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Fwd: [SSRI-Research] A Response to Children in Clinical Research: A Conflict of Moral Values by Vera Hassner Sharav

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JustSayNo

Sat, 07 Feb 2004 15:35:55 -0500

[sSRI-Research] A Response to " Children in Clinical Research: A

Conflict of Moral

Values " by Vera Hassner Sharav

 

CORRESPONDENCE

 

A Response to " Children in Clinical Research: A Conflict of Moral Values " by

Vera Hassner Sharav

http://www.bioethics.net/journal/correspondence.php?vol==3 & issue==3 & articleID=11\

6

 

3:3 LETTER TO EDITOR, regarding the following article:

Sharav, V. H. 2003. Children in Clinical Research: A Conflict of Moral

Values. The American Journal of Bioethics 3(1): InFocus.

 

David Healy, MD, FRCPsych

Department of Psychological Medicine

Hergest Unit, Ysbyty Gwynedd, UK

 

Vera Sharav has written a very timely article (Sharav 2003). The issues she

raises are not matters for ivory tower bioethicists. At present Lilly, Glaxo

SmithKline and Pfizer are pushing through license applications for Prozac,

Paxil and Zoloft for the treatment of a variety of nervous problems in

children and teenagers in North America and Europe. Some licence

applications have been successful, some are still under consideration.

Publication of Vera Sharav's article should in any reasonable universe make

it all but impossible for the license applications under review to be

approved without a series of warnings pointing to the risks of suicide

induction on these drugs. This article should also lead to a reconsideration

of the labelling of drugs already approved.

 

This is not a minor point. Pulling on this little thread risks unravelling

an entire garment that pharmaceutical companies have spun in the past

decade. It risks exposing the hazards of these drugs when given to adults.

And, yet if these drugs are not approved or are approved with warnings,

questions will equally be raised about the use of psychotropic drugs in

general in children and adolescents.

 

The article Vera Sharav has written would have graced the CV of the most

senior bioethicists in the United States, and it must be something of a

shame to that community that none of their number has this or a comparable

article to take pride in. Shame hardly seems a strong enough word to apply

to the bioethical community if alerted to this problem, they continue to

ignore it.

 

References

Sharav, V. H. 2003. Children in Clinical Research: A Conflict of Moral

Values. The American Journal of Bioethics 3(1): InFocus.

 

 

 

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