Released on = September 12, 2006, 9:42 am

Press Release Author = Citizens Commsission on Human Rights

Industry = Pharmaceuticals

Press Release Summary = Marks 22nd International Psychiatric Drug Warning in the
Last Year Alone


Press Release Body = Despite vested interests in the mental health industry
continuously downplaying the documented risks of ADHD drugs, the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has finally agreed that the public has the right to know the
drugs\' deadly risks.

The FDA has ordered that the labeling of ADHD drugs include a warning that the drugs
can cause suppression of growth, psychosis, aggression and serious cardiovascular
side effects. The warnings came in the wake of an international grassroots movement
of doctors, medical personnel, human rights activists, and parents who have long
fought for full disclosure of the documented risks of the drugs by testifying before
state and federal legislators and drug regulatory agencies, as well as speaking out
in the national media.

In it\'s August 22 article, \"FDA Orders Strong Warning on Stimulants,\" the New York
Times reports that this recent warning \"significantly strengthen[s] the risk
information already on these drugs. The warnings state in part, \'Sudden deaths,
strokes and myocardial infarction have been reported in adults taking stimulant
drugs at usual doses.\'\" These warnings caution about an increased risk of strokes
and heart attacks and \"come after scattered reports of children dropping dead
suddenly while taking the drugs.\"

Steven Nissen, president of the American College of Cardiology and chairman of
cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic is quoted in the article: \"It\'s a very strong
warning. It\'s appropriately worded. It basically lets physicians and patients
know that these drugs to have serious cardiovascular side effects.\"

In February, an FDA advisory committee strongly recommended that the FDA require all
ADHD drugs come with a black box warning, the FDA\'s strictest warning, exposing the
risk of drug-induced heart attack, stroke and sudden death. In March, a different
committee convened and recommended additional warnings about psychological side
effects.

Earlier this year, Australia launched an urgent investigation into the safety of
ADHD drugs following 400 adverse reactions involving children as young as three.
The United Nations\' Committee on the Rights of the Child reported in September 2005
that it was concerned that ADHD and ADD \"are being misdiagnosed and therefore
psycho-stimulant drugs are being over-prescribed, despite the growing evidence of
the harmful effects of these drugs.\" In the last year alone, there have been ten
international warnings that ADHD drugs can cause suicide, psychosis, hallucinations
and mania. Four of these warnings specifically address the potentially fatal
cardiovascular risks of ADHD drugs.

12 international warnings have been issued on the dangers of antidepressants, which
include suicide, addiction, homicidal ideation, liver damage and heart attacks. Five
of these international warnings on antidepressants warn about the risks to pregnant
women and their newborn babies. They show the risks of taking antidepressants
during pregnancy are drug dependence for the mother as well as birth defects, heart
malformation or a fatal lung condition in the newborn.

To see more about the deadly effects of psychiatric drugs prescribed to millions of
children, read the Report on the Escalating International Warnings on Psychiatric
Drugs, published by the Citizen\'s Commission on Human Rights, a psychiatric watchdog
group established by the Church of Scientology.



Web Site = http://www.cchr.org

Contact Details = Contact CCHR at:
604-689-4417
401 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
V5R5V9 Humanrights@lightpseed.ca