If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Suicide caused in kids on anti-depressants
From CBS:
Congress is investigating whether the FDA -- which is supposed to protect the public -- sat on medical evidence and failed to act quickly on a possible link between anti-depressants and suicidal behavior in children, reports CBS News Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson. With ten million American kids a year prescribed Paxil or other popular anti-depressants, the question of whether the drugs actually cause suicidal behavior in children is crucial. Last summer, a link was revealed in data from Paxil's maker, GlaxoSmithKline. "It has us worried," said an FDA internal document. So the FDA assigned one of its respected medical officers, Andrew Mosholder, to look at studies of eight anti-depressants and thousands of troubled kids. What he found added fuel to the fire. According to documents obtained by CBS News, there were twice as many suicide-related events in children who took antidepressants as those who got only sugar pills. Mosholder called the findings "difficult to dismiss." But the public never got to hear those results. As Mosholder prepared to report to this FDA panel last month, there was an incredible turn of events. Sources claim Mosholder's FDA bosses intervened and "pressured him to change his conclusions" to make them "ambiguous and less definitive." At the last minute, they took his report off the agenda entirely. Word of Mosholder's findings got out to the media anyway. That's when FDA managers launched a criminal investigation to find which employees leaked the report. Even though, according to one source, "it's clearly information the public should have." Earlier this month, the FDA issued a warning on anti-depressants and suicide, but watered it down by implying there was really no strong evidence -- making no mention of Mosholder's findings. Patient advocate with the Alliance for Human Research Vera Hassner Sharav says top FDA officials are watching out for the drug industry, not consumers. "What we want to know is why the FDA has been sitting on this evidence and pretending, now after all this time, there is no evidence," Sharav says. Congress is asking the same questions. Did the FDA try to suppress a link between anti-depressants and suicidal behavior in kids, and did it try to intimidate employees who exposed the risks. |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
|
#3
|
|||
|
|||
|
#4
|
|||
|
|||
That's kind of like the chicken or the egg theory - which came first? Quite
a spin if you ask me. One thing is for sure, if the anti-depressant couldn't stop them from committing suicide anyway, then what's the friggin point of taking it??? I have taken enough newer medications to know personally that there is something wrong with the info on side-effects that the public is fed. For example, Nystatin, I was never told could cause liver damage..... I was never told about any side-effects except nausea. I only found out when I went to see a nutritionist and told her about the problems I'd been having and what I was taking. I had such a horrible reaction to Erythromycin, I almost had to be hospitalized. Never was I warned of the possibilities. "R. Steve Walz" wrote in message ... wrote: From CBS: Congress is investigating whether the FDA -- which is supposed to protect the public -- sat on medical evidence and failed to act quickly on a possible link between anti-depressants and suicidal behavior in children, reports CBS News Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson. With ten million American kids a year prescribed Paxil or other popular anti-depressants, the question of whether the drugs actually cause suicidal behavior in children is crucial. Last summer, a link was revealed in data from Paxil's maker, GlaxoSmithKline. "It has us worried," said an FDA internal document. So the FDA assigned one of its respected medical officers, Andrew Mosholder, to look at studies of eight anti-depressants and thousands of troubled kids. What he found added fuel to the fire. According to documents obtained by CBS News, there were twice as many suicide-related events in children who took antidepressants as those who got only sugar pills. Mosholder called the findings "difficult to dismiss." But the public never got to hear those results. As Mosholder prepared to report to this FDA panel last month, there was an incredible turn of events. Sources claim Mosholder's FDA bosses intervened and "pressured him to change his conclusions" to make them "ambiguous and less definitive." At the last minute, they took his report off the agenda entirely. Word of Mosholder's findings got out to the media anyway. That's when FDA managers launched a criminal investigation to find which employees leaked the report. Even though, according to one source, "it's clearly information the public should have." Earlier this month, the FDA issued a warning on anti-depressants and suicide, but watered it down by implying there was really no strong evidence -- making no mention of Mosholder's findings. Patient advocate with the Alliance for Human Research Vera Hassner Sharav says top FDA officials are watching out for the drug industry, not consumers. "What we want to know is why the FDA has been sitting on this evidence and pretending, now after all this time, there is no evidence," Sharav says. Congress is asking the same questions. Did the FDA try to suppress a link between anti-depressants and suicidal behavior in kids, and did it try to intimidate employees who exposed the risks. ----------------- This supposed link in adults was alleged early on with Prozac, and it was found to be non-causal, since suicide is ALSO a symptom of depression ITSELF! In other words, there were no more suicides with Prozac for the same patient cohort, than there were without it for that cohort with that illness. The similar process is happening with kids, because FDA was slow to approve it for first teens and then kids without long-term adult studies, which were done, and so now we have the kids' studies to review, and only then, after doing the real methodology, will we know if there really IS a link, or whether this is just another case of blaming incidence of suicide on a non-causal factor. Steve |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
People don't always take anti-depressants for depression. My FIL takes it
for ADHD. I can't say I've ever seen a clinically depressed 5 year old, and yet I've heard that 5 year olds have committed suicide on this stuff. To me that's unfathomable. "greccogirl" wrote in message ... Could that be because kids on anti depressants ARE generally depressed and therefore more prone to suicide? wrote: From CBS: Congress is investigating whether the FDA -- which is supposed to protect the public -- sat on medical evidence and failed to act quickly on a possible link between anti-depressants and suicidal behavior in children, reports CBS News Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson. With ten million American kids a year prescribed Paxil or other popular anti-depressants, the question of whether the drugs actually cause suicidal behavior in children is crucial. Last summer, a link was revealed in data from Paxil's maker, GlaxoSmithKline. "It has us worried," said an FDA internal document. So the FDA assigned one of its respected medical officers, Andrew Mosholder, to look at studies of eight anti-depressants and thousands of troubled kids. What he found added fuel to the fire. According to documents obtained by CBS News, there were twice as many suicide-related events in children who took antidepressants as those who got only sugar pills. Mosholder called the findings "difficult to dismiss." But the public never got to hear those results. As Mosholder prepared to report to this FDA panel last month, there was an incredible turn of events. Sources claim Mosholder's FDA bosses intervened and "pressured him to change his conclusions" to make them "ambiguous and less definitive." At the last minute, they took his report off the agenda entirely. Word of Mosholder's findings got out to the media anyway. That's when FDA managers launched a criminal investigation to find which employees leaked the report. Even though, according to one source, "it's clearly information the public should have." Earlier this month, the FDA issued a warning on anti-depressants and suicide, but watered it down by implying there was really no strong evidence -- making no mention of Mosholder's findings. Patient advocate with the Alliance for Human Research Vera Hassner Sharav says top FDA officials are watching out for the drug industry, not consumers. "What we want to know is why the FDA has been sitting on this evidence and pretending, now after all this time, there is no evidence," Sharav says. Congress is asking the same questions. Did the FDA try to suppress a link between anti-depressants and suicidal behavior in kids, and did it try to intimidate employees who exposed the risks. |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
|
#7
|
|||
|
|||
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
misc.kids FAQ on Good things about having kids | [email protected] | Info and FAQ's | 0 | November 28th 04 05:16 AM |
Article by Carol Ummel Lindquist, Ph.D. - Happily Married with Kids | Jane Smith | General | 0 | July 27th 04 02:17 PM |
DCF CT monitor finds kids *worsen* while in state custody | Kane | General | 8 | August 13th 03 07:43 AM |
FWD bad judgement or abuse Trunk kids begged to ride | Kane | General | 2 | August 5th 03 05:54 PM |