Senior FDA officials suppressed initial findings on suicide link to antidepressant drugs

Sunday, August 22, 2004 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...) Tags: antidepressant drugs, antidepressants, the FDA

A senior epidemiologist at the Food and Drug Administration, whose job it is to assess the safety of medicines, found last year that 22 clinical studies showed children given antidepressants were almost twice as likely to become suicidal as those on placebos. The official's name is Dr Andrew D. Mosholder, and now it has been revealed that his bosses at the FDA kept his recommendations about antidepressant drugs secret and delayed action on antidepressants by initiating a new analysis. This is in contrast to the action taken by British medical authorities, who banned the use of all antidepressants (except for Prozac) in children. In the United States, however, the reaction has been "deny and delay" in order to allow doctors to continue prescribing antidepressants to children in record numbers, thereby generating massive revenues for Big Pharma.

One researcher, Dr Graham Emslie, who also looked at the studies, said he still thinks the benefits of the medicines outweigh any risks. He says "Limiting doctors' choices in treating depressed kids is not a good thing". But does that mean he thinks that causing children to engage in violent acts and commit suicide is a good thing? Not surprisingly, Dr Emslie is paid by drug makers -- and that fact alone must be depressing. Can you imagine having to come home in the evening and explain to your wife and kids that your job is to cover the ass of drug makers who are peddling antidepressants to children that are known to cause suicidal thoughts? I think maybe this guy needs some Prozac himself...

All of this also goes to show you that there are some honest people still working at the FDA. It's easy to criticize the FDA for its actions as a whole, but at the same time, it's easy to overlook the courageous actions of a few individuals like Dr. Mosholder who are willing to take a hard look at the science and to speak out, even at the risk of losing his own job and being discredited by the industry. Here's a guy who's looking at these nearly two dozen studies and realizes that children on these drugs are almost twice as likely to become suicidal, so he raises the alarm inside the agency. And what does the FDA do? Shuts him down, of course! Censor the guy! It's much easier to keep all of this quiet than to go public with the information and cause a massive drop in sales for antidepressant drugs.

Keep in mind the contrast here between how conventional medicines are treated and how nutritional supplements or herbal medicines would be treated. Imagine, for a moment, that the FDA found out that some nutritional supplement or herb caused children to have a 180% increase in suicidal tendencies. Do you think that would be front-page news? You bet it would be! And the FDA would be grabbing headlines around the nation, warning people that herb X was killing their children. The herb would be taken off the market, and inventories would be confiscated. Importation of the herb would be banned. But when it's prescription drugs, it's all OK -- as long as money continues to be made in the industry.

In its defense, the FDA is largely made up of employees who used to work at pharmaceutical companies, and, if they are taking their own products, no doubt their mental function has been impaired. So there is some excuse, however laughable, for their lack of making ethical decisions in the interest of public health. I just wish the agency would get its act together on all this, and decide to either promote suicide-causing drugs as a whole, or reject them as a whole and stop having these internal battles. Personally I vote for the whole agency just standing up and admitting they're protecting Big Pharma and introducing a new slogan that says "The FDA. We're all for poisoning children and protecting the economy. After all, what's bad for your kids is good for business. Keep America strong!"