TeenScreen - New York Times - Danger Signs

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By Evelyn Pringle (about the author) Page 8 of 8 page(s)

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According to the results of the report, Pediatric and Adolescent Antidepressant Drug Use in the US, presented at a February 18, 2004 FDA hearing by Dr. Gianna Rigoni from the Office of Drug Safety of the FDA, in 2002, Zoloft was the most commonly prescribed product, accounting for about 31% of dispensed antidepressants, followed by Paxil and then Prozac. The adolescent population accounted for approximately "8.1 million prescriptions dispensed" in 2002, Rigoni told the panel.

Dr Donald Marks, MD, Ph D, testified at the hearing as a prescribing physician, a father, and as a former director of clinical research for two multinational pharmaceutical companies.

"The seriousness and severe adverse event effects of SSRI drugs," Marks said, "makes their use hardly justified in the majority of cases because SSRIs are well known to have limited efficacy over placebo and against non-pharmacologic treatments."

"There are many studies in the peer reviewed medical literature, supporting the causal role of serotonin in disinhibition and violence," he said.

"My own prescribing experience with SSRI drugs and evaluation of numerous cases referred to me," Marks advised, "has revealed significant agitation and aggression, akathisia, activation of mania and hypomania, increased depression, serious dependency and withdrawal difficulties, suicidal ideation, and toxic interactions with other drugs."

"It is important to be aware," the doctor warned, "that these symptoms of SSRI toxicity can be mistaken for the progression of the underlying mental state being treated, leading to use of more of the same and other offending SSRI drugs rather than to withdrawal of the causative SSRI agent."

"Danger Signs," does not mention that Dr Shaffer has testified as an expert witness in civil and criminal trials, on behalf of the drug companies and against patients and families who had endured horrendous experiences caused by SSRIs.

Despite the widely publicized evidence of adverse affects, Shaffer continues to urge the use of SSRIs with children, illustrating his willingness to place drug maker profits over the proven risks of suicidal and violent behavior committed by children on these drugs.

The Time's article fails to mention his lengthily history of pushing these dangerous drugs on kids whenever a protective barrier is erected. Two years ago, the New York Times itself noted that Shaffer, at the request of a drug maker, attempted to block the recommendation to ban the drugs from use in children in the UK by sending a letter to the British regulatory agency claiming there was insufficient data to restrict the use of the drugs in adolescents, on December 11, 2003.

Dr Marks discussed the potential resistance that would arise in response to banning the use of the drugs on children in the US, when he told the panel that SSRI manufacturing and sales is "serious business with tens of millions of patients in the U.S. and a market in the tens of billions of dollars."

In his experience working for drug companies Marks warned, any attempt to decrease sales by increasing warnings will be met with severe organized resistance.

However, the pharmaceutical industry has nothing to worry about when it comes to blocking attempts to decrease the sale of SSRIs to kids. As the article in the Times indicates, the "severe organized resistance" of Shaffer, Flynn, NAMI, and TeenScreen are up to the task

Evelyn Pringle
evelyn.pringle@sbcglobal.net

(Evelyn Pringle is a columnist for Independent Media TV and an investigative journalist focused on exposing corruption in government)

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