AMA Supports Use of SSRIs for Teens and for Off Label Uses!!!

[Guest guest]

atracyphd2

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 11:07:14 EDT

[drugawareness] AMA Supports Use of SSRIs for Teens and for

Off Label Uses!!!

 

 

 

Find below the article announcing the AMA decision and an opposing

response

by Congressman Mike Ferguson of NJ.

 

This is clearly not the " hypocratic " oath at work, it is the

H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-I-C oath - men who profess to bless us with health

while pushing and defending

these dealy drugs is the height of hypocrisy!

 

Of course we know that what we need to be heard by this group is

exactly what

it took for the drug companies to be heard by them - several billion

dollars

in perks and kickbacks over many many years. After all these drug

pushers will

need some type of means of support if the FDA does not allow them to

continue

pushing their drugs of choice. If not they may have to go out and find a

decent way to make a living like the rest of us.

 

Clearly there is no logical or sane excuse whatsoever for a doctor who

professes to care about the well being of his patients to stand behind

a group of

drugs KNOWN to increase suicide by DOUBLE!!!

 

But this is not the first time the AMA has done something similar. If you

recall, in my book Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? - Our Serotonin

Nightmare, the

chapter on the history of drugs refers to Morton Mintz's classic book, A

Theraputic Nightmare. Morton Mintz is the Washington Post reporter who

was credited

with keeping Thalidomide out of the US via his remarkable investigative

reporting on the dangers of that drug upon the babies whose mothers

took the drug

during pregnancy causing missing limbs.

 

Mort documented the problem Senator Thomas Dodd ran into in the early 60's

with his Psychiatric Drug Control bill designed to curb the use of all

these

deadly addictive mind altering medications. The bill had amazing

success as it

was supported by President Kennedy and all who testififed, except for

one lone

group that adamantly opposed it, the AMA.

 

Senator Dodd's protest to this news that the AMA wanted to educate, rather

than have any government control guidelines set on their prescribing

addictive

drugs has become prophetic: " I cannot readily find words strong enough to

express my disapproval of that course of conduct. The house is on

fire, and we do

not need a lesson in how to prevent the startng of fires. What we need

now is

to put the fire out and go on with our fire prevention work. "

 

It is beyond me how doctors continue to command the respect of a god

in our

society when we consider their history, past and current.

 

We ask everyone on our e-group to contact their government officials,

their

own doctors, their families, and all their friends with their feelings

about

this action by the AMA. And get Congressman Ferguson's response to all

local

media.

 

It took us two decades to get the FDA to even issue what little bit of

warning they gave with the black box placement on antidepressants and

then because

prescribing is down by 10% when it should be down by at least 90%,

they are

upset enough to make a move like this?!! Of course this would be a

necessary move

to help push Bush's Teen Screen Program through the school system,

which is

the most likely reason for this seemingly insane move by the AMA. That

is a

program that will really bring in the business for them!

 

Dr. Tracy

______________________

 

Dr. Ann Blake Tracy, Executive Director,

International Coalition For Drug Awareness

www.drugawareness.org

Author of the " Bible on Antidepressants, " Prozac:

Panacea or Pandora? - Our Serotonin Nightmare

& audio " Help! I Can't Get Off My Antidepressant! "

(Order: 800-280-0730)

_________________________

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.medpagetoday.com/tbindex.cfm?tbid=1225 & topicid=55

 

AMA Supports Use of SSRIs for Treating Teen Depression

 

By Peggy Peck, Senior Editor, MedPage Today

June 21, 2005

 

CHICAGO, June 21-The American Medical Association agreed today that

antidepressants such as Prozac (fluoxetine) are safe and effective

therapies for

treating depression in teenagers.

 

The new AMA policy was based on a report from the group's Council on

Science

and Public Health, which also sided with off-label use of selective

serotonin

reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants for adolescents if

physicians use

prudent judgment.

 

The Council's report, accepted by the AMA's policy-making House of

Delegates,

was written in response to a request last year from the American

Psychiatric

Association. That request followed a series of hearings by Congress

and the

FDA into possible increased risk of suicide among teens taking

antidepressants.

 

At an AMA hearing Sunday, where the report was discussed, the American

Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the American Academy of

Pediatrics

endorsed the findings.

 

" We believe this is a fair and balanced report, " said Melvyn Sterling,

M.D.,

a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California,

Irvine, and

chairman of the council.

 

Dr. Sterling said the council report recommends that SSRIs remain

available

for use in both children and adolescents and states that current clinical

evidence " indicates that Prozac is an effective SSRI in children and

adolescents

with major depressive disorder. "

 

The Council's report also recommended:

 

That future studies of antidepressants in a pediatric population be

studies

of sufficient duration to address relevant efficacy and safety questions;

That physicians should realize that a " Black Box " [label] warning

should not

be used as a reason for denying access to a drug, but rather a signal that

physicians need to monitor patients carefully; Additional FDA

evaluation to

determine the true impact the " Black Box " warning has on treatment

patterns,

patient compliance and patient access.

 

" This was a balanced and impartial review of the science, " said David

Fassler, M.D., a child psychiatrist from Burlington, Vt., and a

delegate of the

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He said the

report should be

" reassuring to clinicians and to patients. "