AbleChild has worked diligently throughout the years on informing the public on the importance of Informed Consent and an individual’s right to be given all necessary information (full disclosures on diagnosis, benefits, risks, alternatives) regarding psychiatric drugs and children. Informed Consent is no less important as it overlaps many different issues and comes back to overall public safety.
Recently, AbleChild requested that the FDA run their own PSA (Public Service Announcement) to educate the public on how to report Adverse Drug Reactions directly to the Agency. The FDA’s response to our request is shocking, as they state that because MedWatch is a “voluntary” program, there is no need to run the PSA to educate the people on its existence and importance.
Ablechild often is contacted by parents concerning a number of issues surrounding psychiatric diagnosing and psychiatric drugging of children, but the recent information forwarded to us is troubling.
A Connecticut mother, who receives state health benefits, was concerned about a recent letter she received from Acurian Health, a company that “specializes in matching people to clinical research studies,” and forwarded the correspondence to Ablechild.
The mother was concerned about the implications of offering money to low-income mothers willing to enroll their child in a pharmaceutical clinical trial. More than that, she had no idea how Acurian Health obtained her personal information in order to make the “offer.”
Ablechild was equally curious how Acurian obtained this mother’s information and contacted the Behavioral Health Partnership Oversight Council, inquiring whether the state was providing this information to third parties. Ablechild did not receive a reply.
The question is, of course, does Acurian Health have access to the state’s health data? Is it possible this mother unwittingly signed a waiver allowing her personal information to be shared? The mother in question has no memory of providing authorization to release the data, but admitted that the waiver could have been in the “fine print.”
Nevertheless, Ablechild is providing this information to its members in an effort to make families aware of “offers” such as this from Acurian Health. The “offer” is targeting children 7-17 years old who “have Depression or may be experiencing symptoms of Depression,” and the “offer” further explains qualified participants “may receive Depression medication approved for use in adults.”
The only antidepressant approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for adolescents is Fluoxetine or Prozac. All other antidepressants have not been approved for children and adolescents ages 8 and older. The FDA conducted a study including 2,200 children treated with Serotonin Selective Reuptake Inhibitors, (SSRI) medications and 4 percent of those taking SSRI’s experienced suicidal thinking or behavior, including actual suicide attempts – twice the rate of those taking placebo, or sugar pills.
In response to this study, the FDA adopted “black box” warnings – the FDA’s most serious warnings – indicating that antidepressants may increase the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior. However, there are many other known adverse reactions associated with antidepressants, including mania, psychosis and hallucinations to name a few.
Ablechild cannot help but wonder if these low-income families are being targeted and lured by the pathetic “$50 per visit” offer. We are alerting families to be aware of unknowingly providing authorization for release of personal information to third parties. When applying for state health services, it is important to ask if personal information is shared with third parties and how you may opt out.
Ablechild, and the mother who provided this “offer,” is concerned that families going through tough financial times may be tempted to participate in clinical trials that admittedly will be using dangerous psychiatric drugs that are not approved for children and without informed consent.
When applying for state benefits, it’s important to know your rights and, specifically, to know if personal data will be provided to third parties.
August 2012
by Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
(NaturalNews)
In their quest to achieve better health, many patients with chronic illness are finding that genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) are one of the primary culprits responsible for exacerbating and even causing their persistent conditions. And patients who see doctors that understand nutrition are also discovering that eliminating GMOs from their diets is effectively reversing and even curing these illnesses, without the need for pharmaceutical drugs.
In a thorough analysis recently published in Vitality Magazine, Jeffrey Smith, Executive Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology (IRT), explains how doctors who prescribe their ill patients GMO-free diets are witnessing dramatic recoveries in their patients, many in as little as just a few days of eating only clean, natural foods. Patients who were told they would have to take pills every day for the rest of their lives are now experiencing full recovery simply by avoiding GMOs.
“I tell my patients to avoid genetically-modified foods because in my experience, with those foods there is more allergies and asthma,” says Dr. Emily Lindner, an internist with 27 years of medical experience and practice in internal medicine. Dr. Lindner has seen dramatic improvements in many of her patients with chronic illness who adhere to strict, GMO-free diets.
“When I change people from a GMO diet to a GMO-free diet, I see results instantaneously in people who have foggy thinking and people who have gut symptoms like bloating, gas, irritation. In terms of allergies, it might take two to five days (to see relief). In terms of depression, it starts to lift almost instantaneously. It takes from a day, to certainly within two weeks.”
Smith outlines several documented cases in which patients with bowel conditions, cramps, cold hands and feet, allergies, congestion, migraine headaches, asthma, and various other conditions have essentially been healed as a result of going GMO-free. This is the same diet the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) recommended back in 2009 when it called for an indefinite moratorium on GMOs. (http://www.naturalnews.com/028245_GM_food_side_effects.html)
You can read Smith’s entire report here: http://vitalitymagazine.com
Interestingly enough, science continues to show that GMOs trigger an inflammatory response throughout the body, which is the foundation upon which chronic illness arises. Dr. Martha Grout from the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine in Scottsdale is one of many progressive doctors who recognizes that the body essentially rejects GMOs and their foreign DNA as a poison.
Animal studies in which GMOs have been proven to elicit clear behavioral, neurological, and psychological changes can also be transposed to humans. After giving a talk back in 2011 about the harm caused by GMOs, for instance, Dr. Don Huber, Ph.D., a professor emeritus at Purdue University in Indiana, was approached by a doctor who explained that he had been observing the exact same detrimental side effects in his autistic patients. (http://www.responsibletechnology.org/autism)
Numerous animal studies verify that GMOs induce erratic behavior, including a tendency towards hyperactivity. At the same time, GMOs also tear up the digestive tract and lead to chronic bowel symptoms. Both of these conditions are common amongst children that have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, and many doctors are convinced that GMOs are a major cause of autism symptoms.
Lacing the food supply with GMOs and not labeling them as such is not only causing widespread illness, but it is also illegally depriving individuals of their lawful right to informed consent. GMOs are not the same as natural food, and have repeatedly been shown to cause serious and long-term health problems — and individuals have a right to know whether or not the foods they buy contain GMOs.
Be sure to check out IRT’s Non-GMO Shopping Guide for tips on how to avoid buying and inadvertently consuming GMOs: http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/
Also, consider joining the Label It Yourself initiative to proactively raise awareness about the presence of GMOs throughout the food supply: http://labelityourself.org/
Sources for this article include:
http://vitalitymagazine.com
http://www.responsibletechnology.org/10-Reasons-to-Avoid-GMOs
October 2002
APPLETON, Wisconsin —
A revolution has occurred. It’s taken place in the Central Alternative High School. The kids now behave. The hallways aren’t frantic. Even the teachers are happy. The school used to be out of control. Kids packed weapons. Discipline problems swamped the principal’s office. But not since 1997.
What happened? Did they line every inch of space with cops? Did they spray valium gas in the classrooms? Did they install metal detectors in the bathrooms? Did they build holding cells in the gym?
Afraid not. In 1997, a private group called Natural Ovens began installing a healthy lunch program. Huh? Fast-food burgers, fries, and burritos gave way to fresh salads, vegetables “prepared with old-fashioned recipes,” and whole grain bread. Fresh fruits were added to the menu. Good drinking water arrived. Vending machines were removed.
As reported in a newsletter called Pure Facts, “Grades are up, truancy is no longer a problem, arguments are rare, and teachers are able to spend their time teaching.” Principal LuAnn Coenen, who files annual reports with the state of Wisconsin, has turned in some staggering figures since 1997. Drop-outs? Students expelled? Students discovered to be using drugs? Carrying weapons? Committing suicide? Every category has come up ZERO. Every year. Mary Bruyette, a teacher, states, “I don’t have to deal with daily discipline issues. I don’t have disruptions in class or the difficulties with student behavior I experienced before we started the food program.” One student asserted, “Now that I can concentrate I think it’s easier to get along with people”
What a concept—eating healthier food increases concentration. Principal Coenen sums it up: “I can’t buy the argument that it’s too costly for schools to provide good nutrition for their students. I found that one cost will reduce another. I don’t have the vandalism. I don’t have the litter. I don’t have the need for high security.” At a nearby middle school, the new food program is catching on. A teacher there, Dennis Abram, reports, “I’ve taught here almost 30 years. I see the kids this year as calmer, easier to talk to. They just seem more rational. I had thought about retiring this year and basically I’ve decided to teach another year — I’m having too much fun!”
Pure Facts, the newsletter that ran this story, is published by a non-profit organization called The Feingold Association, which has existed since 1976. Part of its mission is to “generate public awareness of the potential role of foods and synthetic additives in behavior, learning and health problems. The [Feingold] program is based on a diet eliminating synthetic colors, synthetic flavors, and the preservatives BHA, BHT, and TBHQ.” Thirty years ago there was a Dr. Feingold. His breakthrough work proved the connection between these negative factors in food and the lives of children. Hailed as a revolutionary advance, Feingold’s findings were soon trashed by the medical cartel, since those findings threatened the drugs-for-everything, disease-model concept of modern healthcare. But Feingold’s followers have kept his work alive.
If what happened in Appleton, Wisconsin, takes hold in many other communities across America, perhaps the ravenous corporations who invade school space with their vending machines and junk food will be tossed out on their behinds. It could happen. And perhaps ADHD will become a dinosaur. A non-disease that was once attributed to errant brain chemistry. And perhaps Ritalin will be seen as just another toxic chemical that was added to the bodies of kids in a crazed attempt to put a lid on behavior that, in part, was the result of a subversion of the food supply.
For those readers who ask me about solutions to the problems we face — here is a real solution. Help these groups. Get involved. Step into the fray. Stand up and be counted. The drug companies aren’t going to do it. They’re busy estimating the size of their potential markets. They’re building their chemical pipelines into the minds and bodies of the young. Every great revolution starts with a foothold. Sounds like Natural Ovens and The Feingold Association have made strong cuts into the big rock of ignorance and greed.
Over the years, Ablechild.org has gone directly to the pipeline of ADHD, and has informed parents of the misleading information they are receiving through the public school system and the media relating to the label ADHD and the dangerous mind altering drugs that are recommended as the solution.
Writing is the latest link the drug manufacturers and psychiatric gatekeepers plan on using to lure families into psychiatric drug use. Perfect timing as children start school. Tuesday, August 23 (HealthDay News) reports that Children diagnosed with ADHD have a much higher risk of developing written language disorder, a new study indicates. The findings don’t eliminate the ADHD label or give way to the fact that millions of children have been misdiagnosed with ADHD that had underlying writing issues. The study wants to ensure children are Co-labeled.
What you will find with any ADHD study, the ADHD label is often linked with human actions, i.e., walking, talking, listening, eating, sleeping, crying, laughing and now writing. To validate the label they take those actions and link it to “a much higher risk of developing” problems and across it over to whatever obtains them more clientele. For example, Monday, July 25, 2011 big news (Reuters Health) reported that Children with ADHD are more likely to misjudge risk of walking across the street. The findings, researchers say it may explain why children with the disorder have a higher than average risk of being hit by a car. This approach to taking a verb and associating it with risk and linking with your child becomes alarming. Simple tasks become a concern, something for you to look for to become proactive about. This has created an industry that feeds off our children’s behaviors. Giving cause to analyse it all and cure it. OMG!
As school starts, know the facts and stay in the solution. Writing problems exist, but they can be solved without a ADHD Label or drugs. The recommendation should not be to Co-label a child with ADHD and a writing disorder, but to look at ensuring that schools continue to focus on the connection between writing and the development of the brain.. Thus the research they are not providing to you or mentioning in this breaking news study is a key ingredient for you to make an informed decision. Ablechild gives you a battling study for your review and a breaking news story that illustrates the failure to teach writing at the important developmental ages.
Stay in touch with your own reality, not what the psychiatric and drug companies want your reality to be for your child. Visit us at www.ablechild.org and let us provide you with more information so that you may make an informed decision relating to your child’s health and well-being.
Have a great start to the new school year!
Sheila Matthews
Cofounder www.ablechild.org
Patricia Weathers
President
www.ablechild.org
(845) 677-8115
Congressman James Sensenbrenner, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has weighed in on the importance of maintaining parental consent rights. These parental rights are now in jeopardy if H.R. 181, The Parental Consent Act of 2005 dies in committee.
Congressman Sensenbrenner has emphatically stated, “It is not, and should not be, the role of government to subject children to arbitrary mental health screenings without the consent of their parents. Parents, children, and their private doctors should determine whether a child has mental health problems, not government bureaucrats.”
His statement comes just after House Majority Leader Tom DeLay stood up for parental rights and released this statement last week. “In the wake of the creation of psychiatric labels, every parent should be wary of relinquishing their responsibility to the government to define and assess their child’s mental health status.”
The highly controversial issue of mandatory mental health screening programs of American school children initiated by the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health is the subject of widespread debate. This debate arises due to the use of subjective, unscientific psychological testing methods used for screening children for mental illness without the provision of full parental informed consent in place. This “testing” is currently awaiting federal funds to expand the implementation of screening programs nationwide.
“If H.R. 181 is passed it will prevent wasteful and potentially devastating federal funding while safeguarding the informed consent rights of all parents in what is a most serious matter, their children’s health and safety”, says Patricia Weathers President and co-founder of AbleChild.org a national non-profit group of parents committed to ensuring that the issue of informed consent and an individual’s right to “opt out” of psychological testing is a national priority.
Dr. Grace Jackson, a board certified psychiatrist since 1996 recently stated, “Contrary to the reports which have been emphasized by the major news outlets, there is no evidence to justify the claim that psychiatric disorders arise from anatomic or physiological abnormalities in the brain. Based upon a variety of theoretical and practical limitations, the functional imaging technologies cannot identify the origin of mental phenomena.”
In light of such growing controversial fervor and obvious lack of agreement on the issue of psychiatric diagnoses within the medical establishment itself, any promotion or implementation of mandated, which is equivalent to forced, screening methods should be viewed as a national threat to public health, and should be challenged by the American public.
For more information on mental health screening programs, psychiatric drug risks, and the FDA’s warnings regarding psychiatric drugs, please visit www.ablechild.org .
By Dennis L. Cuddy, Ph.D., NewsWithViews.com
Ablechild is an organization of parents for label and drug free education. And in their press release of July 19, 2005, one learns that according to the Drug Enforcement Agency, “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 Methylphenidate (Ritalin).” The press release also quoted U.S. House of Representatives majority leader Rep. Tom DeLay as proclaiming that “the federal government should become advocates in strengthening American famililes and encouraging parental participation in decisions that directly effect their children’s health and overall well-being. In the wake of the creation of psychiatric labels, every parent should be wary of relinquishing their responsibility to the government to define and assess their child’s mental health status.”
Dr. Peter Breggin, Huffington Post
On June 25, 2005 Tom Cruise did the unthinkable on TV. Actually, he did several “unthinkables” in a filmed interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer for the Today Show.
First, Tom stopped smiling. He deprived us of that multi-million dollar grin and got serious. For a star to do this to the American public was unthinkable.
Second, Tom pointed out that Matt Lauer actually was very “glib” (shallow) and didn’t know what he was talking about. He also urged Matt to be “more responsible” and to learn something about psychiatry before touting it. For a star to do this to a media personality was unthinkable. Since nearly all of them are shallow, this was a threat of potentially epidemic proportions. Suppose other guests began pointing out that media hosts don’t know what they are talking about and are shallow?
A coroner’s inquest in Fredericton was told Tuesday that a 16-year-old foster child may have stopped taking an anti-depressant medication just weeks before she killed herself in November 2003. The year after Heather White’s death, Health Canada issued a warning about the class of drug Heather’s family doctor had been prescribed to deal with her depression. She was taking a medication called Celexa, a selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI).
INDEPTH: Depression medications
The warnings advised doctors to carefully monitor patients of all ages for suicidal thoughts, especially in the early stages of taking SSRIs. Health Canada also warned patients to tell their doctors before changing the dosage or stopping the medication entirely.
