, other presenters and speakers at the conference varied from
patients and leaders of patient advocacy groups to social workers,
nurses, educators, authors and lawmakers.
The conference included presentations on the serious health risks
associated with the new generation of psychiatric drugs now commonly
prescribed to children, including attention deficit medications,
antidepressant drugs and atypical antipsychotics.
Child With PillMuch of the outrage expressed by speakers and attendees
alike stemmed from the recommendation by the Bush Administration's New
Freedom Commission on Mental Health to conduct "universal" mental
illness screening of all Americans from the age of "0" on up to the
oldest living citizen.
The main topics of debate included the recommendations by the NFC to
screen public school children in all 50 states with a program called
TeenScreen and the implementation in many states of programs modeled
after TMAP (Texas Medication Algorithm Project), a treatment plan that
mandates the use of the new expensive psychiatric drugs with all
patients diagnosed with mental disorders who are covered by public
health care programs such as Medicaid.
The new generation of antidepressant drugs include Prozac and Cymbalta
by Eli Lilly; Paxil marketed by GlaxoSmithKline; Zoloft by Pfizer;
Celexa and Lexapro from Forest Laboratories; Effexor by Wyeth, as well
as generic versions sold by Barr Pharmaceuticals, Ranbaxy Labs and Genpharm.
The new generation of atypical antipsychotics include Zyprexa by Eli
Lilly; Risperdal marketed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subdivision of
Johnson & Johnson; Abilify by Bristol-Myers Squibb; Clozaril sold by
Novartis, and Geodon by Pfizer.
Many of the presentations at the conference focused on the
pharmaceutical industry's role in the invention of both TMAP and
TeenScreen and the many financial ties between the drug makers, the Bush
administration, a group of psychiatrists, and state policy makers
largely credited with the creation and promotion of these two programs.
Minnesota Pediatrician Dr Karen Effrem produced a briefing booklet and
CD entitled, "The Dangers of Universal Mental Health Screening," which
is available at the ICSPP web site at http://www.icspp.org/.
During her presentation, Dr Effrem explained the history of TMAP and
TeenScreen, a 52-question computerized self-administered questionnaire
that takes 10 minutes to complete and was developed by Columbia
University Children's Psychiatric Center.
"The New Freedom Commission, TMAP and TeenScreen," Dr Effrem notes,
"appear to be a blatant political/pharmaceutical company alliances that
promote medication, and more precisely, more expensive antidepressants
and antipsychotics, which are at best of questionable benefit and come
with deadly side effects."
During the portion on TeenSceen, Dr Effrem cited one study which found
an 82% false-positive rate in students screened, meaning that if 100
students were tested, 82 were wrongly flagged as having some mental
disorder. "TeenScreen's extremely high false-positive rate makes the
test virtually useless as a diagnostic instrument," she stated.
According to Dr Effrem, it is "difficult, if not impossible" to diagnose
young children accurately, due to very rapid developmental changes.
"Often, adult signs and symptoms of mental disorders in adults are
characteristics of normal development in children and adolescents," she
explains.
Since the arrival of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
antidepressants (SSRI's) and atypical antipsychotics on the market,
countless studies have shown the so-called "wonder drugs" to be
ineffective and harmful to children. But for years, drug companies have
manipulated data, suppressed negative clinical trials and published only
the studies that showed positive results.
The truth is that the mass drugging of the entire population in the US
with SSRI's has accomplished nothing when it comes to reducing
suicidality. According to a June 2005 study, primarily funded by the
National Institute of Mental Health, in the Journal of the American
Medical Association, although people who were likely to attempt suicide
were far more likely to be treated with antidepressants in 2001-2003,
the rates for suicide attempts, gestures and ideation remained basically
unchanged for over a decade.
To reach their conclusions, the researchers analyzed a survey of close
to 10,000 adults and compared it to a similar survey conduced 10 years
earlier for the years 1990-1992.
The prescribing rates for psychiatric drugs increased every year during
that time period. On January 13, 2005, WebMD reported a government study
that reviewed the patterns of treatment from the mid-1990's to 2001, and
found more Americans than ever were being treated for depression,
substance abuse and mental disorders but that the treatment was most
often limited to drugs alone.
The cost of mental health drugs rose 20% each year, and according to
study, about 80% of the increase could be explained by the increased
prescribing of antidepressants and atypical antipsychotics.
A "Myth and Fact Sheet" presented at the conference reports that, in
2003, more money was spent on psychiatric drugs for children than on
antibiotics and asthma medications.
By tugging at the heartstrings of parents in claiming TeenScreen is a
suicide prevention tool, the drug profiteers have managed to set up the
bogus screening program in towns and cities all across America, and the
promoters never seem to tire of using the line that suicide is the third
leading cause of death in teens and adolescents in the US. However,
experts explain that the rate of suicide remains high on the list only
because persons in this age group seldom die of any causes.
During his presentation at the conference, neurologist Dr Fred Baughman,
a recognized authority on psychotropic drugs and author of "The ADHD
Fraud," stated: "Psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry married and
launched the joint market strategy of calling all emotional and
behavioral problems 'brain diseases', due to 'chemical imbalances',
needing 'chemical balancers' - pills."
"Every time parents are lead to believe that their child's emotional or
behavioral problems are a 'disease' due to an abnormality in the brain,"
Dr Baughman says, "they are lied to."
He discussed the overdose death of 4-year-old Rebecca Riley in December
2006, who was diagnosed with ADHD and Bipolar Disorder when she was only
2-and-a half-years old. She was kept on a ****tail of 3 psychiatric
drugs, none of which were FDA approved alone for a child her age, much
less together, until the time of her death.
The title of his presentation was, "Who Killed Rebecca Riley," and Dr
Baughman placed the blame squarely on the gang of industry shills who
are largely credited with the invention and promotion of ADHD and
Bipolar Disorders in small children, including among others, Dr Joseph
Biederman, Dr Steven Hyman, Dr Jerome Groopman and Dr David Shaffer, the
brainchild credited with inventing TeenScreen.
The Fact Sheet reports a 2006 review of the FDA's MedWatch adverse event
database, which found 45 deaths in children due to toxicity of
antipsychotics.
Dr Baughman calls the use of the "chemical imbalance theory," the
"biggest health care fraud" and "mass character assassination" in human
history, and says it must be abolished.
Dr Dominick Riccio, executive director of the ICSPP, also weighed in on
the "chemical imbalance" theory and said that child drugging in the US
is based on a "hypotheses with no validity," propagandized by the
pharmaceutical industry.
He warned that there is absolutely no scientific evidence to validate
the "chemical imbalance" used to justify the drugging of America's "most
precious commodity," and "if we continue to damage our children, there
will be hell to pay down the line."
Dr Riccio called for "integrity" in the psychiatric profession and told
professionals in attendance, "if you do not understand child
development, you should not work with children."
Washington psychiatrist, Dr Joseph Tarantolo, warned that the new
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants are not
"selective," "the drugs are cannons," he said.
He also explained that the "so-called" antipsychotic drugs do not affect
psychosis, "they deaden a person's response to life."
According to Dr Tarantolo, because the drugging began 10 or 15 years
ago, "we are going to have an epidemic of young adults with
yet-to-be-determined neurological problems due to the long term use of
psychotropic drugs."
He says an epidemic is defined as 1% of the population and warns that
there will be far more than 1% injured by these drugs.
The bribing of prescribing doctors in the field of psychiatry is
rampant. A June 26, 2007, report by the Attorney General of Vermont of
payments made to doctors by drug companies during the period July 1,
2005 through June 30, 2006, shows that, by category, psychiatrists were
the largest beneficiaries, and 11 psychiatrists received a combined
total of $502,612.02, or more than 22% of the overall total of all payments.
For the past 4 years, psychiatric drug makers have remained high on the
list of the top 10 spenders in Vermont, with Paxil maker Glaxo holding
the number one position in both 2003 and 2004.
An analysis of Minnesota disclosure records by the consumer watchdog
group Public Citizen, reported by the Pioneer Press, found a similar
windfall for shrinks in that state between 2002 and 2006, with
psychiatrists receiving combined payments of $7.38 million.
However, the drug maker's off-label sales of antipsychotics are now
under fire due to the greed involved in the billings submitted for
Medicaid patients. In September 2007, Arkansas became the latest state
to sue the drug makers when it announced the filing of a lawsuit against
Lilly, Janssen and AstraZeneca for "improper and unlawful marketing," of
their drugs and concealing the serious health risks associated with
their use.
The Medicaid fraud lawsuits seek to recover not only the money paid for
the antipsychotics but also the cost of medical care for all the
patients who were injured by the drugs known to cause drastic weight
gain, abnormal blood sugars and diabetes.
The bribing of shrinks may be coming to an end as well because, in
addition to Medicaid fraud lawsuits, states are also going after the
prescribers. On August 16, 2006, the Houston Chronicle reported that
five doctors in Texas were notified that they needed to return the
Medicaid money paid for drugs they prescribed as part of a two-year
effort to better regulate how children are prescribed psychiatric drugs
in that state.
The Chronicle reported that a review of a two-month period of Medicaid
records in 2004 determined that over 63,000 foster children were on
stimulants, antipsychotics or antidepressants, with nearly one-third of
the kids taking drugs from more than one of the three classes at the
same time and that doctors had filed 114,315 claims worth over $17 million.
The experts at the ICSPP conference reported that the over-prescribing
of attention deficit drugs is also out of control, even after the new
warnings were issued. The ICSPP Fact Sheet notes that the new labeling
changes for ADHD medications include: "Sudden death has been reported in
association with CNS stimulant treatment at usual doses in children and
adolescents with structural cardiac abnormalities or other serious heart
problems."
"Treatment emergent psychotic or manic symptoms, e.g., hallucinations,
delusional can be caused by stimulants at usual doses," the warning also
notes.
Psychiatrist Dr Grace Jackson, author of "Rethinking Psychiatric Drugs,"
says the fact that cardiovascular risks are associated with ADHD drugs
is not news. "As early as 1977," she says, "research documented the cell
changes associated with heart muscle enlargement in a chronic consumer
of Ritalin."
"The connection between stimulants, cardiovascular disability, and death
has long been documented in the medical literature," she states.
However, no slow down in prescribing rates for these drugs is likely. In
2005, according to a December 15, 2006, report by Research and Markets,
the value of the ADHD market was $2.6 billion, and it is now the 9th
largest segment of the CNS market with growth of 8% year-on-year.
Approximately 90% of global sales were derived from the US in 2005, and
by 2012, global sales are forecast to reach $4.3 billion.
In February 2007, the FDA finally directed the drug makers to develop
Patient Medication Guides to inform patients about the adverse effects
of Adderall, Concerta, Daytrana, Desoxyn, Dexedrine, Focalin, Metadate
CD, Methylin, Ritalin and Strattera.
However, experts say children are being damaged by ADHD drugs in ways
that will never show up in a pamphlet. According to child psychiatrist
Dr Stefan Kruszewski, "children who are medicated early do not learn to
develop coping strategies that work as they move through different
developmental stages."
"We are encouraging a generation of youngsters to grow up relying on
psychiatric drugs rather than on themselves and other human resources,"
says Dr Peter Breggin, ICSPP founder and author of, "Talking Back to
Ritalin."
"In the long run, we are giving our children a very bad lesson," he
warns, "that drugs are the answer to emotional problems."
"The problem with the diagnostic assessment of ADHD," Dr Kruszewski
explains, "is that the prescreening statement is so inclusive that
virtually every child meets prescreening criteria and therefore every
child, under prevailing treatment modalities, becomes eligible for
'chronic' medication therapies."
He also points out that, once children are screened, "they become
'eligible' for additional screening for conditions such as social
anxiety, bipolar disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and too
often end up on even more drugs."
Dr David Stein, author of, "Unraveling the ADD/ADHD Fiasco," also warns
that stimulant drugs are "near the top of the heap of potentially
addictive drugs."
He says there is no way of pinpointing which children are at risk of
becoming addicted, and "psychiatry has an extremely poor track record
for treating addiction problems."
Advocates against school screening have set up a web site that lists the
TeenScreen locations throughout the US, which also posts a petition for
people opposed to the program to sign at [TEENSCREEN-LOCATIONS]
CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....
CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.
every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com
Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS
Perpetrators of Maltreatment
Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5
Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.
CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT
FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...
BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/01509/child-drugging.html
Washington, DC: On October 12, 2007, experts in the field of psychiatry
and child development from all over the world arrived in Washington to
attend the annual conference of the International Center for the Study
of Psychiatry and Psychology. This year's conference focused on one
specific goal - to end the mass-prescribing of psychiatric drugs to
children.
In addition to the seminars and presentations by psychiatric experts and
academics, other presenters and speakers at the conference varied from
patients and leaders of patient advocacy groups to social workers,
nurses, educators, authors and lawmakers.
The conference included presentations on the serious health risks
associated with the new generation of psychiatric drugs now commonly
prescribed to children, including attention deficit medications,
antidepressant drugs and atypical antipsychotics.
Child With PillMuch of the outrage expressed by speakers and attendees
alike stemmed from the recommendation by the Bush Administration's New
Freedom Commission on Mental Health to conduct "universal" mental
illness screening of all Americans from the age of "0" on up to the
oldest living citizen.
The main topics of debate included the recommendations by the NFC to
screen public school children in all 50 states with a program called
TeenScreen and the implementation in many states of programs modeled
after TMAP (Texas Medication Algorithm Project), a treatment plan that
mandates the use of the new expensive psychiatric drugs with all
patients diagnosed with mental disorders who are covered by public
health care programs such as Medicaid.
The new generation of antidepressant drugs include Prozac and Cymbalta
by Eli Lilly; Paxil marketed by GlaxoSmithKline; Zoloft by Pfizer;
Celexa and Lexapro from Forest Laboratories; Effexor by Wyeth, as well
as generic versions sold by Barr Pharmaceuticals, Ranbaxy Labs and Genpharm.
The new generation of atypical antipsychotics include Zyprexa by Eli
Lilly; Risperdal marketed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subdivision of
Johnson & Johnson; Abilify by Bristol-Myers Squibb; Clozaril sold by
Novartis, and Geodon by Pfizer.
Many of the presentations at the conference focused on the
pharmaceutical industry's role in the invention of both TMAP and
TeenScreen and the many financial ties between the drug makers, the Bush
administration, a group of psychiatrists, and state policy makers
largely credited with the creation and promotion of these two programs.
Minnesota Pediatrician Dr Karen Effrem produced a briefing booklet and
CD entitled, "The Dangers of Universal Mental Health Screening," which
is available at the ICSPP web site at http://www.icspp.org/.
During her presentation, Dr Effrem explained the history of TMAP and
TeenScreen, a 52-question computerized self-administered questionnaire
that takes 10 minutes to complete and was developed by Columbia
University Children's Psychiatric Center.
"The New Freedom Commission, TMAP and TeenScreen," Dr Effrem notes,
"appear to be a blatant political/pharmaceutical company alliances that
promote medication, and more precisely, more expensive antidepressants
and antipsychotics, which are at best of questionable benefit and come
with deadly side effects."
During the portion on TeenSceen, Dr Effrem cited one study which found
an 82% false-positive rate in students screened, meaning that if 100
students were tested, 82 were wrongly flagged as having some mental
disorder. "TeenScreen's extremely high false-positive rate makes the
test virtually useless as a diagnostic instrument," she stated.
According to Dr Effrem, it is "difficult, if not impossible" to diagnose
young children accurately, due to very rapid developmental changes.
"Often, adult signs and symptoms of mental disorders in adults are
characteristics of normal development in children and adolescents," she
explains.
Since the arrival of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
antidepressants (SSRI's) and atypical antipsychotics on the market,
countless studies have shown the so-called "wonder drugs" to be
ineffective and harmful to children. But for years, drug companies have
manipulated data, suppressed negative clinical trials and published only
the studies that showed positive results.
The truth is that the mass drugging of the entire population in the US
with SSRI's has accomplished nothing when it comes to reducing
suicidality. According to a June 2005 study, primarily funded by the
National Institute of Mental Health, in the Journal of the American
Medical Association, although people who were likely to attempt suicide
were far more likely to be treated with antidepressants in 2001-2003,
the rates for suicide attempts, gestures and ideation remained basically
unchanged for over a decade.
To reach their conclusions, the researchers analyzed a survey of close
to 10,000 adults and compared it to a similar survey conduced 10 years
earlier for the years 1990-1992.
The prescribing rates for psychiatric drugs increased every year during
that time period. On January 13, 2005, WebMD reported a government study
that reviewed the patterns of treatment from the mid-1990's to 2001, and
found more Americans than ever were being treated for depression,
substance abuse and mental disorders but that the treatment was most
often limited to drugs alone.
The cost of mental health drugs rose 20% each year, and according to
study, about 80% of the increase could be explained by the increased
prescribing of antidepressants and atypical antipsychotics.
A "Myth and Fact Sheet" presented at the conference reports that, in
2003, more money was spent on psychiatric drugs for children than on
antibiotics and asthma medications.
By tugging at the heartstrings of parents in claiming TeenScreen is a
suicide prevention tool, the drug profiteers have managed to set up the
bogus screening program in towns and cities all across America, and the
promoters never seem to tire of using the line that suicide is the third
leading cause of death in teens and adolescents in the US. However,
experts explain that the rate of suicide remains high on the list only
because persons in this age group seldom die of any causes.
During his presentation at the conference, neurologist Dr Fred Baughman,
a recognized authority on psychotropic drugs and author of "The ADHD
Fraud," stated: "Psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry married and
launched the joint market strategy of calling all emotional and
behavioral problems 'brain diseases', due to 'chemical imbalances',
needing 'chemical balancers' - pills."
"Every time parents are lead to believe that their child's emotional or
behavioral problems are a 'disease' due to an abnormality in the brain,"
Dr Baughman says, "they are lied to."
He discussed the overdose death of 4-year-old Rebecca Riley in December
2006, who was diagnosed with ADHD and Bipolar Disorder when she was only
2-and-a half-years old. She was kept on a ****tail of 3 psychiatric
drugs, none of which were FDA approved alone for a child her age, much
less together, until the time of her death.
The title of his presentation was, "Who Killed Rebecca Riley," and Dr
Baughman placed the blame squarely on the gang of industry shills who
are largely credited with the invention and promotion of ADHD and
Bipolar Disorders in small children, including among others, Dr Joseph
Biederman, Dr Steven Hyman, Dr Jerome Groopman and Dr David Shaffer, the
brainchild credited with inventing TeenScreen.
The Fact Sheet reports a 2006 review of the FDA's MedWatch adverse event
database, which found 45 deaths in children due to toxicity of
antipsychotics.
Dr Baughman calls the use of the "chemical imbalance theory," the
"biggest health care fraud" and "mass character assassination" in human
history, and says it must be abolished.
Dr Dominick Riccio, executive director of the ICSPP, also weighed in on
the "chemical imbalance" theory and said that child drugging in the US
is based on a "hypotheses with no validity," propagandized by the
pharmaceutical industry.
He warned that there is absolutely no scientific evidence to validate
the "chemical imbalance" used to justify the drugging of America's "most
precious commodity," and "if we continue to damage our children, there
will be hell to pay down the line."
Dr Riccio called for "integrity" in the psychiatric profession and told
professionals in attendance, "if you do not understand child
development, you should not work with children."
Washington psychiatrist, Dr Joseph Tarantolo, warned that the new
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants are not
"selective," "the drugs are cannons," he said.
He also explained that the "so-called" antipsychotic drugs do not affect
psychosis, "they deaden a person's response to life."
According to Dr Tarantolo, because the drugging began 10 or 15 years
ago, "we are going to have an epidemic of young adults with
yet-to-be-determined neurological problems due to the long term use of
psychotropic drugs."
He says an epidemic is defined as 1% of the population and warns that
there will be far more than 1% injured by these drugs.
The bribing of prescribing doctors in the field of psychiatry is
rampant. A June 26, 2007, report by the Attorney General of Vermont of
payments made to doctors by drug companies during the period July 1,
2005 through June 30, 2006, shows that, by category, psychiatrists were
the largest beneficiaries, and 11 psychiatrists received a combined
total of $502,612.02, or more than 22% of the overall total of all payments.
For the past 4 years, psychiatric drug makers have remained high on the
list of the top 10 spenders in Vermont, with Paxil maker Glaxo holding
the number one position in both 2003 and 2004.
An analysis of Minnesota disclosure records by the consumer watchdog
group Public Citizen, reported by the Pioneer Press, found a similar
windfall for shrinks in that state between 2002 and 2006, with
psychiatrists receiving combined payments of $7.38 million.
However, the drug maker's off-label sales of antipsychotics are now
under fire due to the greed involved in the billings submitted for
Medicaid patients. In September 2007, Arkansas became the latest state
to sue the drug makers when it announced the filing of a lawsuit against
Lilly, Janssen and AstraZeneca for "improper and unlawful marketing," of
their drugs and concealing the serious health risks associated with
their use.
The Medicaid fraud lawsuits seek to recover not only the money paid for
the antipsychotics but also the cost of medical care for all the
patients who were injured by the drugs known to cause drastic weight
gain, abnormal blood sugars and diabetes.
The bribing of shrinks may be coming to an end as well because, in
addition to Medicaid fraud lawsuits, states are also going after the
prescribers. On August 16, 2006, the Houston Chronicle reported that
five doctors in Texas were notified that they needed to return the
Medicaid money paid for drugs they prescribed as part of a two-year
effort to better regulate how children are prescribed psychiatric drugs
in that state.
The Chronicle reported that a review of a two-month period of Medicaid
records in 2004 determined that over 63,000 foster children were on
stimulants, antipsychotics or antidepressants, with nearly one-third of
the kids taking drugs from more than one of the three classes at the
same time and that doctors had filed 114,315 claims worth over $17 million.
The experts at the ICSPP conference reported that the over-prescribing
of attention deficit drugs is also out of control, even after the new
warnings were issued. The ICSPP Fact Sheet notes that the new labeling
changes for ADHD medications include: "Sudden death has been reported in
association with CNS stimulant treatment at usual doses in children and
adolescents with structural cardiac abnormalities or other serious heart
problems."
"Treatment emergent psychotic or manic symptoms, e.g., hallucinations,
delusional can be caused by stimulants at usual doses," the warning also
notes.
Psychiatrist Dr Grace Jackson, author of "Rethinking Psychiatric Drugs,"
says the fact that cardiovascular risks are associated with ADHD drugs
is not news. "As early as 1977," she says, "research documented the cell
changes associated with heart muscle enlargement in a chronic consumer
of Ritalin."
"The connection between stimulants, cardiovascular disability, and death
has long been documented in the medical literature," she states.
However, no slow down in prescribing rates for these drugs is likely. In
2005, according to a December 15, 2006, report by Research and Markets,
the value of the ADHD market was $2.6 billion, and it is now the 9th
largest segment of the CNS market with growth of 8% year-on-year.
Approximately 90% of global sales were derived from the US in 2005, and
by 2012, global sales are forecast to reach $4.3 billion.
In February 2007, the FDA finally directed the drug makers to develop
Patient Medication Guides to inform patients about the adverse effects
of Adderall, Concerta, Daytrana, Desoxyn, Dexedrine, Focalin, Metadate
CD, Methylin, Ritalin and Strattera.
However, experts say children are being damaged by ADHD drugs in ways
that will never show up in a pamphlet. According to child psychiatrist
Dr Stefan Kruszewski, "children who are medicated early do not learn to
develop coping strategies that work as they move through different
developmental stages."
"We are encouraging a generation of youngsters to grow up relying on
psychiatric drugs rather than on themselves and other human resources,"
says Dr Peter Breggin, ICSPP founder and author of, "Talking Back to
Ritalin."
"In the long run, we are giving our children a very bad lesson," he
warns, "that drugs are the answer to emotional problems."
"The problem with the diagnostic assessment of ADHD," Dr Kruszewski
explains, "is that the prescreening statement is so inclusive that
virtually every child meets prescreening criteria and therefore every
child, under prevailing treatment modalities, becomes eligible for
'chronic' medication therapies."
He also points out that, once children are screened, "they become
'eligible' for additional screening for conditions such as social
anxiety, bipolar disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and too
often end up on even more drugs."
Dr David Stein, author of, "Unraveling the ADD/ADHD Fiasco," also warns
that stimulant drugs are "near the top of the heap of potentially
addictive drugs."
He says there is no way of pinpointing which children are at risk of
becoming addicted, and "psychiatry has an extremely poor track record
for treating addiction problems."
Advocates against school screening have set up a web site that lists the
TeenScreen locations throughout the US, which also posts a petition for
people opposed to the program to sign at [TEENSCREEN-LOCATIONS]
CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....
CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.
every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com
Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS
Perpetrators of Maltreatment
Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5
Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.
CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT
FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...
BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...
