BERNARD LORD WILL CONTINUE TO DRUG OUR CHILDREN!!!!

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Someone just email me this note. They seem to be concern about the drugging and the killings of our children but here in New Brunswick?

Bernard Lord don't care!!!!

BC-HEALTH-ADHD-DOCTORS
ADHD drug warnings could cause undue worry-doctors
By Toni Clarke
BOSTON (Reuters) - New warnings that may be added
to drugs for attention deficit disorder, or ADHD, could have a
chilling effect on prescribing habits of doctors, cut sales of
the drugs and create unnecessary fear in the public, some
experts say.

This week a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory
panel will meet to discuss potential cardiovascular and
psychiatric side effects of drugs such as Novartis AG's
Ritalin, Johnson & Johnson's Concerta, Shire
Pharmaceuticals Group Plc's Adderall and Eli Lilly &
Co.'s Strattera.
The FDA panel, a group of outside experts, will also
consider the possible increased risk of suicidal thinking with
Cephalon Inc.'s experimental treatment Sparlon, a drug
containing the same ingredient as its narcolepsy treatment
Provigil. Cephalon's stock has fallen 11 percent since March
15, when it was revealed that Sparlon's risks would be
scrutinized during the discussion of ADHD drugs and suicide
risk.
A different FDA advisory panel that met last month
recommended that the ADHD drugs carry black box warnings -- the
most serious possible -- about the potential risk of sudden
cardiac death and heart attack. Adderall already carries such a
warning.
The panel that meets Wednesday will consider whether and
how to strengthen warnings about the cardiovascular risks, as
well as psychiatric risks such as psychosis and mania.
FDA officials say they are waiting to hear from the panel
before deciding whether new warnings are needed.
"The reaction at the FDA is more emotional and political
than scientific," said Dr. Joseph Biederman, chief of pediatric
psychopharmacology at Massachusetts General Hospital and
Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "These drugs
in healthy people have an extraordinary record of safety."
"The vast majority of the risks are known, understandable
and controllable," said Dr. F. Xavier Castellanos, professor of
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at New York University School
of Medicine and author of "Stimulant Drugs and ADHD Basic and
Clinical Neuroscience."
"If they put black boxes around everything, they will cease
to have any relevance," he said.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is characterized
by impulsivity, lack of focus and hyperactivity. Every month
U.S. doctors write 2 million prescriptions for ADHD drugs for
children and another 1 million for adults.
Dr. Steven Nissen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic
and a member of the panel that recommended stronger heart risk
warnings, said last month he wanted a doctor's hand to
"tremble" a little before writing a prescription for ADHD
drugs.
Some analysts think strengthening of safety warnings on the
drugs is inevitable.
"The FDA clearly wants to make material changes to the
labeling for the ADHD class of drugs," said Marc Goodman, an
analyst at Morgan Stanley. Goodman recently cut his growth rate
prediction for the ADHD market to 5 percent from 7 percent for
the 2006 to 2010 period.
The debate over ADHD drugs comes on the heels of a similar
debate over the use of the SSRI class of antidepressants, which
some claim increase the risk of suicidal thoughts among
adolescents. In 2004 the FDA required antidepressant makers to
include that risk in a black box warning.
"That hasn't helped anyone much," said Barbara Ryan, an
analyst at Deutsche Bank. "We're in an environment now where
labels are becoming so riddled with warnings that people don't
know what to do."
REUTERS