Re: OT: Critics See Drug Industry Behind Mental Health Plan

[Guest guest]

T,

This is the most terrifying development yet in a series of terifying

developments...It is as if we have gone insane...a nightmare...

J

Binstock wrote:

Wednesday, October 20, 2004 by Inter Press Service <http://www.ips.org/>

Critics See Drug Industry Behind Mental Health Plan

by Ritt Goldstein

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1020-20.htm

http://www.ips.org/

STOCKHOLM - Bush Plans to Screen Whole U.S. Population for Mental

Illness', read the headline in the 'British Medical Journal' (BMJ) and

the project, with increasingly controversial drug treatment at its core,

is underway as you read this.

Structures to put the scheme in place have been developed under a

so-called " Federal Action Agenda, " announced in Washington on Jun. 9,

and include mandatory mental health screening, which the plan recommends

be linked with " treatment and supports " .

The plan's full details have yet to emerge as the Action Agenda still

" has not been publicly released, " according to A Power, director

of the Centre for Mental Health Services (CMHS), the Bush administration

body spearheading the effort.

Developed by the President's New Freedom Commission On Mental Health,

the effort, critics charge, is a pharmaceutical industry marketing

scheme to mine customers and promote sales of the newest, most expensive

psychiatric medications.

Under 'New Freedom', mental health screening of adult Americans is

slated to occur during routine physical exams while that of young people

will occur in the school system. Pre-school children will receive

periodic " development screens. "

The plan highlights the importance of " state-of-the art medications, "

though a scandal has erupted recently regarding the safety and

effectiveness of the main types of drugs in question, particularly

antidepressants. Deadly side effects of these drugs have already claimed

numerous lives.

In mid-September an advisory committee of the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) said antidepressants should come with " the nation's

strongest warning " that they can cause suicidal behaviour in children

and young people.

Recently released studies by famed British scientist and psychiatrist Dr

Healy highlight that some of these drugs -- Seroxat and Prozac,

both SSRI antidepressants -- appear linked to " homicidal " behaviour in

adults.

" In the last 50 years, the quality of the new drugs hasn't matched the

hype, " says Healy, author of 'Let Them Eat Prozac' and the person

responsible for originally blowing the whistle on the link between

antidepressants and suicide in children.

Asked if he was saying: " the major breakthroughs, then, have been in

terms of marketing instead of medicine, " the drug scientist told IPS:

" Yes, I think so. And that extends all the way to having their (the

pharmaceutical industry's) policies put forward by departments of health

in the U.S., the UK -- things like the Bush plan. "

Drug therapy based upon " evidence-based " practices is the backbone of

the New Freedom programme's approach to treatment. But such practices

have now been badly tarnished, with recent findings indicating the drug

industry (called 'Big Pharma' by critics) has manipulated what were

thought to be independent evaluations of new drugs, as reported in

previous IPS stories.

An Apr. 24, 2004 article in the British medical journal 'Lancet' said

while, " selective reporting of favourable research should be

unimaginable, " it appeared ongoing, distorting findings in the drug

industry's favour.

" In a global medical culture, where evidence-based practice is seen as

the gold standard for care, these failings are a disaster, " the journal

charged.

While questions surround the dangers of drugging large numbers of

citizens, also notable is who the New Freedom plan envisions will

deliver psychiatric services.

" Mental health education and training will be provided to general health

care providers, emergency room staff and first responders, such as law

enforcement personnel and emergency medical technicians, to overcome the

uneven geographic distribution of psychiatrists, psychologists and

psychiatric social workers, " the plan states.

New Freedom, " the future of mental health care in America, " is being

rolled out on a state-by-state basis, according to Power, who added in

an Aug. 13 speech that the federal role is to " motivate, facilitate, and

compel change. "

According to Dr Read -- one of the Pacific's leading authorities on

psychiatric medications, author of 'Models of Madness', and director of

clinical psychology at the University of Auckland -- " this is all about

expanding the market for drug companies. "

On Sep. 13, U.S. Congressman Ron , a medical doctor, denounced the

Bush plan for its " forced mental health screening for every child in

America, " pointedly writing in a weekly column on his website, the

" obvious beneficiary of the proposal is the pharmaceutical industry. "

According to , who had introduced an amendment to eliminate funding

for the plan, " Soviet communists attempted to paint all opposition to

the state as mental illness. "

Read also warns that the New Freedom plan " conjures up the image of

'state control' of private lives, extending to an individual's feelings

.... the increasing medicalisation of life problems and the massive

increase in the prescriptions of all types of psychiatric drugs is

'social control'. "

According to noted Canadian-American psychologist, educator and author

Dr Burston, " any number of things that are, or could be,

perfectly natural responses to an environment can be construed as a sign

of mental disorder. "

Read told IPS that New Freedom appears essentially a way to " identify

between 10 and 20 percent of the population who will be labelled ...

offered nothing other than medication in 90 percent of the cases, and

the drug companies will be laughing all the way to the bank. "

According to Power, about 20 percent of the U.S. population is

" experiencing mental disorders in any given year. "

In Auckland, on Sep. 16 to discuss the Bush plan, Power also said that

an associate, Curie, was working with mental health ministers

from Australia, New Zealand, and the UK to " promote policy innovation

that fosters improved mental health around the world. "

, a " whistleblower " who worked as an investigator in the

Pennsylvania State office of the Inspector General, voiced concerns

similar to Read's, linking the pharmaceutical industry to many of those

who developed Bush's New Freedom plan.

The industry was also instrumental in funding a prior state scheme that

became a " model programme " for the Bush plan, the Texas Medication

Algorithm Project (TMAP).

TMAP favours use of the newest medications over older, much less costly

alternatives.

It began in 1995, while Bush was Texas' governor. According to the

'British Medical Journal', " the project (TMAP) was funded by a

Wood (as in & Pharmaceuticals) grant and by

several drug companies. "

On Jun. 19 the journal reported that believed " the same

'political-pharmaceutical alliance' that generated the Texas project was

behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission. "

According to his report, the effort would " consolidate the TMAP effort

into a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with

expensive, patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side

effects, " added the Journal.

New Freedom's pharma-oriented programmes have garnered considerable and

broad support, including from the Centre, the organisation

founded by former President Jimmy and best known for its human

rights programmes and election monitoring.

The " Centre Mental Health Programme supports the spirit and

findings of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health

report, " says H Bornemann, director of the Georgia-based centre's

mental health programme.

He added the centre is, " engaged with a variety of partners to use the

report as a platform to transform the current mental health system. Two

of the programme's annual lynn Symposia on Mental Health

Policy (2003 and 2004) are dedicated to meet the challenges of funding

and achieving these goals. "

According to the Centre, 77 percent of its budget is devoted to

health programmes, with 6.6 percent of the budget going to peace

activities. Drug firms such as GlaxoKline, Merck & Co, Pfizer, and

Wyeth are listed as having provided one million dollars or more to the

centre, as is the Wood Foundation, associated with

& and TMAP.

Queries to the Centre regarding the total amounts of

pharmaceutical industry funding, the programmes that that money was

applied to and the industry's influence on the centre's policy, were not

answered.

But in the " donated goods and services " section of the notes to the

centre's annual report's financial statements it is written that

unattributed " medication " donations totalled 54 million dollars in 2003

and 43 million dollars in 2002.

The centre's " total expenses " for those years were respectively 82

million dollars and 85 million dollars, according to its website.

Critics have repeatedly charged the drug industry with using its wealth

and power to manipulate advocacy and professional groups. The non-profit

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) has repeatedly faced such

criticism, as has the American Psychiatric Association (APA), which have

both endorsed New Freedom.

Nevertheless, Read observed of New Freedom: " I would guess that there

are some ... who genuinely believe that these ideas are good for people,

and completely unaware of the sinister connotations, the Orwellian

connotations and the huge advantages for the drug companies ...

well-meaning, but totally misguided people. " .

Ritt Goldstein is an American investigative political journalist based

in Stockholm. His work has appeared in broadsheets such as Australia's

Sydney Morning Herald, Spain's El Mundo and Denmark's Politiken, as well

as with the Inter Press Service (IPS), a global news agency.

© 2004 IPS

[Guest guest]

Jack...

It certainly is terrifying! If you want to know more about Bush's

Mental health Commission and what this is all about, here's the

link...

http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov/

I've been following this for awhile, and I find much of what's going

on behind the scenes to be frightening beyond belief. It's far to

easy for us to miss what's really going on, and what it may do to the

quality of our lives.

Jan

-- In csb-autism-rx , Jack Zimmerman

<jmzimmerman@y...> wrote:

> T,

>

> This is the most terrifying development yet in a series of

terifying developments...It is as if we have gone insane...a

nightmare...

>

> J

>

> Binstock <binstock@p...> wrote:

>

> Wednesday, October 20, 2004 by Inter Press Service

<http://www.ips.org/>

>

> Critics See Drug Industry Behind Mental Health Plan

>

> by Ritt Goldstein

> http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1020-20.htm

> http://www.ips.org/

>

> STOCKHOLM - Bush Plans to Screen Whole U.S. Population for Mental

> Illness', read the headline in the 'British Medical Journal' (BMJ)

and

> the project, with increasingly controversial drug treatment at its

core,

> is underway as you read this.

>

> Structures to put the scheme in place have been developed under a

> so-called " Federal Action Agenda, " announced in Washington on Jun.

9,

> and include mandatory mental health screening, which the plan

recommends

> be linked with " treatment and supports " .

>

> The plan's full details have yet to emerge as the Action Agenda

still

> " has not been publicly released, " according to A Power,

director

> of the Centre for Mental Health Services (CMHS), the Bush

administration

> body spearheading the effort.

>

> Developed by the President's New Freedom Commission On Mental

Health,

> the effort, critics charge, is a pharmaceutical industry marketing

> scheme to mine customers and promote sales of the newest, most

expensive

> psychiatric medications.

>

> Under 'New Freedom', mental health screening of adult Americans is

> slated to occur during routine physical exams while that of young

people

> will occur in the school system. Pre-school children will receive

> periodic " development screens. "

>

> The plan highlights the importance of " state-of-the art

medications, "

> though a scandal has erupted recently regarding the safety and

> effectiveness of the main types of drugs in question, particularly

> antidepressants. Deadly side effects of these drugs have already

claimed

> numerous lives.

>

> In mid-September an advisory committee of the U.S. Food and Drug

> Administration (FDA) said antidepressants should come with " the

nation's

> strongest warning " that they can cause suicidal behaviour in

children

> and young people.

>

> Recently released studies by famed British scientist and

psychiatrist Dr

> Healy highlight that some of these drugs -- Seroxat and

Prozac,

> both SSRI antidepressants -- appear linked to " homicidal " behaviour

in

> adults.

>

> " In the last 50 years, the quality of the new drugs hasn't matched

the

> hype, " says Healy, author of 'Let Them Eat Prozac' and the person

> responsible for originally blowing the whistle on the link between

> antidepressants and suicide in children.

>

> Asked if he was saying: " the major breakthroughs, then, have been

in

> terms of marketing instead of medicine, " the drug scientist told

IPS:

> " Yes, I think so. And that extends all the way to having their (the

> pharmaceutical industry's) policies put forward by departments of

health

> in the U.S., the UK -- things like the Bush plan. "

>

> Drug therapy based upon " evidence-based " practices is the backbone

of

> the New Freedom programme's approach to treatment. But such

practices

> have now been badly tarnished, with recent findings indicating the

drug

> industry (called 'Big Pharma' by critics) has manipulated what were

> thought to be independent evaluations of new drugs, as reported in

> previous IPS stories.

>

> An Apr. 24, 2004 article in the British medical journal 'Lancet'

said

> while, " selective reporting of favourable research should be

> unimaginable, " it appeared ongoing, distorting findings in the drug

> industry's favour.

>

> " In a global medical culture, where evidence-based practice is seen

as

> the gold standard for care, these failings are a disaster, " the

journal

> charged.

>

> While questions surround the dangers of drugging large numbers of

> citizens, also notable is who the New Freedom plan envisions will

> deliver psychiatric services.

>

> " Mental health education and training will be provided to general

health

> care providers, emergency room staff and first responders, such as

law

> enforcement personnel and emergency medical technicians, to

overcome the

> uneven geographic distribution of psychiatrists, psychologists and

> psychiatric social workers, " the plan states.

>

> New Freedom, " the future of mental health care in America, " is

being

> rolled out on a state-by-state basis, according to Power, who added

in

> an Aug. 13 speech that the federal role is to " motivate,

facilitate, and

> compel change. "

>

> According to Dr Read -- one of the Pacific's leading

authorities on

> psychiatric medications, author of 'Models of Madness', and

director of

> clinical psychology at the University of Auckland -- " this is all

about

> expanding the market for drug companies. "

>

> On Sep. 13, U.S. Congressman Ron , a medical doctor, denounced

the

> Bush plan for its " forced mental health screening for every child

in

> America, " pointedly writing in a weekly column on his website, the

> " obvious beneficiary of the proposal is the pharmaceutical

industry. "

>

> According to , who had introduced an amendment to eliminate

funding

> for the plan, " Soviet communists attempted to paint all opposition

to

> the state as mental illness. "

>

> Read also warns that the New Freedom plan " conjures up the image of

> 'state control' of private lives, extending to an individual's

feelings

> ... the increasing medicalisation of life problems and the massive

> increase in the prescriptions of all types of psychiatric drugs is

> 'social control'. "

>

> According to noted Canadian-American psychologist, educator and

author

> Dr Burston, " any number of things that are, or could be,

> perfectly natural responses to an environment can be construed as a

sign

> of mental disorder. "

>

> Read told IPS that New Freedom appears essentially a way

to " identify

> between 10 and 20 percent of the population who will be

labelled ...

> offered nothing other than medication in 90 percent of the cases,

and

> the drug companies will be laughing all the way to the bank. "

>

> According to Power, about 20 percent of the U.S. population is

> " experiencing mental disorders in any given year. "

>

> In Auckland, on Sep. 16 to discuss the Bush plan, Power also said

that

> an associate, Curie, was working with mental health

ministers

> from Australia, New Zealand, and the UK to " promote policy

innovation

> that fosters improved mental health around the world. "

>

> , a " whistleblower " who worked as an investigator in the

> Pennsylvania State office of the Inspector General, voiced concerns

> similar to Read's, linking the pharmaceutical industry to many of

those

> who developed Bush's New Freedom plan.

>

> The industry was also instrumental in funding a prior state scheme

that

> became a " model programme " for the Bush plan, the Texas Medication

> Algorithm Project (TMAP).

>

> TMAP favours use of the newest medications over older, much less

costly

> alternatives.

>

> It began in 1995, while Bush was Texas' governor. According to the

> 'British Medical Journal', " the project (TMAP) was funded by a

> Wood (as in & Pharmaceuticals) grant and by

> several drug companies. "

>

> On Jun. 19 the journal reported that believed " the same

> 'political-pharmaceutical alliance' that generated the Texas

project was

> behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission. "

>

> According to his report, the effort would " consolidate the TMAP

effort

> into a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with

> expensive, patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly

side

> effects, " added the Journal.

>

> New Freedom's pharma-oriented programmes have garnered considerable

and

> broad support, including from the Centre, the organisation

> founded by former President Jimmy and best known for its

human

> rights programmes and election monitoring.

>

> The " Centre Mental Health Programme supports the spirit and

> findings of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health

> report, " says H Bornemann, director of the Georgia-based

centre's

> mental health programme.

>

> He added the centre is, " engaged with a variety of partners to use

the

> report as a platform to transform the current mental health system.

Two

> of the programme's annual lynn Symposia on Mental Health

> Policy (2003 and 2004) are dedicated to meet the challenges of

funding

> and achieving these goals. "

>

> According to the Centre, 77 percent of its budget is devoted

to

> health programmes, with 6.6 percent of the budget going to peace

> activities. Drug firms such as GlaxoKline, Merck & Co, Pfizer,

and

> Wyeth are listed as having provided one million dollars or more to

the

> centre, as is the Wood Foundation, associated with

> & and TMAP.

>

> Queries to the Centre regarding the total amounts of

> pharmaceutical industry funding, the programmes that that money was

> applied to and the industry's influence on the centre's policy,

were not

> answered.

>

> But in the " donated goods and services " section of the notes to the

> centre's annual report's financial statements it is written that

> unattributed " medication " donations totalled 54 million dollars in

2003

> and 43 million dollars in 2002.

>

> The centre's " total expenses " for those years were respectively 82

> million dollars and 85 million dollars, according to its website.

>

> Critics have repeatedly charged the drug industry with using its

wealth

> and power to manipulate advocacy and professional groups. The non-

profit

> National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) has repeatedly faced

such

> criticism, as has the American Psychiatric Association (APA), which

have

> both endorsed New Freedom.

>

> Nevertheless, Read observed of New Freedom: " I would guess that

there

> are some ... who genuinely believe that these ideas are good for

people,

> and completely unaware of the sinister connotations, the Orwellian

> connotations and the huge advantages for the drug companies ...

> well-meaning, but totally misguided people. " .

>

> Ritt Goldstein is an American investigative political journalist

based

> in Stockholm. His work has appeared in broadsheets such as

Australia's

> Sydney Morning Herald, Spain's El Mundo and Denmark's Politiken, as

well

> as with the Inter Press Service (IPS), a global news agency.

>

> © 2004 IPS

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

My feelings exactly. People need to understand that this " New

Freedom " plan is not subject to approval. Govt agencies are already

empowered to promote the general welfare. This plan will be phased

in, mostly under the radar while " news " shows talk about invented

crises, like the flu. What you do hear will be very positive -

acceptance and empowerment for people with mental illness, early

intervention, etc.

IDEA and state child protection laws have already made inroads into

privacy rights and individual choice. Think not? Well, just scroll

through some of our favorite yahoo groups and look at the emails

from parents who are frightened b/c CPS has been called due to the

parents' refusal to follow the DOE or DOH education and/or

medication recommendations.

When the charge is child neglect, many rights fly out the window.

The protections against hearsay and in favor of disclosing witnesses

disappear. The pattern of neglect is developed - parents don't

vaccinate, claim child has mercury poisoning and the CDC is involved

in a cover-up, feed child a strange diet, and refuse to medicate as

prescribe by state psychiatrist. Obviously, the entire family

requires medication before the child is returned!

I wish I could say the above paragraph is a piece of fiction. It

isn't.

" ...a series of terrifying developments.... " Yes, there is a

terrible synergy when viewed as a whole.

>

> Wednesday, October 20, 2004 by Inter Press Service

<http://www.ips.org/>

>

> Critics See Drug Industry Behind Mental Health Plan

>

> by Ritt Goldstein

> http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1020-20.htm

> http://www.ips.org/

>

> STOCKHOLM - Bush Plans to Screen Whole U.S. Population for Mental

> Illness', read the headline in the 'British Medical Journal' (BMJ)

and

> the project, with increasingly controversial drug treatment at its

core,

> is underway as you read this.

>

.....