"Our children's lives are at stake here, because not only does it cause suicide, it also causes them to become violent, very, very violent," she added.
Tom and Kathy Woodward's daughter, Julie, hung herself after being on Zoloft for a short time, even though she had no history of self-harm or suicide.
They explained that the doctor had said Zoloft was safe and had very few side effects and had never discussed the possibility of violence, self-harm, or suicidal acts and that the two and a half pages of information that came with the drug never mentioned self-harm or suicide either.
"We are here because we believe the system we have in place is flawed," Tom told the panel. "It is clear that the FDA is a political entity and its leadership has protected the economic interests of the drug industry."
Grieving mother, Shannon Baker said, "I am here today, because I am representing the love that my daughter had for life and to be her voice and the voice of all the other children who their voices have been silenced by these drugs. "
"Their deaths have been so senseless and needless," Shannon continued, "I am here speaking in front of you, hoping that you will go in the right direction and ban these drugs for children."
"There needs to be no more senseless and needless deaths because of these drugs," she added.
Christopher Pittman's father testified that 12 year-old Chris had shot his grandfather and grandmother while they slept, and then set the house on fire, and fled in the family car within a few weeks of being prescribed Zoloft, and 2 days after the dose had been doubled. Before Zoloft, Christopher had been on Paxil.
His maternal grandmother said Christopher adored the grandparents he killed and had never been violent before in his life. Chris himself describes the event as like being in a dream watching a movie where you can see what is happening but you can do nothing to stop it.
In the criminal trial, Christopher was tried as an adult and sentenced to 30 years in an adult prison.
Joyce Storey told the panel how her 17-year-old son Brian was diagnosed with depression, given Zoloft pills and told to come back in two weeks. "Five days later, my son killed a woman," Joyce said.
The psychiatrist that examined Brian, Dr. James Merkangis, testified at trial that Brian had a manic reaction to Zoloft. And similar to Christopher Pittman, Brian testified that it was just like being in a dream. Brian is now serving life without parole.
Brian's mother told the panel of another boy at Brian's school who 6 months after Brian's crimes, took an ax to both of his parents and his thee brothers and sisters while on Prozac. That child is now serving 2 life sentences, Joyce said.
"This is not a coincidence," she warned. "There is a common denominator, teenager, severely depressed, on an SSRI antidepressant."
"What is scary," Joyce said, "is that you are only hearing from a few of us that this has happened to, and there are a lot more out there."
Young Mark Taylor was shot between 6 and 13 times, by Eric Harris during the Columbine shooting spree, while Harris while on SSRIs.
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