SSRI Protest - Activists Fed Up With FDA

[Guest guest]

atracyphd2

Tue, 9 Aug 2005 01:05:21 EDT

[drugawareness] SSRI Protest - Activists Fed Up With FDA

 

 

 

 

 

For additional information go to drugawareness.org and see the front

page of

our site at www.drugawareness.org .

 

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.opednews.com/articles/opedne_evelyn_p_050808_ssri_protest___activ.htm

 

SSRI Protest - Activists Fed Up With FDA

 

by Evelyn Pringle

 

http://www.opednews.com

 

Activists who are fed up with waiting for the FDA to take proper action to

protect the public from dangerous psychotropic drugs, are holding a 3

day rally

in front of White House to condemn the FDA's failure to act on the matter.

 

On August 24, 25, and 26, between 9 am and 5 pm, prominent activists

from all

over the nation will join victims and family members who have lost

love ones

due to these drugs to raise public awareness about their potential

dangers.

 

They will specifically target the class of antidepressants known as

selective

serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which include: Paxil, Prozac,

Zoloft,

Wellbutrin, Luvox, Citalopram, Celexa, Lexapro, and Paroxetine.

 

Allen Routhier who lost his 40 year-old wife Diane 2 years ago to suicide

while she was on the antidepressant Wellbutrin, will be leading the

rally along

with his 2 sons.

 

Linda Hurcombe will also be attending from the UK. Linda is an editor and

educator, and author of the book, Losing A Child. Her daughter Caitlin

died aged

19.

 

Other attendees include Mark Taylor and his mother, Donna. Mark was shot

during the Columbine rampage by Eric Harris who was on an SSRI at the

time.

 

Another leader in the fight against the over-prescribing of these

drugs, who

will attend the rally is the world renowned expert on SRRIs, Dr Anne Blake

Tracy, Director of the International Coalition for Drug Awareness.

 

Dr Tracy is the author of PROZAC: PANACEA OR PANDORA? a book written after

five years of research on approximately 1000 patients taking SSRIs on a

long-term basis.

 

She has specialized in adverse reactions to SSRIs and has testified before

the FDA and congressional committees on their adverse affects. Since

1992 Dr

Tracy has also served as an expert consultant and witness in SSRI

related civil

and criminal court cases all around the world.

 

A full force of advocacy groups will be represented with members of

Mothers

Against Manufactured Madness, Alliance to Stop Psychiatry's Influence in

Religion and Education, and Mindfreedom.

 

An important part of the message that the public needs to know, is

that drug

makers have known about the adverse affects of SSRIs since before they

received FDA approval. For example, in March 1985, three full years

before Prozac was

approved, Dr Richard Kapit reviewed the drug and warned it posed a risk of

worsening " vegetative aspects of depressive illness " for some

patients. He noted

that out of 1427 exposures " there were two completed suicides " and “13

patients who attempted suicide.†He stated that " it may be

appropriate " to include a

" warning " on the label " that certain signs and symptoms of depression

may be

exacerbated by this drug. "

 

Drug makers have also known that SSRIs are practically useless in treating

children. For instance, in December 2004, ABC News uncovered documents

that

revealed GlaxoSmithKline, maker Paxil, failed to disclose the results

of studies

as far back as 1997, which determined that Paxil had little or no

effect in

treating depression in children and also showed the company was aware of

suicide-related behaviors in young patients taking the drug.

 

Yet in 2001, Glaxo sent out a memo to its sales force touting the drug's

" remarkable efficacy and safety in the treatment of adolescent

depression. "

 

One advocacy group, recently accused the FDA of covering up Prozac's

dangerous side effects for 14 years. And as a result, their

spokesperson says hundreds

of people have been victims of murder and suicide.

 

Bonnie Leitsch is the founder of " Prozac Survivors Support Group, " and

along

with Dr Tracy, is calling for immediate federal action to warn the

public that

this class of antidepressants not only can induce suicide in adult

patients,

but can also cause psychosis and acts of violence.

 

The FDA cannot continue to play dumb. Leitsch's group has 14-year-old film

footage of the 1991 FDA hearings, where dozens of family members

testified about

relatives who had either killed themselves, or loved ones, or who had

attempted suicide which they directly attributed to being on SSRIs.

 

The Prozac Survivors group points to Magdalena Lopez as an example of

violence caused by SSRIs. The 30-year-old Indiana mother recently

murdered her two

young sons while on one of the drugs.

 

At least 80,000 women each year in this country are being prescribed these

drugs during pregnancy, according to researchers estimates. SSRIs are

still

being prescribed to pregnant women even though a May 2005 study

published in the

Journal of the American Medical Association reported that pregnant

women who

take SSRIs late in pregnancy raise the risk that their babies will suffer

jitteriness, irritability and serious respiratory problems during

their first couple

of weeks.

 

Leitsch finds it unacceptable that pregnant women and new mothers are

still

being prescribed drugs that have been known to induce violence and

suicide for

more than a decade. " In 1991, there was evidence of 500 deaths

associated with

antidepressants presented to an FDA Advisory Committee hearing

investigating

Prozac, " she said.

 

" The failure to issue the warning has led to more suicides, homicides,

school

shooters and mothers killing their own children, " she added. According to

Lietsch, 36 million Americans are taking the antidepressant drugs.

 

" These are extremely dangerous drugs that should have been banned, as

similar

drugs were in the past. Federal investigations into the violence-inducing

effects of these drugs are long overdue, " Tracy said. " The scientific

evidence

behind this has been out there for decades. All anyone ever had to do

was read

it, " she says.

 

The group provided details of several other high profile cases where

mothers

have killed their children:

 

• In October 2002, Annie Mae Haskew smothered her 10-week-old son

after being

diagnosed with postpartum depression and placed on antidepressants.

 

• Andrea Yates drowned her five children in the family bathtub in

November

2004, while taking the antidepressants Effexor and Remeron, prescribed at

maximum dose.

 

• Dena Schlosser killed her 10-month-old daughter in November 2004 by

severing the baby's arms after being diagnosed with postpartum depression,

hospitalized and prescribed psychiatric medication for depression.

 

• On July 26, 2004, Mary Ellen Moffitt suffocated her 5-week-old

infant and

herself. She had been diagnosed with postpartum depression and was taking

Paxil.

 

• Emiri Padron smothered her baby daughter on June 22, 2004 and then

stabbed

herself twice in the chest. Emiri was receiving psychiatric treatment and

investigators found Zoloft in her apartment after the incident.

 

Late last year FDA directed manufacturers to add a " black box " warning

to the

health professional labeling of all SSRIs to describe the risk of

suicide in

children, and emphasize the need for close monitoring of patients when

started

on these drugs.

 

On July 1, 2005, the FDA advised health care providers and adult

patients to

be aware of the following:

 

Adults being treated with antidepressant medicines, particularly those

being

treated for depression, should be watched closely for worsening of

depression

and for increased suicidal thinking or behavior.

 

Close observation of adults may be especially important when

antidepressant

medications are started for the first time or when doses for the

specific drugs

prescribed have been changed.

 

Adults whose symptoms worsen while being treated with antidepressants,

including an increase in suicidal thinking or behavior, should be

evaluated by their

health care professional.

 

Advocates say these warnings are not only far too late, they contain

far too

little. Leitsch says the FDA has an obligation to do more. " They must

warn the

public that not only can the drugs include suicide -- but heinous acts of

violence -- mothers killing their own children, or children killing other

children,†she said.

 

Another protest against SSRIs is already scheduled to take place on

September

26 through the 28th at the address of the drug company GlaxSmithKline,

maker

of Paxil, at Franklin Plaza at 200 N 16th Street and 1600 Vine Street in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

 

Last and probably least, yours truly, Evie Pringle shall also attend the

rally.

 

Evelyn Pringle

epringle05

 

(Evelyn Pringle is a columnist for Independent Media TV and is an

investigative journalist focused on exposing government and corporate

coruption)

 

Â