PRESS RELEASE: DOES FDA ADVISORY WARNING ON ANTIDEPRESSANTS GO FAR ENOUGH?

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atracyphd2

Sun, 3 Jul 2005 16:03:35 EDT

[drugawareness] PRESS RELEASE: DOES FDA ADVISORY WARNING ON

ANTIDEPRESSANTS GO FAR ENOUGH?

 

 

 

 

This is what I sent out July 3 as an official response to the FDA's

warning

on antidepressants and suicide in adults issued July 2.

 

For any of you who can we would ask you to please send this statement

to all

of your local media. On top of that we ask you to please send, in the

form of

a letter to the editor of the magazine or newspaper, or to the

producer of the

various news shows, your own opinion on this issue to raise their

awareness

of this issue and how many are affected by it.

 

When you do so, could you please forward a copy to me as well so that

we can

keep all of you updated on what is happening?

 

Thank you,

 

Dr. Tracy

 

 

PRESS RELEASE BEGINS BELOW THIS LINE:

___________________________

 

 

For additional information contact:

 

Ann Blake Tracy, Ph.D.,

Executive Director, International Coalition For Drug Awareness

Website: www.drugawareness.org

Author: Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? - Our Serotonin Nightmare

& CD or audio tape on safe withdrawal: " Help! I Can't Get

Off My Antidepressant! "

Order Number: 800-280-0730

 

Office Number: 801-282-5282

Cell Number: 801-209-1800

E-mail: atracyphd1

______________________

 

 

 

THE INTERNATIONAL COALITION FOR DRUG AWARENESS

www.drugawarness.org

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

 

DOES FDA ADVISORY WARNING ON

ANTIDEPRESSANTS GO FAR ENOUGH?

 

 

 

 

Friday, July 1, 2005, the FDA issued strong warnings about the dangers of

antidepressants and increased risk of suicide. But we need to ask if their

warning has gone quite far enough and how many have needlessly lost

their lives to

these drug in the interim due to the lack of any warning?

 

By way of introduction I am Ann Blake Tracy, PhD, Executive Director

of the

International Coalition for Drug Awareness. I am the author of Prozac:

Panacea

or Pandora? - Our Serotonin Nightmare. The last 15 years of my life

have been

devoted full time to researching and writing about SSRI

antidepressants. For

13 1/2 years I have testified and consulted as an expert witness in cases

involving antidepressants. Some of the more high profile cases

being: comedian

Phil Hartman's murder/suicide, Columbine, Red Lake and other school

shootings,

the Atlanta Day Trader shooting and many other workplace violence

incidents in

which antidepressants were involved. In September of 1991 and again in

February

and September of 2004 I testified before the FDA Advisory Committee on

this

issue.

 

The simple fact is that when LSD goes into the brain it mimics the

neurotransmitter, serotonin. Antidepressants work by impairing one's

ability to

metabolize serotonin so that over time the level of serotonin begins

to rise. So why

are we surprised when we see those on antidepressants doing things we

would

expect to see from someone on LSD?

 

For many decades now medical research has shown that impairing serotonin

metabolism will produce migraines, hot flashes, pains around the

heart, difficulty

breathing, a worsening of bronchial complaints, tension and anxiety which

appear from out of nowhere, depression, suicide - especially very violent

suicide, hostility, violent crime, arson, substance abuse, psychosis,

mania, organic

brain disease, autism, anorexia, reckless driving, Alzheimer’s,

impulsive

behavior with no concern for punishment, and argumentative behavior.

 

How anyone ever thought it would be " therapeutic " to chemically induce

these

reactions is beyond me. Yet, these reactions are exactly what we have

witnessed in our society over the past two decades as a result of the

widespread use

of these drugs. Why does the FDA expect us to wait until " more definitive

information " than what we already have " becomes available? "

 

Can you remember when over two decades ago depressed people used to

slip away

quietly to kill themselves rather than killing everyone around them

and then

themselves as they do while taking SSRI antidepressants?

 

A study out of the University of Southern California in 1996 looked at a

group of mutant mice in an experiment that had gone terribly wrong. These

genetically engineered mice were the most violent creatures they had

ever witnessed.

They were born lacking the MAO-A enzyme which metabolizes serotonin. As a

result their brains were awash in serotonin. This excess serotonin is

what the

researchers determined was the cause for this extreme violence.

Antidepressants

produce the same end result as they inhibit the metabolism of serotonin.

 

These are extremely dangerous drugs that should be banned as similar drugs

have been banned in the past. They should be placed in the same

classification

as PCP, a dissociative anesthetic.

 

As a society we once thought LSD and PCP to be miracle medications

with large

margins of safety in humans. We have never seen drugs so similar to

LSD and

PCP as these SSRI antidepressants. All of these drugs produce dreaming

during

periods of wakefulness. It is believed that the high serotonin levels over

stimulate the brain stem leading to a lack of muscle paralysis during

the sleep

state thus allowing the patient to act out the dreams or nightmares

they are

having. The world witnessed that clearly in the Zoloft-induced

murder-suicide of

comedian Phil Hartman and his wife, Brynn. (And for those who may not be

aware, the wrongful death suit for their parents was settled by Pfizer

on behalf of

Sean and Birgen Hartman.)

 

Connecticut witnessed the Prozac-induced case of Kelly Silk several years

ago. This young mother attacked her family with a knife, then set the

house on

fire killing all but her 8 year old daughter who ran to the neighbors.

As she

stood bleeding and screaming for help she explained, " Help! My mommy

is having a

nightmare! "

 

Out of the mouths of babes we will understand these nightmares for

what they

are. She understood that this was something her mother would do ONLY in a

nightmare, never in reality.

 

This is known as a REM Sleep Behavior Disorder. In the past it was known

mainly as a drug withdrawal state, but the largest sleep facility in

the country

has reported that 86% of the cases they are diagnosing are patients

currently

taking antidepressants.

 

Because this was known in the past as a condition manifesting mainly

in drug

withdrawal you can see how dangerous the withdrawal state from these drugs

will prove to be. That is why it is so critical to make sure patients

are weaned

EXTREMELY slowly so as to avoid ANY chance of going into a withdrawal

state.

 

For additional information go to www.drugawareness.org where you can

find a

wealth of information.

 

End . . .

 

Find below, for your information, the FDA testimony of Mark Taylor,

the first

boy shot at Columbine, given in September, 2004.

_________________

 

Mark Taylor's September 13, 2004 to the FDA (first boy shot at

Columbine High

School)

 

I am Mark Allen Taylor and I am a victim of the SSRI antidepressant era. I

took six to thirteen bullets in the heart area in the Columbine High

School

shooting when Eric Harris on Luvox opened fire that now infamous day.

 

They almost had to amputate my leg and my arm. My heart missed by only one

millimeter. I had three surgeries. Five years later I am still

recuperating.

 

I went through all this to realize that SSRI antidepressants are dangerous

for those who take them and for all those who associate with those who

take

them.

 

I hope that my testimony today shows you that you need to take action

immediately before more innocent people like me, and you, do not get

hurt or die

horrible deaths as a result.

 

As Americans we should have the right to feel safe and if you were

doing your

job we would be safe. Why are we worrying about terrorists in other

countries

when the pharmaceutical companies have proven to be our biggest

terrorists by

releasing these drugs on an unsuspecting public?

 

How are we supposed to feel safe at school, at home, on the street, at

church

or anywhere else if we cannot trust the FDA to do what we are paying

you to

do? Where were you when I and all of my classmates got shot at Columbine?

 

You say that antidepressants are effective. So why did they not help Eric

Harris before he shot me?

 

According to Eric they " helped " him to feel homicidal and suicidal

after only

six weeks on Zoloft. And then he said that dropping off Luvox cold turkey

would help him " fuel the rage " he needed to shoot everyone. But he

continued on

Luvox and shot us all anyway.

 

So, why did these so called antidepressants not make him better? I

will tell

you why. It is because they do not work.

 

We should consider antidepressants to be accomplices to murder.