The rising sentiment
against stimulant drugs for ADHD/ADD
Continued
Next
they [Psychiatrists] would "balance" the "chemical
imbalance" of the brain, and CHADD (Children & Adults with ADD)
and it's benefactor--pharmaceutical giant, Ciba-Geigy--have just the
thing--Ritalin ! And other amphetamines too ! Without Ritalin, they warn,
your child will never gain self-control, learn, graduate, mature ! Without
Ritalin, ADD will last a lifetime and lead to "substance abuse
disorder" (drugs and alcohol) aggression, violence and even murder !
All of this from a pencil-paper behavior checklist filled out by a second
grade teacher--not one other piece of evidence can they adduce !
How
could this be ? How can a behavioral check-list or any paper-pencil test
prove the presence of a brain disease. The answer is that none can. Not
ever ! That too, is deception.
The
epidemic rages. All children are at risk. 10 to 15% nationwide, doubling
every 3-4 years. In some classes 50% are on Ritalin. Invented in 1980, a
half million were affected by 1988 and 4.0 million today. The Drug
Enforcement Administration's (DEA) manufacturer's quota for Ritalin rose
six-fold from 3,889 lb. to 22,902 lb. in 1995.
Why
does the Center for Disease Control (CDC) who's business it is to diagnose
and track epidemics, refuse to tell me whether ADD is a real disease or
not. Why do National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) ADD experts Drs.
Peter Jensen, Judith Rapoport, Alan Zametkin and Xavier Castellanos refuse
to answer whether a physical abnormality has been found or not? Why in 5
years of asking, has Ciba-Geigy provided me with no proof that ADD is a
disease. Instead they push CHADD - paid spokesmen and deceived believers -
to the fore-front to misrepresent ADD to be a real disease and Ritalin to
be safe and non-addictive.
Immunize Your Child Against Attention Deficit Disorder
(ADD)
By Fred A.Baughman Jr., M.D.
However,
the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Food and Drug
Administrative (FDA) did answer. Paul Leber, M.D. of the FDA replied,
December 22, 1994, "as yet no distinct pathophysiology for the
disorder has been delineated" (no abnormality has been found). Gene
R. Haislip of the DEA answered, October 25, 1995, "We are also
unaware that ADHD has been validated as a biologic/organic syndrome or
disease." Why then, do the FDA and DEA collaborate in the drugging of
millions of normal children? What business does the US Department of
Education have encouraging (at the behest of CHADD) the drugging of normal
children who come to them not for psychology and psychiatry but for an
education. Are they bored, distracted and fidgety because they are passed
from year to year without literacy, much less an education ? Are ADD and
all of the LD's (learning disabilities) - not one a proven disease --
sought-after excuses for the massive educational malfeasance we have in
the US today?
Keep
in mind all of the above and you can keep your child from contracting ADD
.
Should
they refuse these requests but continue to coerce you to have your child
medically evaluated, or condition your child's treatment in school and
their education upon your acceptance thereof, write to your elected
representatives, learn of organizations who combat the excesses of
psychology, psychiatry and education, and make known your intention to
seek legal counsel. In final analysis, it is the responsibility of the
parents -- and only the parents -- to decide if and when to take their
child to a physician.
In
"Analysis of the Legal Issues Surrounding the Forced Use of
Ritalin" (1993), states,"Such a decision [to drug a normal
child] affects the child's present educational opportunity and, more
importantly, his health. It may also affect the child's ability to come to
grips with his own personal developmental challenges. Any state attempt to
regulate a child's behavior through chemical means, absent exigent
circumstances, is a violation of the United States Constitution and should
not be allowed."
The
potential for harm to your child demands that you insist upon
"informed consent" , [that you] document each step of the way,
and [get] tape recordings of all meetings with school authorities. Ask the
prevalence of ADD in your child's class? In the school? Document
everything !
If
you have already taken your child to a psychiatrist, or any kind of a
physician, they especially are legally bound to provide you all of the
information (in writing, please) you need about the diagnosis, testing,
and treatment to execute a truly "informed consent." Natanson v.
Kline (1960), holds that a physician administrating treatment without
informed consent is guilty of malpractice no matter how skillful the
treatment is administrated. For a physician to knowingly misrepresent a
condition as a disease when it is not, is a flawed informed consent and is
malpractice.
Whether
your child will be considered normal or not is what is at stake. like it
or not, you must question all that they do. You sent your child to school
to learn to read and for education and that is what teachers are there
for, not to practice psychology and psychiatry.
Vital Information About Ritalin, Attention
Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder and
the Politics Behind the ADHD/Ritalin Movement
Summarized from Talking Back to
Ritalin by Peter R. Breggin, M.D.
Several
million children are being treated with Ritalin and other stimulants on
the grounds that they have attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
and suffer from inattention, hyperactivity, or impulsivity. The stimulants
include: Ritalin (methylphenidate), Dexedrine and DextroStat (dextroamphetamine
or d-amphetamine), Adderall (d-amphetamine and amphetamine mixture),
Desoxyn and Gradumet (methamphetamine), and Cylert (pemoline). Except for
Cylert, all of these drugs have nearly identical effects and side effects.
Ritalin and the amphetamines can for most purposes be considered one type
of drug.
•The
number of children being drugged has escalated several-fold in the last
few years.
•Ritalin
and amphetamine have almost identical adverse effects on the brain, mind
and behavior, including the production of drug-induced behavioral
disorders, psychosis, mania, drug abuse, and addiction.
•Ritalin
and amphetamine frequently cause the very same problems they are supposed
to treat--inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.
•A
large percentage of children become robotic, lethargic, depressed, or
withdrawn on stimulants.
•Ritalin
can cause permanent neurological tics including Tourette's syndrome
•Ritalin
can retard growth in children by disrupting the cycles of growth hormone
released by the pituitary gland.
•The
recent finding that Ritalin can cause cancer in some animals was not taken
seriously enough by the drug company or the FDA.
•Ritalin
routinely causes gross malfunctions in the brain of the child. There is
research evidence from a few controlled scientific studies that Ritalin
can cause shrinkage (atrophy) or other permanent physical abnormalities in
the brain.
•Withdrawal
from Ritalin can cause emotional suffering, including depression,
exhaustion, and suicide. This can make children seem psychiatrically
disturbed and lead mistakenly to increased doses of medication.
•Ritalin
is addictive and can become a gateway drug to other addictions. It is a
common drug of abuse among children and adults.
•ADHD
and Ritalin are American and Canadian medical fads. The U.S. uses 90% of
the world's Ritalin. CibaGeneva Pharmaceuticals (also known as Ciba-Geigy
Corporation), a division of Novartis, is the manufacturer of Ritalin. It
is trying to expand the Ritalin market to Europe and the rest of the
world.
•Ritalin
"works" by producing malfunctions in the brain rather than by
improving brain function. This is the only way it works.
•Short-term,
Ritalin suppresses creative, spontaneous and autonomous activity in
children, making them more docile and obedient, and more willing to comply
with rote, boring tasks, such as classroom school work and homework.
•Short-term,
Ritalin has no positive effect on a child's psychology or on academic
performance and achievement. This is confirmed by innumerable studies and
by many professional reviews of the literature.
•Longer-term,
beyond several weeks, Ritalin has no positive effects on any aspect of a
child's life.
•Labeling
children with ADHD and treating them with Ritalin can keep them out of the
armed services, limit their future career choices, and stigmatize them for
life. It can ruin their own self-image, subtly demoralize them, and
discourage them from reaching their full potential.
•There
is no solid evidence that ADHD is a genuine disorder or disease of any
kind.
•There
is a great deal of research to confirm that environmental problems cause
ADHD-like symptoms.
•A
very small number of children may suffer ADHD-like symptoms because of
physical disorders, such as lead poisoning, drug intoxication, exhaustion,
and head injury. Physical causes may be more common among poor communities
in the United States.
•There
is no proof of any physical abnormalities in the brains or bodies of
children who are routinely labeled ADHD. They do not have known
biochemical imbalances or "crossed wires."
•ADHD
is a controversial diagnosis with little or no scientific or medical
basis. A parent, teacher, or doctor can feel in good company when utterly
dismissing the diagnosis and refusing to apply it to children.
•Ciba
spends millions of dollars to sell parent groups and doctors on the idea
of using Ritalin. Ciba helps to support the parent group, CH.A.D.D., and
organized psychiatry.
•The
U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
push Ritalin as vigorously as the manufacturer of the drug, often in even
more glowing terms than the drug company could get away with legally.
Our
society has institutionalized drug abuse among our children. Worse yet, we
abuse our children with drugs rather than making the effort to find better
ways to meet their needs. In the long run, we are giving our children a
very bad lesson--that drugs are the answer to emotional problems. We are
encouraging a generation of youngsters to grow up relying on psychiatric
drugs rather than on themselves and other human resources.
What Every Parent Needs To Know
About A.D.D.
Fred A. Baughman, Jr., M.D.
In
a recent column, Ann Landers said "Parents need new skills to deal
with children with A.D.D." What "skills," Ann?
A.D.D.
(also known as Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity) has become
the most common childhood "disease" of childhood and is
spreading like wildfire. Just as in the pre-Salk vaccine era of polio,
there is reason to fear for the children. Affecting 6-33% in grade school,
A.D.D. strikes adolescents too, persists into adult life, causes school
failure, dropping out, aggression, violence, criminality, substance abuse;
needs treatment with addictive medication "uppers," and is a
certifiable disability. Characterized by inattention, impulsivity and
hyperactivity, it is a "brain disease" due to a "chemical
imbalance of the brain" diagnosed by a teacher checking "any 8
of 14 behaviors" on a pencil-and-paper, behavior checklist, needing
no physician, laboratory, x-ray or brain scan confirmation--because there
is no confirmation! Skepticism and science are what parents need to deal
with A.D.D., not skill.
In
numbers unmatched in any part of the world, U.S. school children are
diagnosed and drugged in a quid pro quo association between education and
for-profit psychiatry and psychology. Labeled "brain-diseased",
the schools have an excuse for the rampant illiteracy and unpreparedness,
cause enough for the mounting unhappiness and failure of the children,
while psychiatry/psychology gains lifetime patients.
Parents,
wake up! Do you really believe that your child, seemingly normal until
eight (the average age of diagnosis) has a "brain disease" due
to a "chemical imbalance of the brain," diagnosed by a teacher?
I don't think so.
As
a child neurologist for 35 years, I have authored original descriptions of
real diseases characterized by objective abnormalities. Witnessing the
burgeoning numbers of school children said to have A.D.D. and made to take
brain-altering drugs, I have found, I can validate none of it.
In
three years of trying, I have been unable to extract from Ciba-Geigy,
manufacturers of Ritalin, references to any articles proving that A.D.D.
is a real disease. On September 23, 1993 I testified at the National
Institutes of Health that A.D.D. conduct disorder and oppositional defiant
disorder - the so-called disruptive behavior disorder (DBD's) - are not
proven diseases--organic or biologic--and therefore, that it would be
unethical and fatally flawed, scientifically, to proceed with research
into biological intervention, such as drugs.
On
November 17, 1994, I wrote David Kessler, MD, Commissioner of the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA and asked how they could allow CibaGeigy to
portray A.D.D. in the Ritalin "insert" as a
"syndrome," a term meaning the same as "disease." The
FDA response: "We acknowledge...that as yet no distinct
pathophysiology for disorder has been delineated" affirmed my
conclusion--that A.D.D. is not a proven disease.
To
the extent that they allow Ciba-Geigy to perpetuate the illusion of a
disease, calling it a real "disease", necessary, of course, to
sell Ritalin, the FDA is in collusion with the manufacturer who they are
supposed to monitor and regulate.
To
understand how A.D.D., not a disease at all, became the most common
"disease" of childhood: Why its numbers double every 4 to 7
years and why the U.S. Food and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) quota for
Ritalin has risen from 1700 kilograms in 1990 to 8000 kilograms in 1995,
one has to understand the power of advertising, the ties of psychiatry to
the drug industry: "provider-induced need", what Brumback calls
the "Chinese cookbook" approach to diagnosing, whereby
Psychiatry's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM),
with 292 diagnoses as of 1992, was considering 94 new ones, and the dire
straits in which psychiatry finds itself, being forced more rapidly to
down-size and reconfigure along the lines of rapidly advancing
"managed care" (HMO's).
If your child is not reading at grade level, is frustrated, increasingly unhappy, inattentive or even disruptive, there is no "diagnosis" or "pill". To eradicate these "diseases", we must get the medical/ psychiatric/ psychological model out of the classroom and commit, once again, to the proposition that the children can and must read at an age/grade-appropriate level and that they are educable and must be educated. Parents, if an A.D.D. diagnosis is applied to your child, assert that it is not a "disease": that representing it as such is false, a breach of "informed consent" and "malpractice".
U.S. Attention Deficit On Legal
Drug Risks
By Arianna Huffington
Filed
December 7, 1998
Ten
days ago the Food and Drug Administration issued new rules that require
drug companies to study a lot more thoroughly the safety and effectiveness
of drugs for children. Staggering though it is to believe, many drugs
regularly prescribed to children have been tested only on adults. Even
their labels admit as much: ``Safety and effectiveness in pediatric
patients have not been established.'' Nonetheless, these drugs continue to
be peddled to children, while unwitting parents and society as a whole
turn a blind eye to the unknown and potentially disastrous long-term
effects
On
the surface the FDA ruling is good news indeed. But it opens an avenue for
abuse. Dr. Peter Breggin, author of ``Talking Back to Ritalin'' and
``Talking Back to Prozac,'' told me, ``FDA pediatric approval could
provide an official imprimatur that would give even more confidence to
doctors to indiscriminately drug children. It could become another
marketing strategy.''
One
way to prevent this is to demand that all studies -- whether they show
adverse effects or benefits -- are made available to the public, and end
the practice of ceding to the
drug companies proprietary rights to the information. ``The public might
be shocked to learn,'' Breggin told me, ``that the vast majority of
studies done for the FDA approval of psychiatric drugs such as Prozac show
them to be of no value whatsoever. The companies are allowed to pick out
two often marginally or questionably successful studies as `proof' that
the drugs work.''
Making all studies available is all the more urgent given the growing evidence that the drug companies, by sponsoring research and offering grants, trips and other perks, are contaminating the conclusions of the research. Examples proliferate.
The
most recent involves three doctors editorializing in the British Medical
Journal that Prozac is not addictive -- presumably the same way Big
Tobacco-paid research assured us that nicotine was not addictive. In this
instance, the doctors had just returned from an all-expenses-paid -- by
Prozac manufacturer Eli Lilly --trip to a symposium in Phoenix.
The
FDA decision coincides with a report issued by the National Institutes of
Health which conceded that for the most widely medicated childhood
``condition'' --attention deficit disorder -- ``there is no current,
validated diagnostic test.''
This
hasn't stopped prescriptions of Ritalin to children diagnosed with
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder from jumping to 75 percent in
1996, up 20 percent since 1989. At the same time, the percentage of those
receiving psychotherapy dropped from 40 percent to 25 percent. Such
statistics highlight the crass, bottom-line approach of most health care
providers, who prefer relatively cheap drugs to costly therapy. But they
also speak to our lazy culture's inclination to medicate major social
problems rather than act on them.
This
problem was summed up by Dr. Lawrence Diller, author of ``Running On
Ritalin'': ``Settling for Ritalin says we prefer to locate our children's
problems in their brains rather than in their lives.'' Diller described
three candidates for ADD diagnosis: 4-year-old Stevie, and his two younger
sisters, all of whom get dropped off for preschool at 7 a.m. by their dad
and are picked up at 5:30 p.m. by their mom ``if she isn't running late.''
Stevie is overly aggressive, and his parents, whose own marriage is
troubled, are desperate, demanding a fix: prescription drugs.
In
most cases, parents get the short-term relief they're looking for from
prescription drugs, but as Breggin put it: ``Behaviors are signals that
should be interpreted and understood, not suppressed.''
The
over-prescribing of drugs has made possible the suppression of signals a
society needs to detect and address growing problems -- in this case, the
failures of our managed care system; the pressures imposed on children by
two working parents, longer work hours and inadequate child care; and the
connection between legal and illegal drug abuse.
This
last may be the least well known, but has the potential to become the most
dangerous. Dr. Nadine Lambert, a developmental psychologist at U.C.
Berkeley, published a paper in October with the chilling finding that
children on Ritalin are three times more likely to develop a taste for
cocaine. Meanwhile, the Drug Enforcement Administration reports increasing
Ritalin abuse among adolescents who sometimes crush it into a powder and
snort it -- which can lead to heart failure.
When
the government spends $16 billion a year on the drug war, and when more
than half those in jail are nonviolent drug offenders, isn't it time we
connected the dots between prescription drugs and street drugs? How many
more prisons do we have to build to jail offenders whom, earlier in life,
we had drugged with abandon?
Methylphenidate (MHP) commonly known as Ritalin
excerpts
from DEA Press Release, October 20, 1995, "Methylphenidate"
...."Abuse
of MPH can lead to marked tolerance and severe psychic
dependence...."
...."Students
are giving and selling their medication to classmates who are crushing and
snorting the powder like cocaine. In March of 1995, two deaths in
Mississippi and Virginia were associated with this activity...."
...."The
U.S. manufactures and consumes 5-times more MPH than the rest of the world
combined.....
...."MPH
aggregate production quota has increased almost 6-fold since
1990...."
...."Every indicator available, including scientific abuse liability studies, actual abuse, paucity of scientific studies on possible adverse effects associated with long-term use of stimulants, divergent prescribing practices of U.S. physicians, and lack of concurrent medical treatment and follow-up, urge greater caution and more restrictive use of MPH...."
Medicating Young
Minds
Time
Magazine
Unpublished data
reverses
risk-benefit of drugs
WebCAER
Follow-up
Treatment Instructions
WebCAER
Follow-up
Treatment Instructions