Treating children as young as 4 for bipolar – WSJ Thu, 26 May 2005 A report in The Wall Street Journal should raise serious concerns about the legitimacy of psychiatric diagnosing and drug prescribing for children. The Journal reports that close to 20,000 US children are being diagnosed with bi-polar…
Pfizer Admits Guilt in Promotion of Neurontin–Agrees to Pay $430 Million Sun, 16 May 2004 A lawsuit initiated by Dr. David Franklin, a whistleblower, has been settled: Pfizer pleaded guilty to criminal fraud in the promotion of Neurontin, and agreed to pay $430 million. This case is but an example…
AMA Serves Pharma Marketing Priority/ FDA To Add Warnings on ADHD drugs–Concerta, Ritalin, Strattera, Adderall Wed, 29 Jun 2005 The FDA is finally taking note of the fact that many drugs prescribed for the treatment of psychiatric problems are CAUSING serious psychiatric and cardiovascular problems in children and adolescents !…
Lilly to Add Suicide Warning to Strattera – Medicaid May shrink $5.5 Billion spending on Schizophrenia Drug Thu, 29 Sep 2005 Reuters reports that Eli Lilly is adding a Black Box suicide warning to the Strattera label. Strattera has been promoted as a “non stimulant” treatment for ADHD. Since ADHD…
Two-thirds foster care children in Mass on psych drugs_Globe Psychiatry: Soviet Experience–American Fallacy Wed, 11 Aug 2004 The Boston Globe reports that 2/3 of children in state care in Massachusetts are being “treated” for mental illness with psychotropic drugs. Marie Parente, a legislator, and parents call for disclosure of “how…
Merck / Johnson & Johnson/ Lilly-Zyprexa: $690 Million settlement / a Flowering of Diabetes Drugs Fri, 10 Jun 2005 A cluster of news reports about three pillars of the pharmaceutical industry– Merck, Eli Lilly, and Johnson & Johnson–leave no doubt that this industry has shown its disregard for the welfare…
"Byron Pitts looks into allegations that kids in foster care are being over-medicated on anti-psychotic drugs"
The risks of the drugs far outweigh their benefits, said Vera Sharav, president of the Alliance for Human Research Protection, a New York-based consumer advocacy group.
Two actions by the FDA last week demonstrate where the agency’s priority lies—and that priority is NOT to protect public safety, NOT to protect children’s safety. FDA’s priority—as demonstrated by its actions—is approval of new drugs or approval for expanded even dubious uses of patented drugs.
The most striking acknowledgement in this sad story underscores the shaky foundation upon which the field of child psychiatry rests is the following statement by a Harvard University child psychiatrist: "When she was almost 8… Haley met full criteria for virtually every mental disorder listed."
No legitimate physician would use the physician’s professional license to help repressive government regimes intimidate dissidents.
USA Today reports that last year the pharmaceutical industry "faced the most product liability lawsuits of any other industry."
