Committee on House Government Reform

September 26, 2002

Thank you Congressman Burton and members of the Committee for the opportunity to speak today.

I am sure that each of us here feels a deep-felt concern for the well being of children. No one can disagree that the health and welfare of children and their families, are priorities for any country.

For over 30 years, CCHR's observations and conclusions have been drawn from speaking to hundreds of thousands of parents, doctors, teachers and others who have reported human rights abuse in the mental health system, especially against children.

For example, at seven, Matthew Smith was diagnosed through his school as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). His parents were told that he needed to take a stimulant to help him focus. Initially resistant, Matthew's parents were told that non-compliance could bring criminal charges for neglecting their son's educational and emotional needs. "My wife and I were scared of the possibility of losing our children if we didn't comply," said Matthew's father, Lawrence Smith. They conceded to the pressure.

On March 21, 2000, while skateboarding, Matthew tragically died from a heart attack. The coroner determined that had died from the long-term use of the prescribed stimulant.

We all know that there are children who are troubled, who do need care. But what that "care" is or should be is the point of contention.

In 1999—in the wake of the Columbine school shootings—CCHR worked with Colorado State Board of Education member, Mrs. Patty Johnson, who orchestrated the passage of the precedent-setting school board resolution that recommended academic rather than drug solutions for behavioral and learning problems in the classroom. Teenage shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had undergone psychological "anger management classes" and Harris was taking an antidepressant known to cause mania.

Mrs. Johnson stated, "The diagnosing of children with…mental disorders is not the role of school personnel, nor is recommending the use of psychiatric drugs…The [Colorado] resolution told educators that their role was to teach and to pursue academic and disciplinary solutions for problems of attention and learning."

Then in 2000, Jennifer L. Wood, Chief Legal Counsel for the Rhode Island Department of Education, issued a letter to all school superintendents stating that the federal Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) "prohibits school personnel from making a decision about a child's educational services without the consent of the child's parent(s). School personnel must refrain from making statements that may be construed as offering medical advice, or making a medical decision, such as 'Your child should be taking medication,' or 'I've seen many students like your child and based on that experience your child should be on medication'…It is not lawful for school personnel to require that a child continue or initiate a course of taking medication as a condition of attending school. School personnel cannot require, suggest or imply that a student take medication as a condition of attending school."

Yet this is violated across the nation.

Millions of children are being drugged with powerful stimulants and antidepressants, placing our nation's children at risk. There are scores of studies that substantiate this. In testimony before a 1970 Congressional Hearing on whether or not to fund research into pharmacological treatment for school problems, Dr. John D. Griffith, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, stated: "I would like to point out that every drug, however innocuous, has some degree of toxicity. A drug, therefore, is a type of poison and its poisonous qualities must be carefully weighed against its therapeutic usefulness. A problem, now being considered in most of the capitols of the Free World, is whether the benefits derived from amphetamines outweigh their toxicity. It is the consensus of the World Scientific Literature that the amphetamines are of very little benefit to mankind. They are, however, quite toxic."

In 2000, The Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reported, "it is well known that psychostimulants have abuse potential. Very high doses of psychostimulants…may cause central nervous system damage, cardiovascular damage, and hypertension. In addition, high doses have been associated with compulsive behaviors, and in certain vulnerable individuals, movement disorders."

In August 2001, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that methylphenidate (Ritalin) acts much like cocaine. Injected as a liquid, it sends a jolt that "addicts like very much," said Nora Volkow, M.D., psychiatrist and imaging expert at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY. The drug is chemically similar to cocaine, the study says. It also admits that although psychiatrists have used this drug to treat ADHD for 40 years, they and pharmacologists have never known how or why it worked.

As a result of over-medicating our children and the fact that so many parents were being forced to place their child on such drugs through our schools, currently more than half of our states have introduced and/or passed some type of legislation or regulation to restrict the use of psychiatric drugs for children. Two years ago, the Texas State Board of Education passed a resolution indicating that Ritalin prescribed for ADHD resulted in "little improvement in academic or social skills," and "psychiatric prescription drugs have been utilized for what are essentially problems of discipline which may be related to lack of academic success." Among a number of recommendations, it urged schools to "use proven academic and/or management solutions to resolve behavior, attention, and learning difficulties" and recommended that parents be informed of programs such as "tutoring, vision testing, phonics, nutritional guidance, medical examinations, allergy testing, standard disciplinary procedures, and other remedies known to be effective and harmless."

I am submitting a selection of state laws and resolutions for the Committee's consideration. In particular, I draw attention to the Model Legislation adopted by the National Foundation of Women Legislators Education Policy Committee, which quotes from a report by the 1998 NIH Conference on the Diagnosis and Treatment of ADHD. This, in part, concluded, "We don't have an independent, valid test for ADHD; there are no data to indicate that ADHD is due to a brain malfunction...and finally, after years of clinical research and experience with ADHD, our knowledge about the cause or causes of ADHD remains speculative."

Even the Surgeon General's 1999 report on mental health said that the exact etiology (cause) for ADHD is unknown. Indeed, the Surgeon General said, "The diagnosis of mental disorders is often believed to be more difficult than diagnosis of somatic or general medical disorders since there is no definitive lesion, laboratory test or abnormality in brain tissue that can identify illness." [emphasis added]

In August, the Netherlands Advertising Code Commission ordered the country's Brain Foundation to cease advertising ADHD as a brain dysfunction, stating, "The information that the defendant presented gives no grounds for the definitive statement that ADHD is an inherent brain dysfunction…. Under the circumstances, the defendant has not been careful enough and the advertisement is misleading."

This is, perhaps, the crux of the problem—that we are relying on a diagnosis that is subjective and is open to arbitrary use and abuse. The symptoms of ADHD could be caused by anything from normal childhood antics to toxic or allergic reactions to too much sugar.

Dr. Arthur Teng of the Sydney Children's Hospital says that sleep apnoea "can have a very big impact on a child's behavior, learning ability and attention during the day."

According to Dr. Mark Filidei from the Whitaker Wellness Center in California, the symptoms of lead poisoning are "strikingly similar to several psychiatric 'diseases' [and] can exhibit...learning disorders, hyperactivity, aggressive or disruptive behavior."

Evidence reviewed by the National Academy of Sciences this year indicates that toxic chemicals contribute to learning or behavioral problems, including lead, mercury, industrial chemicals, and certain pesticides. A University of Arizona study found that children exposed to a combination of pesticides before birth and through breast milk exhibited less stamina, and poorer memory and coordination, than other kids.

In May, the Council of Europe, which investigated the misdiagnosing and drugging of children in response to concerns about American child drugging trends emerging in Europe, issued its findings, which included: "The Assembly also considers that more research should be conducted into the impact of proper tutoring and educational solutions for children exhibiting ADHD symptoms, into the behavioral effects of such medical problems as allergies or toxic reactions, and into alternative forms of treatment such as diet."

Furthermore, thousands of children put on psychiatric drugs are simply "smart." The late Dr. Sydney Walker, psychiatrist, neurologist and author said, "They're hyper not because their brains don't work right, but because they spend most of the day waiting for slower students to catch up with them. These students are bored to tears, and people who are bored fidget, wiggle, scratch, stretch, and (especially if they are boys) start looking for ways to get into trouble."

Also consider the similarities between the signs of giftedness and "learning" and "behavioral disorders."

Giftedness:

• Poor attention, boredom, daydreaming in specific situations
• Low tolerance for persistence on tasks that seem irrelevant
• Judgment lags behind development of intellect
• Intensity may lead to power struggles with authorities
• High activity level; may need less sleep
• Questions rules, customs and traditions

Compare to Behavior Associated with ADHD:

• Poorly sustained attention in almost all situations
• Diminished persistence on tasks without immediate consequences
• Impulsivity, poor delay of gratification
• Impaired adherence to commands to regulate or inhibit behavior in social contexts
• More active, restless than other children
• Difficulty adhering to rules and regulations

There are so many potential causes for a child's learning or behavioral problems that to deny parents all the information about these is neglect in itself. I provide the Committee with a sample of cases of parents who fought to have their child properly diagnosed and found the correct, underlying problem.

No legislation should allow for the drugging of children, especially the enforced drugging of children, to be based on the arbitrariness of today's "Learning Disorders" diagnostic criteria.

For example, the President's Commission on Excellence in Education revealed this year that 40 percent of kids are being labeled with "learning disorders" simply because they have not been taught to read. State and federal governments spend $28 billion per year for educating children categorized under the label, "Non Specific Learning Disorder."

According to pediatric neurologist, Dr. Fred Baughman, Jr., "The most fundamental aspect of reforming the IDEA is to provide a definitive physically based definition of disability. This must include the necessity to establish a tangible, objective physical abnormality which can be determined by a test such as, but not limited to, blood or urine test, x-ray, brain scan or biopsy. If none of these learning 'disorders' can meet this test, then clearly there is no physical abnormality and we are labeling entirely normal children as abnormal."

All this information should be made available to parents when making an informed choice about the medical or educational needs of their child. This is in keeping with U.S. Public Law 96-88, which states, "parents have the primary responsibility for the education of their children, and States, localities, and private institutions have the primary responsibility for supporting that parental role."

And it would align with the American Medical Association's standard for Informed Consent which calls for communicating the "nature and purpose of a proposed treatment or procedure; the risks and benefits of such treatments and the alternatives…." In relation to parental permission and assent in pediatric practice, The American Academy of Pediatrics also notes that "…the patient has the freedom to choose among the medical alternatives without coercion or manipulation."

Millions of children are being told there is something 'wrong' with their brain, although no one can prove it. They are labeled "mentally disordered" with diagnoses that are subjective and then subjected to potentially dangerous and addicting drugs in order to control or change their behavior, a stigmatizing process to say the least.

As senior government officials, you represent the lives of all citizens. Families are grieving for their lost children because they were not provided with all the facts about mental health treatments, especially psychotropic drugs, and were denied access to alternative and workable solutions.

We respectively request that the Government Reform Committee recommend federal legislation that:

1) Makes it illegal for parents or guardians to be coerced into placing their child on psychotropic drugs as a requisite for his or her remaining in school;

2) Protects parents or guardians against their child being removed from their custody if they refuse to administer a psychotropic drug to their child;

3) Provides parents the right to "informed consent" in relation to solutions to resolve behavior, attention, and learning difficulties which includes all information about alternatives to behavioral programs and psychotropic drugs, including tutoring, vision testing, phonics, nutritional guidance, medical examinations, allergy testing, standard disciplinary procedures, and other remedies known to be effective and harmless.

4) Ensures the "informed consent" procedure includes informing parents about the diverse medical opinion about the scientific validity of ADHD and other "learning disorders."

Thank you again, for the opportunity to present this information.