VA School Board attacked for warning parents of ADHD drug dangers

[Guest guest]

A school board in the state of Virginia was brave enough to take a stand for

parental rights and informed consent, by sending out the real story about

the " Mental disorder " known as ADHD and the drugs prescribed to treat it. ADHD

is not a medical condition and there are no blood tests, brain scans or

chemical imbalance tests to prove any child has a " brain condition " requiring

the

administration of drugs. ADHD drugs have been documented by the US FDA to

cause psychosis, hallucinations, heart attack, stroke and sudden death.

Psychiatric/A school board in the state of Virginia was brave enough to take a

stand

for parental rights and informed consent, by sending out the r

 

Should the Portsmouth School Board have sent a flier on Attention Deficit

Hyperactivity Disorder to parents?

 

Please vote here:

_http://content.http://contenhttp://conhttp://conhttp:/ & ran=ran=<W & tref=tr_

(http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=135015 & ran=160257 & tref=po)

 

 

You can also send a letter to the editor here: _letters@pilotonlinelett_

(letters)

 

 

Send them a thank you - I did. We need more of this, mama

 

And you can backup the entire school board by sending an e-mail here:

_kathy.chambliss_ (kathy.chambliss)

 

 

Please note: Below the article is information on CHADD.

 

 

Portsmouth School Board's ADHD flier draws fire

 

By CHERYL ROSS , The Virginian-Pilot October 19, 2007

PORTSMOUTH

 

Last month, the School Board sent a warning to parents about the “harmful

effects†of drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

 

Much of the flier’s information was taken from the Internet, including from

a Web site run by a group founded by the Church of Scientology.

This week, six national organizations and eight local groups sent a letter

requesting that the School Board retract the flier and send a new one stating

that ADHD is a disease that requires treatment.

 

The groups include the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry,

the Virginia chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Tidewater

chapter of Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivi Adolescent Ps

 

The flier was sent “to instill fear in parents,†said E. Clarke Ross, CEO

of the Landover, Md.-based national office of CHADD. “It’s not based on

published science, but on propaganda.

 

“This is the first time I’ve heard of this kind of propaganda being

officially disseminated from a school system to its pupils,†Ross said.

 

Symptoms of ADHD include extreme inattention and impulsive behavior.

In recent years, some parents, doctors and researchers have said that too

many children are being misdiagnosed with the disease and, as a result, have

been over medicated.

 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site, about

4.4 million children have been diagnosed with ADHD by a health care

professional, and about 2.5 million children are being treated with medication.

 

The Portsmouth School Board began discussing ADHD at the urging of long time

member Elizabeth Daniels.

 

Daniels said she is concerned about the welfare of children.

In the early 1980s, Daniels said she cared for an 11 -year-old girl whom

doctors said was hyperactive. She said she believes the child was being treated

with Ritalin, which made the girl groggy. When the child was taken off the

drug, Daniels said she was alert and happier.

 

Daniels said she and the Virginia School Boards Association last year turned

to the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics

for information about ADHD. The organizations did not respond to the board’s

questions, Daniels said.

 

However, Dr. Colleen Kraft, president of the Virginia chapter of the

American Academy of Pediatrics, said she answered the association’s questions

in

November 2006. Kraft sent The Virginian-Pilot a copy of the November-dated

e-mail to the state School Boards association.

 

She said the group is regularly contacted by parents about the disease.

In August, the Virginia School Boards Association sent a flier to every

superintendent in the state similar to the one distributed to Portsmouth

parents.

It was sent as a courtesy to Daniels, a former president of the association,

said Frank E. Barham, executive director of the group.

 

The association suggested that individual superintendents and School Boards

consider whether to distribute the information further. Earlier this week,

Barham said he thinks that Portsmouth is the only board to send the information

to parents.

CHADD has requested that the association send a new flier to school

divisions with information stating that ADHD is a disease.

 

Barham said he doesn’t understand why the flier has caused so much

controversy. As far as he’s concerned, the matter is closed. “We will not

be

distributing any more materials on the issue,†he said.

 

In September, the Portsmouth School Board voted 6-2 to send the flier to the

division’s parents. Board members Jean H. Shackelford and Betty N. Hudgins

voted against it. Board member B. Keith Nance Sr. was absent.

 

“It’s up to doctors to tell parents what to do with their children,â€

Hudgins said in a recent interview.

 

Shackelford said, “I do not believe that I, as a School Board member who is

not a member of the medical profession, have the knowledge or the right to

advise parents about any medical or psychiatric issues associated with their

children,†she said.

 

Superintendent David C. Stuckwisch said in an interview this week that he

told board members he had reservations about the flier. The issue should rest

between a doctor and a patient, he said.

 

Chairman James Bridgeford said in a recent interview the School Board does

not support or denounce the flier’s contents but simply voted to send it as

“

an informational letter.†The flier contains a disclaimer that “the school

division neither endorses nor denounces†its contents.

 

Board member Sheri H. Bailey said she approved the flier to “encourage folks

to get information pro and con to make a decision to medicate or not to

medicate.â€

Daniels said she hasn’t received any criticism about the flier from parents.

However, she said, she’s heard about concerns that information in the flier

was taken from Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a California-based group

with ties to the Church of Scientology.

 

The connection to the church, Daniels said, is irrelevant.

 

“That is totally and completely unimportant and makes me think that people

are not concerned with what the issue is,†she said. She also said that CHADD

is biased because it receives money from the pharmaceutical industry.

 

Bryan Goodman, spokesman for CHADD, which has about 14,000 members

nationally, said the organization’Bryan Goodman, spokesman for CHADD, which

has about

14,000 members nationally, said the organization’<WBR>s public policy

committee works separately from its financial development depart

 

Dr. Jeffrey Katz, local coordinator of Tidewater CHADD, said he is concerned

that some parents might take the School Board’s flier “as the gospel†and

may be discouraged from seeking treatment or may stop treatment.

 

Martha Scalf said she was angered by the flier that her 11-year-old son, who

suffers from ADHD, brought home from Churchland Elementary.

 

“The things that were on there were unbelievable,†she said. Scalf said she

has no problem with opposing viewpoints but children should not have been

given access to the flier’s contents. The flier was folded and not sealed in

an

envelope, she said.

Scalf said her child’s pediatrician will discuss the flier’s contents with

him.

CHADD representatives said in their letter that they want the School Board

to “immediately distribute a flier to every household with a school-age child

clarifying the facts about ADHD as supported by the research cited in the

attached fact sheet.â€

 

The fact sheet states that ADHD is real, that treatment for it is effective,

and that failing to treat it can have severe consequences.

 

Stuckwisch said it is up to the School Board to decide how to respond to the

request. Bailey said Wednesday she was unaware of CHADD’s request.

 

-------------------------

 

The US FDA has warned that ADHD drugs can cause heart attack, stroke, sudden

death, psychosis and hallucinations.

 

In 1992, CHADD received $50,000 from pharmaceutical interests. By 1994, this

had reached $400,000 and by 2001, $700,000.

 

In 1995, the DEA issued a Methylphenidate (Ritalin) background paper,

stating: " The DEA has concerns that the depth of the financial relationship

with

the manufacturer was not well known to the public, including CHADD members,

that have relied upon CHADD for guidance as it pertains to the diagnosis and

treatment of their children. "

 

On September 26, 2002, the CEO of CHADD, E. Clarke Ross, testified before

Congress that the group's financial relationship to ADHD drug manufacturers is

" on our website. It's in our IRS returns. " This information is not obvious on

the " National Resource " website; it is in CHADD's annual report. Unless

someone knew where to look, it would not be easily found.

 

CHADD claims that ADHD is a " neurobiological " disorder, despite the fact

that there is no science-based evidence to support this. CHADD's website fails

to inform people of the considerable difference in medical opinion regarding

the validity of ADHD.

 

Pediatric neurologist, Fred Baughman, who has discovered real physical

diseases, says that by claiming ADHD is a " disease " or " neurobiological " it

makes

it so " real and terrible that the parent who dares not to believe in it, or

allow its treatment, is likely to be deemed negligent, and no longer deserving

of custody of their child. " He adds, " This is a perversion of science and

medicine and is a lie. "

 

CHADD defers to the 1999 Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health when

citing ADHD as a neurobiological disorder, yet the Surgeon General's report,

the

DSM-IV, the National Institutes of Health, and the American Academy of

Pediatrics Clinical Practice Guideline for ADHD, do not confirm or state that

ADHD

is a " neurobiological " disorder. In fact, the Surgeon General provided no

conclusive evidence to support this theory—a fact CHADD neglects to mention

on

its website.

When pressed recently by Insight Magazine on the scientific validity of

ADHD, E. Clarke Ross finally responded, " It really is a matter of belief. "

 

The DEA warned that most of the material prepared for public consumption by

groups like CHADD does not address the potential or actual abuse or Ritalin.

It is portrayed as a benign, mild substance that's not associated with abuse

or any serious side effects. In fact, Ritalin and several other ADHD drugs

are Schedule II drugs in the same category as cocaine and morphine.

 

In a token gesture to balanced coverage, CHADD devotes about four pages to

negating alternative interventions, while using 10 pages to espouse the

virtues of psychotropic drugs. The known and documented side effects of these

drugs

are downplayed as " mild and typically short-term, " contradicting medical and

scientific reports showing serious side effects, including death.

 

Under the Frequently Asked Questions section of CHADD's website,

alternatives are referred to as " controversial interventions.Under the

Frequently Asked

Questions section of CHADD's website, alternatives are referred to as

" controversial interventions.<WBR> " It states that " many people turn to

treatments

which claim to be useful, but which have not been shown to be truly effective

in accord with standards held by the scientific community. " Here again CHADD

does what it accuses oth

 

To counter its critics, CHADD forwards the views of at least one convicted

felon with a bent for kidnapping and who happens to also support psychotropic

drug treatment of children. His long history of criminality includes

convictions for breaking and entering, conspiracy, theft, the use of stolen

credit

cards, and threatening to detonate a bomb in a jewelry shop unless $100,000 in

jewels was handed to him. According to one psychiatric report, this criminal

" does not seem to profit from his past experiences and…does not realize he

has a responsibility to society to control his behavior. " Such is the caliber

of opinion that CHADD promotes on its government- and pharmaceutical-To

counter its critics, CHADD forwards the views of at least one convicted felon

with

a bent for kidnapping and who

 

 

 

 

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