Incompetent, Abusive, or both? - Scottish Executive policy and legislation on Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) - `Autism Rights` Briefing Paper April 2007

CHEMICAL CONTROL


The Institute of Psychiatry held a conference last year, and issued a press release claiming that 1 child in 10 has a `mental disorder` - for which, of course, they will require medication. See draft SIGN Guidelines on ASD.


http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id1886722006

Concern over rising use of 'chemical cosh' on disturbed youngsters The Scotsman Wed 20 Dec 2006

LYNDSAY MOSS

MORE children than ever in Scotland are being prescribed drugs to treat hyperactivity, figures revealed yesterday. Statistics show prescriptions for treating attention-deficit hyperactivity

disorder (ADHD) increased by almost 16 per cent in 2005-6, with 49,528 handed

out by doctors.

EXCERPT

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive said: "New mental health treatment services for children have been developed across Scotland over the last year, and this has led to an increase in awareness of ADHD.

"There is no evidence to suggest that the prevalence of ADHD has increased, but awareness of the condition and compliance with Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network guidance has, and this explains a rise in prescriptions in the last year.

"We would not expect to see a similar rise year-on-year over the next few years in the prescribing of these drugs."

- So, we can logically expect that the publication of the SIGN guidelines on ASD will spur a huge rise in prescribing these drugs for children with ASD.


http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=33962

- ADHD Medication Might Also Treat Hyperactivity Symptoms in Autism

Main Category: Autism News Article Date: 22 Nov 2005


http://www.scottishexecutive.gov.uk/Topics/Health/care/VAUnit/ASD

 -  Scot Exec link to Aviemore conference and PHIS report, etc. The Aviemore conference was supposedly held to share information on biomedical interventions for autism, but was packed with Psychiatrists who concentrated solely on drugs. The Exec. had to pay parents to attend, as they would have had hardly any if they hadn't.


http://www.scottishexecutive.gov.uk/Topics/Health/care/VAUnit/ASDConfReport

 -  another link to report on Aviemore conference on ASD which was sponsored by the Scot. Exec.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3093087.stm

some schools are now threatening to expel hyperactive children whose parents refuse to medicate

them with Ritalin. It should be noted that in the US, parents are being served with child protection notices if they refuse to let their children be medicated with drugs.

The BBC's Gill Higgins reports - "There have been threats of exclusion or even of having children taken into care"


So much for `Do No Harm`

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1707535,00.html

 -  Ritalin and other methylphenidates receive recommendation by advisory panel of US Food

and Drug Administration of the highest level warning because of sudden deaths associated with these drugs, and their known effects on the heart. The MHRA admits that 9 children have died suddenly following medication with ADHD drugs.


http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/58595.html

 -  Drugs used to treat attention deficit disorder in children and young people can cause psychotic side effects, according to evidence submitted to an advisory panel to the US government.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=PT4BDAQVHMMLVQFIQMFSFGGAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2006/04/02/nadhd02.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/04/02/ixhome.html


http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=SLNHWDP05RCWXQFIQMFSFGGAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2006/02/18/ndrugs18.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/02/18/ixhome.html

  -  Scaled down drugs 'risk to the young' By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent

(Filed: 18/02/2006)

 Children given smaller doses of drugs whose effects have been tested only on adults are at greater risk of harmful side effects because the proportions of proteins in the body that control their effectiveness change as humans grow older, scientists said yesterday.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4672948.stm - Too many drugs 'not child tested' Thursday, 2 February 2006, 10:09 GMT

Too many children's drugs have not been properly tested, a report says. The House of Lords said 90% of medicines for new born babies and 50% of those aimed at children are untested after collating evidence from doctors.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=23937

 -  Children with autism have distinctly different immune system reactions compared to typical

children Article Date: 06 May 2005 - 9:00 PST


http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=22178

 -  Autistic children's abnormal metabolic profile findings Article Date: 03 Apr 2005 - 6:00 PST

To give an idea of the kind of effect that these extremely powerful drugs have on someone who has a normal immune system and metabolism, please read the following article about the death of a young blind woman in a psychiatric institution - `Look what they did to my Janis`, By Olga Craig 12/11/2006 :- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=YM1MVEXA32WN1QFIQMGCFFOAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2006/11/12/njanis12.xml


http://www.ahrp.org/infomail/05/03/11.php

 -  Ritalin causes chromosomal abnormalities, according to one study. Such abnormalities are thought to cause cancers.


http://www.ahrp.org/cms/content/view/436/28/

A new federally funded study by HHS Agency for Healthcare Research andQuality, found little or no evidence to support the widespread off-label use of these drugs: "Most off-label use occurs without scientific support."Furthermore, the study, Efficacy and Comparative Effectiveness of Off-Label Use of Atypical Antipsychotics, confirmed that these drugs increase the risk of serious adverse events--including an increased risk of death and increased chances of stroke, neurological problems.

Overall the researchers found that "much of the scientific evidence for off-label use of antipsychotics was of insufficient quality because studies were too small or lacked scientific rigor. Review authors evaluating the potential benefits and risks of the medications also found strong evidence that atypical antipsychotics can increase chances of adverse events."

- EXCERPT -"Caution is necessary in the off-label use of atypical antipsychotics, especially when used in the elderly and when the evidence for effectiveness is not good.''

Atypical antipsychotics are second-generation medicines designed to cause fewer neurological complications than conventional antipsychotics. They include aripiprazole (sold as Abilify), olanzapine (Zyprexa), quetiapine (Seroquel), risperidone (Risperdal), and ziprasidone (Geodon). Each is approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and risperidone is also approved to treat irritability in children ages 5 to 16 who have autism.



http://www.ahrp.org/infomail/05/11/17.php

 -  FDA whistleblower At FDA, Graham is still the whistle-blower - USA Today Thu, 17 Nov 2005

On Nov. 18, 2004, Dr. David Graham, FDA's associate director for science and medicine, blew the whistle in testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, on FDA's "profound regulatory failure" to protect the public against lethal prescription drugs. See:Testimony http://finance.senate.gov/hearings/testimony/2004test/111804dgtest.pdf

One year later, Dr. Graham told USA Today:

"Today, the United States of America is worse off when it comes to drug safety than it was a year ago when I testified. That's because the FDA's recent drug safety initiatives serve only as window dressing, diverting attention away from real solutions, such as an independent Office of Drug Safety."

Among the most harmful marketed drugs are the so-called atypical antipsychotics which are were approved for schizophrenia but are being prescribed primarily off-label, mostly to control behavior in children and the elderly-- despite the fact that they are linked to severe, irreversible harm, including hyperglycemia, diabetes, and death. Dr. Graham says "FDA has known about this for two or three years." He estimates that off-label use of antipsychotics may cause up to 62,000 excess deaths a year.

"What does FDA do? It tinkers with the label."

USA Today reports that an article in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association supports Graham's assessment of the FDA.

Especially in the past five years, writes Howard Markel, a University of Michigan pediatrician and history of medicine professor, the FDA has been heading downward "from a sterling - albeit very human - regulatory agency into one much more tarnished, politicized, and increasingly disputed by the very people it was designed to protect."

Clearly, news reports that essentially transcribed the self-serving claims made by high ranking FDA officials about the improvements in the agency's safety standards were simply tripe. Reporters covering science, medicine, and healthcare agencies must be better trained to get at the truth by asking probing questions rather than transcribing what officials tell them. As the New York Times learned the hard way, a reporter's reliance on government "sources" for "scoops" has resulted in the newspaper becoming a conduit for relaying planted misinformation.



http://www.ablechild.org/ - AbleChild: Parents for Label and Drug Free Education consists of a growing number of parents outraged over both the subjective labeling (ADHD, ADD, OCD, ODD) and pervasive drugging of our children. Our organization's goal in creating this website is to provide information to parents regarding the many subjective labels and the risks associated with drug "treatment" that are critical to their ability in making an informed decision.

See particularly - http://ablechild.org/alert.htm

http://www.ahrp.org/infomail/05/03/25.php

 -  SSRIs used by teenagers who killed classmates

http://ablechild.org/pressmenu.htm – see 10/4/06 Parents Join State Legislators in Calling for Investigation into School Shootings and Psychiatric Drug Use



http://www.ahrp.org/cms/content/view/404/31/

Infant Mental Health Screen-a Gov-approved Assault





1st December 2006

EXCERPT

The 2006 Vanderbilt showed that 2.5 million American children are being given antipsychotics, none of which were approved for children until Risperidal was approved as a chemical straitjacket for children with autism a few weeks ago without a public hearing. The youngest in that study was 18 months old. USA Today's review of adverse drug reactions found 45 deaths from these toxic drugs with the FDA admitting that 45 may only represent one to 10 percent of the total.


EXCERPT - A government study released this month found serious side effects in 40percent of preschoolers studied and another 10 percent dropped out due to intolerable side effects. Two-and-a-half million children are on antipsychotic drugs that are not FDA approved for use in children, except for Risperidal, which was just approved as a chemical straitjacket for autistic children with irritating behavior without a single public hearing.



http://www.ahrp.org/cms/content/view/406/31/

EXCERPT - Pediatrician Dr. Karen Effrem has presented testimony <http://edaction.org/2003/030827.htm> to Congress on this bill. She found that the medical literature demonstrates that these medications are overused, ineffective, and have dangerous, if not fatal, side effects. Most importantly, she reported that the "disorders" these drugs are supposed to treat are admitted by experts to have no scientific basis -- that there are many other reasons for behavior and learning disorders that do not require medication. Children have died <http://www.ritalindeath.com/> from the dangers of these drugs forced on them by the schools.

Since that testimony was presented, study after study has appeared continuing to show the dangers and lack of effectiveness of these medications. For instance, all in 2006:

The Oregon Drug Effectiveness Review Project http://www.ohsu.edu/drugeffectiveness/reports/documents/ADHDFinalReportUpdate1.pdf

analyzed 2287 pieces of research -- virtually everyinvestigation ever done on ADHD drugs up to 2006 - to reach its conclusions:it found no evidence to support the claims about these drugs' safety, effectiveness, or the legitimacy of the ADHD diagnosis.

The FDA strengthened its warnings<http://www.ahrp.org/cms/content/view/323/28/> on these drugs, finally acknowledging that these drugs cause dependency and addiction,hallucinations, psychosis, and heart problems, including sudden death.

A study <http://www.ahrp.org/cms/content/view/364/31/> of ADHD drugs inpreschoolers released by the National Institutes of Mental Health revealed that, "About 40 percent of children developed side effects and roughly 11percent dropped out because of problems including irritability, weight loss,insomnia and slowed growth."


http://www.ahrp.org/cms/content/view/406/31/ - Child Medication Safety Act (S. 4041, HR 1790)

This bill will protect children from the mental health industry under the influence of, with financial ties to, the prescription drug industry.

S. 4041 sponsoring senators: Inhofe and Coburn.

September 26, 2006 on the Senate floor: Mr. INHOFE spoke (for himself and Mr. Coburn):

S. 4041. A bill to protect children and their parents from being coerced into administering a controlled substance in order to attend school, and for other purposes; read the first time.


`Screening for Mental Illness in Youth: Good Preventive Medicine` Vera Hassner Sharav February 22, 2006 Power Point Presentation arguing that mental screening lacks scientific validity is posted at: http://www.ahrp.org/children/teenscreen/debateNAS0206.ppt



See also:-

http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/usa/usa-psychiatric-drug-warning/view

and - http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/usa

EXCERPT Forty-three USA states have laws allowing individuals to be court-ordered to take psychiatric drugs while living at home


Ex-FDA Head Under Criminal Investigation Regarding Alleged Financial Improprieties And False Statements

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/healthnews.php?newsid=42507

 and  

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=42570

-  Former FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford Under Criminal Investigation For Industry

Financial Ties



FDA Does Not Have Effective Process For Monitoring Post-Market Drug Studies,

GAO Report Says

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=42165



http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmhealth/42/4202.htm

 -       House of Commons  Session 2004-05 Publications on the internet Health Committee Publications   Health - Fourth Report

Here you can browse the report together with the Proceedings of the Committee.

The published report was ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 22 March 2005.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1882646,00.html

 -   Guardian front page  Drug firms' lobby tactics revealed   Documents show how companies try to get new medicines fast-tracked    Rob Evans and Sarah Boseley Thursday September 28, 2006


http://ahrp.blogspot.com/

BMJ 2007;334:338-340 (17 Feb),Drug industry sponsorship Who's funding WHO? Michael Day, freelance journalist

EXCERPT Tim Reid, European director of Health Action International, which campaigns for the rational and ethical use of drugs, said: "Patients groups are so close to the industry, that they might as well be taking their money straight out of the drug company advertising budgets." Graham Dukes, a former head of the WHO's medicines programme for Europe, said: "We know that patient groups are heavily influenced by drug companies. In the case of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, for example, we know that the industry effectively financed the whole campaign”and we're not absolutely sure the condition actually exists." Dr Reid added that there were now moves afoot in the European Union to sanction direct to consumer advertising in the form of private-public partnership promotional campaigns. For this reason the industry was keen for everything to be very transparent. "That's not to say we support such a move in Europe," he said. "There may be some degree of transparency, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily a good source of information for consumers."



EXCERPT This is not the first time that questions have been raised about the nature of the relation between the WHO's mental health division and the pharmaceutical industry. In their book, Medicines Out of Control? social campaigners Charles Medawar and Anita Hardon documented the controversial links between the WHO's mental health division, the World Psychiatric Association, and the drug industry.1 [Link] In the mid-1990s, at the suggestion of the World Psychiatric Association, the division produced a report that advocated long term use of potentially addictive benzodiazepine drugs.2 [Link] Benzodiazepine manufacturers purchased many copies of the report. And one firm made a $500 000 donation to WHO's mental health division.


References1. Medawar C, Hardon A. Medicines out of control? Antidepressants and the conspiracy of goodwill. Amsterdam: Aksant Medical Publishers, 2004. 2. WHO. Rational use of benzodiazepines. Geneva: WHO, 1996.



http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=42010 - Many Authors Of Mental Health Diagnosis Guidelines Have Financial Ties To Drug Makers, Study Says


The House of Commons Select Committee on Health raises major concerns about

health policy,  specifically the push to create a `pill for every ill`

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmhealth/42/4202.htm

-       House of Commons  Session 2004-05 Publications on the internet Health Committee Publications   Health - Fourth Report

Here you can browse the report together with the Proceedings of the Committee.

The published report was ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 22

March 2005.


http://society.guardian.co.uk/socialcare/story/0,,1951251,00.html

Charities vow to challenge new mental health bill David Brindle Saturday November 18, 2006

The Guardian

Charities and groups representing care professionals warned yesterday that the government faces a bitter fight over its mental health bill. The legislation aims to introduce powers of compulsory community treatment and enable preventive detention of people deemed to have dangerous and severe personality disorders.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2016802,00.html

 -  Peers curb plan to detain mentally ill  Tania Branigan Tuesday February 20, 2007 The Guardian

 Peers defeated the government yesterday again over its plans to detain and treat people with mental health problems who have committed no offence.

Conservative, Liberal Democrat, crossbench and rebel Labour peers voted by 186 to 115 to ensure that detention and compulsory treatment is permitted only if it is "likely" to help the patient.

The mental health bill aims to safeguard the public by allowing the detention and enforced treatment of people with personality disorders considered a potential danger to themselves and others. But opponents - including many medical professionals - say it lacks proper safeguards and fear it could prove counter-productive, by deterring people with problems from seeking help.


http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article2338389.ece -

Mental Health Bill will do nothing for public safety, research shows By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor Published: 08 March 2007

The biggest reform of mental health legislation in 50 years will be thrown into disarray today by research showing a key aspect of the proposals is unlikely to work. Government measures to force patients discharged from psychiatric hospitals to continue taking their drugs, do not improve the safety of patients or the public, according to an international review of research.



http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1808152006

 -   6th Dec. 2006 -  Ministers act to wean Scotland off £55m-a-year antidepressant habit

LYNDSAY MOSSHEALTH CORRESPONDENT (lmoss@scotsman.com)

DOCTORS issued more than 3.5 million prescriptions for antidepressants in Scotland last year, three times what they were handing out 13 years ago, official figures have revealed. A huge increase in the number of people seeking help for depression, combined with a shortage of alternative therapies, is blamed for the massive increase in the issuing of drugs such as Prozac.

Scotland spends 40 per cent more per head of population on antidepressants compared to the rest of the UK, costing the NHS £55 million a year.



© Fiona Sinclair, Wednesday 4th April 2007