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**Linda Gore**

14 propagandist articles pushing ECT featuring Kitty Dukakis in two days.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&qt... TF-8&filter=0

"Jan Drew" wrote in message
t...
http://www.newstarget.com/z020498.html

NewsTarget.com printable article
Originally published September 22 2006
Celebrity-endorsed ADHD "educational ad" spreads Big Pharma disease
mongering across internet
On Tuesday, NewsTarget reported that an ad for the ADHD medicine
Adderall -- endorsed by "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" star and ADHD
sufferer Ty Pennington -- was being prominently displayed on Amazon.com's
home page, and invited visitors to participate in a "Amazon survey" to
determine how much they knew about the condition. Now, internet giant
America Online has followed suit.
This week, visitors to the AOL homepage had a good chance of seeing
Pennington's somber face next to a proclamation identifying Sep. 20th as
"ADHD Awareness Day." Health advocate Mike Adams says what visitors to the
site should really be made aware of is that these efforts are classic
disease mongering campaigns where drug companies attempt to sell more
drugs by inventing a problem requiring "treatment" with pharmaceuticals.

"When the ADHD drug pushers use the term 'awareness,' what they really
mean is 'disease mongering,'" says Adams, referring to his term for the
practice of inventing diseases -- or expanding the requirements for
disease diagnosis -- in order to label more consumers "sick" and make
money from their subsequent treatments. "The only way they sell more drugs
is to convince people they have a disease that requires medication.

"The whole thing, of course, is a fraud based on junk science, and
companies like AOL and Amazon.com are doing consumers a great disservice
by allowing these predatory advertisements to run."

The ad for ADHD awareness day links to a page where consumers can engage
in a live chat with ADHD experts, sponsored by Adderall distributor Shire.
They can also watch a previously recorded webcast interview with
Pennington discussing his experience with ADHD, and of course, Adderall.

The ad notes that the experts on call will not be able to dispense medical
advice, but can answer questions about ADHD. Since the ad does not mention
Adderall specifically, there is no information about the amphetamine's
serious side effects, including addiction, stomachache, headache, sleep
problems, and pathological smiling, laughing and crying -- known as
emotional liability -- in children. Other ADHD drugs, such as Ritalin,
have also been linked to deaths due to cardiovascular complications.

Adams says he takes issue with companies such as AOL and Amazon.com
associating themselves with the direct-to-consumer marketing of
prescription drugs, as even the over-the-counter equivalents can be
hazardous, and doctors have reported that they tend to prescribe whatever
brand of drugs patients ask for. Adams also blasts the corporate giants
and the drug industry for disguising their profit-driven ads as public
education campaigns.

"Big Pharma is invading the internet, and they're pushing drugs under the
guise of education," he says. "But this isn't education, it's classic
commercial marketing of dangerous drugs."

As of press time, AOL had not responded to requests for a statement
regarding the ad and their support of direct-to-consumer drug marketing.

Doctors usually diagnose people with ADHD when they are hyperactive,
impulsive, and have trouble forming and nurturing social relationships,
but Adams points out that these diagnoses are often tossed around without
any consideration of mitigating factors, such as poor nutrition.
Recommending nutritious foods that promote physical and mental health,
Adams points out, is not a profitable move for Big-Pharma-sponsored
doctors to make, adding that most doctors are not trained in nutrition
anyway.

"The average doctor receives one hour -- not one credit hour, but one
hour -- of education relating to nutrition throughout their entire medical
school education," Adams says. "Unless you visit a naturopath or have a
relatively progressive doctor who recognizes the role of nutrition in
health, the average medical practitioner -- including a psychiatrist -- is
likely to give you a drug and send you on your way."

There is no medical test for ADHD, and there is no physiological process
of degeneration or disease that ADHD proponents can point to. This is a
"disease" that's based purely on opinion, and the ADHD disease label is
simply thrust onto an adult or child after a doctor or psychiatrist
observes their behavior and decides, in their own opinion, that the
patient has this "disease."

As with the previous ad at Amazon.com, Adams encourages the public to take
a stand against the ADHD publicity campaign by contacting AOL and asking
them to remove the ad. A satisfaction survey concerning the ad can also be
found here.