The PPRA - Spread the word...

August 16, 2004

http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/protect-your-children.htm

By Vera Hassner Sharav (AHRP)

Cassandra Dawn Casey (ASPIRE)

Charly Groenendijk (ADF)

Aug 8, 2004

Protect Your Children Against Screening

TROJANIAN CRUMBLING OF US DEMOCRACY - DON'T EXPECT KERRY TO SOLVE

THIS PROBLEM FOR YOU...

An alarming and aggressive US nationwide screening program

for " mental illness " was launched in July 2004. See: " Bush

Administration, Columbia University & " Teen Screen Program " " June,

25 2004.

This dubious, government sponsored and massive screening initiative

was formulated by a panel of " experts " assembled to carry out the

requirements of President Bush's " New Freedom Commission on Mental

Health " in April 2002 and it will implement the " TMAP formula "

nationally. The " TMAP formula " practice guidelines designate

antidepressants & antipsychotics as the treatment of choice for

mental illness, not on the basis of evidence, but on the basis of a

consensus panel. A panel under the direct influence of Big Pharma. It

is the culmination of a series of dubious federally

sponsored, " mental health " initiatives - that began during the

Clinton Administration- and which focus especially on children.

TEENSCREENÂ®

Citizens in the United States need to know that the first target

population for this forced massive screening for " mental illness " are

America's children and pregnant women. This initiative has already

been in operation since July 2003 in 168 of America's schools under

the auspice of the " TeenScreenÂ® " program, developed by Columbia

University physicians, [the same group that has been designated by

the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to review the studies on SSRI-

antidepressants inducing self-harm & suicide in children]. Fifty two

million American school children and six million school personnel are

about to be ordered to undergo screening tests for hidden mental

illnesses (as if mental illness needs to be ferreted out and captured

like a rabid animal). This is not science fiction... this is harsh

reality and it is happening now!

ILLINOIS LAUNCHES COMPULSORY MENTAL HEALTH SCREENING FOR CHILDREN AND

PREGNANT WOMEN

Illinois is on the fast-track for adopting this legislation mandating

mental health testing for children and pregnant women.

The " Children's Mental Health task force " hearing convened in July

2004. The hearing addressed the implementation of a $10 million " new

mental health screening plan " for Illinois' children ages zero

through 18 and for pregnant women, who are to be screened for

depression prior to delivery and periodically for the first six

months after giving birth.

See: " IL launches compulsory mental health screening for children and

pregnant women " July, 19 2004.

" Children's Mental Health task force hearings continue through

Friday " July, 21 2004.

The " Illinois Childrenâ€™s Mental Health Act of 2003 " (a 53 page

legislative report) requires the development of a state " Childrenâ€™s

Mental Health Plan " and details a vast new bureaucracy which stresses

intervention and treatment for all pregnant women and children from

birth to age 18 who reside in Illinois.

" Screenings, testing, and treatments are to be offered in homes, pre-

schools, daycare, and throughout the public school system. A child

over the age of 12 will be provided two mental health sessions

without parental consent. "

There is absolutely no redeeming feature to ANY mandatory mental

health screening programs. There are no proven " treatments " for the

prevention of mental illness. Screening for mental illness programs

are intended to give the government control in defiance of our

constitutional rights, while generating even greater profits for the

psychotropic drug / mental health industry.

OUR PRIVACY, OUR FREEDOM, OUR RESPONSIBILITY

This nationwide screening program initiative establishes a coercive

selection policy that opens the door to discrimination and forced

treatment with powerful, psychotropic drugs that have caused more

harm to children (and adults) than the conditions for which they were

prescribed. Children and adults who will be labeled mentally ill on

the basis of unreliable, subjective tests (essentially

questionnaires), can expect to lose their autonomy as a brigade of

mental health providers intrudes on their lives and takes over their

decision-making authority. Those labeled mentally ill can expect to

be stripped of their civil and human rights.

We don't have policies to screen innocent people for crimes they have

not committed - based on the theory that early intervention is a

justifiable crime prevention measure. We don't have screening

policies to ferret out would-be terrorists. What possible

justification does the government have to put children through a

dubious screening process for suspected mental illness? This

involuntary, pseudo-medical government sponsored selection policy is

a chilling example of the illegitimate intrusion by government into

personal and confidential healthcare decisions.

Screening for mental illness serves no useful medical or societal

purpose inasmuch as there are no reliable diagnostic tools for mental

illness and no proven safe and effective treatments. Clinical trial

data from SSRI antidepressants and so-called atypical anti-psychotics

failed to demonstrate either the safety of these drugs, or a benefit

greater than placebo. The public needs to be ever vigilant against

such overreaching government policies which historically have proven

harmful. Being labeled " mentally ill " and being forced to ingest

psychotropic drugs whose harmful effects are only beginning to be

disclosed, is not in the best interest of children.

According to this nationwide screening program initiative, every man,

woman and child in the United States is to be screened, analyzed and

monitored by the US government and legal enforceable

personalized " care " regimes will be applied to those exhibiting signs

of " mental illness. " This initiative is illegal and nothing short of

an assault on personal dignity and legal rights - a downright

violation of human rights. If allowed to go forth, these programs

will create a totalitarian Orwellian nightmare.

This dubious, government sponsored and massive screening initiative

formulated to the " New Freedom Commission on Mental Health " is in

stark contrast with the " Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment. "

ACTION REQUIERED ! - THE PROTECTION OF PUPIL RIGHTS AMANDMENT

The " Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment " (PPRA) (20 U.S.C. Â§ 1232h;

34 CFR Part 98) is intended to protect the rights of parents and

students in two ways:

(1) It seeks to ensure that schools and contractors make

instructional materials available for inspection by parents if those

materials will be used in connection with a department of education

funded survey, analysis, or evaluation in which their children

participate; and

(2) It seeks to ensure that schools and contractors obtain written

parental consent before minor students are required to participate in

any department of education funded survey, analysis, or evaluation

that reveals information concerning:

- Mental and psychological problems that are potentially embarrassing

to the student and his/her family.

See: PUPIL RIGHTS LAW ALLOWS PARENTS TO OPT STUDENTS OUT OF SURVEYS

May, 2004.

" As the result of recent amendments to PPRA in the No Child Left

Behind education law (Public Law 107-110, signed January 8, 2002),

parents have additional rights to examine materials with regard to

the surveying of minor students, even when the surveys are not

Education Department-funded, and to opt their children out of surveys

and certain non-emergency medical examinations. "

- " The rights of parents to inspect, upon request, a survey created

by a third party before the survey is administered or distributed by

a school to students;

- arrangements to protect student privacy in a survey if it includes

any of the eight items noted above;

- the right of parents to inspect any instructional materials used as

part of the education curriculum;

- administration of physical examinations or screenings that the

school may administer to students;

- collection, disclosure, or use of personal information collected

from students for the purpose of marketing, selling;

- the right of parents to inspect any instrument used in collecting

information for marketing or selling. "

" Schools must notify parents of their PPRA policies at least once

annually and must give parents ample opportunity to opt out (remove

their child) from participation in surveys containing one or more of

the eight items of information specified in the original law. Parents

are also allowed to remove their children from any non-emergency

invasive physical examination or screening that is required for

attendance or is not necessary to protect the immediate health and

safety of the student or other students. "

As you can see from the assessment of this initiative as outlined

above, any mental health screening that takes place without first

providing the citizenry an opportunity to provide their complete

informed consent is in violation of the PPRA Act of 1998, as well as

a gross violation of basic human rights.

THIS IS AN URGENT CALL TO ACTION !!!

Citizens of Illinois must act immediately to contact their respective

legislators to have this mandate repealed. The PPRA is a federal act

and predates this Illinois mandate by several years. Furthermore, the

PPRA makes null and void the requirements of this mandate. Citizens

in every other state must meet this new threat to their

constitutional rights head on. Strike this initiative down before it

even has a chance to plant it's dangerous tentacles in your state.

August 16, 2004