Psychotropic drug prescriptions for children who have been labelled as having ADHD have tripled in seven years. - Why is this GP drug-pushing allowed?

Hyperactivity prescriptions triple in seven years

Extract from Telegraph:

"Figures show that GPs wrote nearly 406,000 prescriptions for such drugs last year, compared with 135,000 in 1999. Last night, politicians and children's groups branded the rise "astonishing".

David Laws, the Liberal Democrat children's spokesman, said: "We need a fundamental review of whether we are right to be pouring chemicals into our children in this way. Perhaps we should instead be looking at issues such as food, sleeping patterns, family upheaval, and general environment."

Mr Laws, who obtained the figures in a Parliamentary question, said some families may be pressuring GPs to prescribe drugs to allow them to claim child disability allowances.

Parents who have a child diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are entitled to benefits of up to £10,000 a year. According to the latest figures, more than £17 million was spent last year on drugs to treat ADHD."

In my opinion, there should be a legal ban on prescribing these psychotropic drugs to children. - And rewarding parents whose children take these drugs with £200 a week is criminally insane!!

Drugs such as Ritalin and Concerta are 'of no benefit' to hyperactive children. Big Pharma has conned doctors and the NHS yet again...)o:

Drugs 'of no benefit' to hyperactive children

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Drugs given to thousands of hyperactive children have no long-term benefits and could in fact be stunting their development, a major study has said.

The study of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) found that, while powerful drugs such as Ritalin and Concerta resulted in short-term behavioural improvements, after three years those benefits had disappeared.

Children who took the drugs for the full three years were also found to have stunted growth, according to the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA).

The MTA has followed 600 children in the United States with ADHD since the 1990s and has just published its latest findings. Prof William Pelham, co-author, from the University of Buffalo, said: "They weren't growing as much as other kids both in terms of their height and their weight.

"There were no beneficial effects - none. In the short run medication will help the child behave better, in the long run it won't.

"That information should be made very clear to parents.""

I believe children need to be protected from drugs which act on the brain/mind. I believe that optimising their nutrition with good healthy meals low in salt/sodium and avoiding dodgy, unnatural food additives would help children to become more attentive.

Rebecca Riley - a four year old - has died because of medication prescribed for "a bipolar personality"...)o:

Bipolar children - is the US overdiagnosing? - New Scientist

Extract:

"Rebecca Riley seemed a normal, playful young child, if at times a little boisterous. Then, aged 2, she was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and at 3 as having a bipolar personality. By the age of 4, Rebecca was dead, killed by an overdose of the drug clonidine, which was being used to treat her condition. She was also taking the anti-convulsant Depakote (valproate) and the anti-psychotic Seroquel (quetiapine fumarate) to stabilise her mood."

I believe it is foolhardy and indefensible to give psychotropic drugs to children, especially to such a young child as this. Children should be protected BY LAW from being prescribed these drugs. Prescription drugs are potentially very harmful, particularly to children. And attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is not a real disease, of course, only a putative disease. - This poor child was given THREE dangerous drugs, apparently all at the same time. - Giving more than one dangerous drug at the same time potentiates the risk...)o: