Friday, February 23, 2007

Just Say No To TeenScreen

Updates on Montana, Illinois and Florida legislation to come soon.
But, now Minnesota legislators are at it. SAY NO to S.F. 148

The Minnesota Senate Committee on Health, Housing and Family Security is hearing a bill on Monday 02/26/2007, 12:30 PM in Room 15 Capitol to fund TeenScreen. The agenda verifying this bill will be heard by this committee can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/223s5x
E-mail the Chairman of this committee and bcc the committee members. E-mail addresses provided below.
Full bill here: http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/bldbill.php?bill=S0148.0.html&session=ls85
Sec. 5. COLUMBIA TEENSCREEN GRANTS.
The commissioner of education shall develop a request for proposals for grants to implement the Columbia TeenScreen program. The request for proposals shall require the grant applicant to specify how the applicant will follow, implement, and conduct the essential components of the Columbia TeenScreen program. Applicants for grants shall be limited to public schools and family service collaboratives.
Some points to consider: :

1. There is a national controversy on screening kids for suicide. See petition here: http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html and video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfU9puZQKBY The petition can be presented as it is addressed to state legislators.

2. There is no evidence that screening for suicide works! See U.S. Preventive Services Task Force report here: http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/3rduspstf/suicide/suiciderr.htm
A. no evidence that screening for suicide risk reduces suicide attempts or mortality.
B. limited evidence on the accuracy of screening tools to identify suicide risk
C. insufficient evidence that treatment of those at high risk reduces suicide attempts
D. no studies were found that directly address the harms of screening and treatment for suicide risk. .

3. The chairman of the above Task Force, Ned Calonge, who is also chief medical officer for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said recently in the Washington Post "Whether or not we like to admit it, there are no interventions that have no harms, There is weak evidence that screening can distinguish people who will commit suicide from those who will not, he said. And screening inevitably leads to treating some people who do not need it. Such interventions have consequences beyond side effects from drugs or other treatments, he said. Unnecessary care drives up the cost of insurance, causing some people to lose coverage altogether. Reference: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/15/AR2006061501984.html

4. The bill has the high possibility of increasing suicides! Since 90% of shrinks use psychiatric drugs as their main method of treatment and the FDA says these drugs produce suicide ideation, what do you think will happen? See sample black box warning here: http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/antidepressants/SSRIlabelChange.htm

5. Ask them if they'd be willing to be suicide screened themselves with the suicide screening questions that were recently exposed nationally here: http://www.libertycoalition.net/cognitive-liberty/psychiatry-gone-wild-teenscreen-documents-exposed

6. If they want to reduce the rare instances of teen suicides they need to educate parents about the dangers and FDA suicide warnings on psychiatric drugs.

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Chair: Senator John Marty sen.john.marty@senate.mn

Senators - Committee on Health, Housing and Family Security:

Thursday, February 22, 2007

New Warning for Attention Deficit Drugs

This just came up as TOP NEWS from AOL.

Updated:2007-02-21 15:33:06
New Warning for Attention Deficit Drugs

AP
WASHINGTON (Feb. 21) - Drugs prescribed to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder will include guides to alert patients and parents of the risks of mental and heart problems, including sudden death.


Karen Elshout, St. Louis Post-Dispatch / MCT
A patient takes part in a study on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The FDA ordered manufacturers to warn patients that ADHD drugs carry risks, including sudden death.

The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that it directed the manufacturers of Ritalin, Adderall, Strattera and all other ADHD drugs to develop the guides. In May 2006, the agency told manufacturers to revise the labels of the drugs to reflect concerns about the cardiovascular and psychiatric problems.

Draft versions of the guides posted on the FDA Web site include discussion of reports of increased blood pressure and heart rate in ADHD patients, as well as cases of sudden death in some who have heart problems and heart defects. In adult patients, the reported problems also include stroke and heart attack.

The alerts also cover psychiatric problems, such as hearing voices, unfounded suspicions and manic behavior, of which there is a slightly increased risk in patients who take the drugs, the FDA said. The guides also tell patients and their parents of precautions they can take to guard against the risks.


Affected Drugs
The FDA announced its order applies to 15 drugs:

· Adderall Tablets
· Adderall XR Extended-Release Capsules
· Concerta Extended-Release Tablets
· Daytrana Transdermal System
· Desoxyn Tablets
· Dexedrine Spansule Capsules and Tablets
· Focalin Tablets
· Focalin XR Extended-Release Capsules
· Metadate CD Extended-Release Capsules
· Methylin Oral Solution
· Methylin Chewable Tablets
· Ritalin Tablets
· Ritalin SR Sustained-Release Tablets
· Ritalin LA Extended-Release Capsules
· Strattera Capsules


Wednesday's announcement came roughly a year after two panels of FDA advisers recommended that the drugs include such patient medication guides. The announcement covers 15 drugs, including extended-release, patch and chewable versions of some of them.

Ritalin is manufactured by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. and in generic form by other companies; Adderall is made by Shire Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Strattera by Eli Lilly & Co.

ADHD affects an estimated 3 percent to seven percent of school-age children and four percent of adults, the FDA said.


Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

2007-02-21 14:32:13

http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a/new-warning-for-attention-deficit-drugs/20070221143209990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001









Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Yes They Still Do Shock Treatment On Kids

Yes, they still do Shock Treatment and yes they're doing it on kids in Florida.

The Florida Senate Health Regulation committee is meeting tomorrow Febuary 21, 2007 to consider a bill to ban Shock Treatment on kids under 18 in Florida. You can see the full bill here: http://tinyurl.com/2rvj2n

Please e-mail Senator Atwater, Chairman of the committee and cc the Senate committee members. Tell the Senators to vote YES on Senate Bill 112. (e-mail addresses provided below)

If you know any health care professionals who can testify against shock treatment or victims of shock treatment who want to speak out, please contact Lee Sheldon, placman@hotmail.com

How Electric Shock "Works"
1. The patient is injected with an anesthetic to block out pain and a muscle relaxant to shut down muscular activity and prevent spinal fractures.

2. Electrodes are placed on the temples bilaterally (from one side of the brain to the other) or unilaterally (front to back on one side of the brain).

3. A rubber gag is placed in the mouth to keep teeth from breaking or patients from biting their tongues.

4. Between 180 and 480 volts of electricity are sent searing through the brain.

5. To meet the brain’s demand for oxygen, blood flow to the brain can increase as much as 400%. Blood pressure can increase 200%. Under normal conditions, the brain uses a blood-brain barrier to keep itself healthy against harmful toxins and foreign substances. With electroshock, harmful substances “leak” from blood vessels into the brain tissue, causing swelling. Nerve cells die. Cellular activity is altered. The physiology of the brain is altered.

6. The results are memory loss, confusion, loss of space and time orientation and even death.

7. Most patients are given a total of six to 12 shocks, one a day, three times a week.

Ask the foremost psychiatrists and they have no explanation to justify why or how their “treatment” works. It is literally as scientific as sticking one’s head in a light socket. Do it often enough and you will become disoriented, confused, lose your memory or even die. Same result as ECT.

Texas, California, Colorado, Louisiana have passed similar laws. South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah have imposed limitations;

ECT is prohibited by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. However, it has been documented that ECT has been
given to 15, 16, and 17 year old girls paid by Medicaid in Florida (your tax dollars) over the last 5 years.

“Recent studies suggest that verbal learning decreased by a mean of 50% immediately after a completed course of ECT as compared with pre-ECT verbal learning scores.”—National Association for the Mentally Ill-Santa Cruz County, CA website

“There are no indications for the use of ECT on minors, and hence this should be prohibited by legislation.”
World Health Organization Resource Book on Mental Health, Human Rights, and Legislation, 2005

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Senator Atwater, Chair: atwater.jeffrey.web@flsenate.gov

Senate Health Regulation committee members:
siplin.gary.web@flsenate.gov, alexander.jd.web@flsenate.gov, aronberg.dave.web@flsenate.gov,
fasano.mike.web@flsenate.gov, jones.dennis.web@flsenate.gov, lawson.alfred.web@flsenate.gov, peaden.durell.web@flsenate.gov


Stop TeenScreen's Unscientific and Experimental "Mental Health Screening" of American School Children http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html