Originally published June 11 2008
Alliance for Human Research Protection Condemns Psychiatric Researchers for Lack of Integrity and Hidden Financial Ties
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
(NaturalNews) Following yesterday's feature article about the criminal behavior of psychiatric drug promoter Dr. Biederman and his colleagues who secretly accepted millions of dollars in unreported income from drug companies, the story has found new life in the mainstream media. Astonishingly, the mainstream media is starting to come around to the fact that psychiatric medicine as practiced today is a cruel, moneymaking hoax that seeks to label every man, woman and child with a psychiatric disorder that demands chemical treatment.
See yesterday's feature article here: http://www.naturalnews.com/023408.html
The criminal behavior demonstrated by Dr. Biederman and other top psychiatric disease mongers is now receiving widespread condemnation by even the very newspapers, magazines and news programs that are largely funded by Big Pharma! When the New York Times makes statements that imply psychiatric drugs are dangerous chemicals that promote obesity and diabetes, it's an indication of a monumental shift in the thinking of mainstream Americans. It shows that we're winning the war against psychiatric medicine and it's only a matter of time before these drug-pushing criminals are stopped. Better yet, we hope to see them rounded up, prosecuted, and thrown in prison for the outrageous crimes they have committed by, for example, using the brains of four-year old children in medical experiments involving psychotropic drugs.
I can only hope that the same level of condemnation extends to Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital for supporting such activities among their researchers. Harvard Medical School has a lot to answer for in terms of its role in enabling these criminals to operate under the prestige of the name "Harvard," and the response of Harvard Medical School in these matters will demonstrate whether the organization has any real medical ethics of its own.
Vera Hassner Sharav, President of the Alliance for Human Research Protection, Joins Condemnation
The Alliance for Human Research Protection is an important non-profit ogranization comprised of scientists, doctors and consumers who work to protect human beings from exploitation by mad scientists and drug companies who, throughout history, have always tried to exploit humans for medical experimentation. His comments on the Dr. Biederman scandal appeared on Google News, and are reprinted here as a public service to NaturalNews readers and the AHRP (www.AHRP.org)
Here is what Vera Hassner Sharav had to say about Dr. Biederman and psychiatric research:
In June, 2008, the New York Times reports that Dr. Joseph Biederman (and two of his collaborators at Harvard's Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr Timothy E Wilens and Dr Thomas Spencer) violated legal requirements by failing to disclose their multi-million dollar financial ties to manufacturers whose drugs they have tested in children and promoted for use in children.
An investigation by Senator Charles Grassley uncovered evidence of copious payments which the three psychiatrists at first denied-until faced with documentation provided by the drug manufacturers. The conduct of these three prominent psychiatrists casts a dark cloud over their personal integrity which necessarily raises questions about their professional integrity as well.
In June, 2007, the Boston Globe described Dr. Biederman as follows: "From his perch as one of the world's most influential child psychiatrists, Biederman has spread far and wide his conviction that the emotional roller coaster of bipolar disorder can start "from the moment the child opened his eyes" at birth." [1]
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseas...
In 2005, another Harvard psychiatrist, Dr. Ronald Kessler claimed that 46.4% of Americans met the standards for a mental illness diagnosis. [2]
Needless to say, such claims are not backed by any scientific evidence-but exhibit rather the absence of professionally valid diagnostic standards. They fall into the category of promotional hype, and reflect grandiose marketing goals.
Even before Sen. Grassley uncovered hidden corporate financial underpinnings, Dr. Biederman's aggressive promotion of the wide use of antipsychotic drugs for U.S. children raised serious concerns about his professional integrity and judgment.
In September, 2007, CBS News, 60 Minutes aired a highly critical report about Dr. Biederman and the Mass. General team for recommending the most aggressive pharmacological treatment for the broadest group of children. See, "What Killed Rebecca Riley?"
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/28/60...
Dr. Biederman' enormous influence persuaded others to follow his recommended prescribing practices, resulting in a 40-fold escalation in the use of these drugs for children. When such aggressive drug treatment goes wrong - as in the case of 4 year old Rebecca Riley - it behooves Dr. Biederman to assume responsibility. More so when it has been disclosed that Dr. Biederman has had a high financial stake in promoting the increased use of antipsychotics in children.
Currently, Dr. Biederman is listed as investigator in 27 clinical trials on http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?term=b...
About 13 studies fare currently recruiting child subjects: 13 studies have been completed or no longer recruiting, and one study involving 6-17 year old children which was to test the antidepressant, Wellbutrin (Bupropion SR) was terminated. This raises red flags about undisclosed adverse events. In two drug trials, 4 to 6 year old children were the target population: one completed study tested tolerability of two toxic antipsychotics - Zyprexa (olanzapine) and Risperdal (risperidone) and another study (currently recruiting) will test the antipsychotic Seroquel (quetiapine).
The data from these studies needs to be independently evaluated to learn:
• What adverse effects did children suffer in the trials?
• How many children dropped out because of intolerable side-effects?
• What evidence is there of a clinically significant benefit for children?
• What did the informed consent forms disclose to parents about the risks involved?
• What information was disclosed about payment to the investigators?
Pharmaceutical company payments to physicians are, in essence, fees for promotional services rendered. Doctors who accept such payments -- be they in academia or in private practice -- become company agents, serving company interests, much like employees. Doctors who conceal payments from industry cannot, therefore, be trusted to render informed, objective, learned opinions. By concealing their corporate income, doctors lose their professional integrity.
The Alliance for Human Research Protection supports the legislation introduced by Senator Grassley, Republican of Iowa, and Senator Herb Kohl, Democrat of Wisconsin, that would require drug and device makers to report annually any payments to doctors that exceed $500 a year. "That is the best way to ensure that conflicts of interest are transparent to all."
References:
1. See: Scott Allen, Backlash on bipolar diagnoses in children MGH psychiatrist's work stirs debate, Boston Globe, June 17, 2007.
2. Ronald C. Kessler, Patricia Berglund, et al. Lifetime Prevalence and Age-of-Onset Distributions of DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication Archives Gen Psychiatry. 2005;62:593-602.
Join NaturalNews in calling for the arrest and prosecution of Dr. Biederman
In yesterday's feature article, we urged readers to contact Harvard Medical School and Mass. General Hospital to demand that Dr. Biederman be fired. Today, following further revelations about the extent of Dr. Biederman's medical experimentation on children, we are calling for the arrest and prosecution of Dr. Biederman for his crimes against children.
We are asking that any parent with a child that was harmed by Dr. Biederman's medical experiments call your local law enforcement authorities (or the FBI) and explain that a man is using dangerous chemicals to conduct medical experiments on children, and that you are willing to press criminal charges against Dr. Biederman. Then call us at 520-232-9300 so we can cover the story.
We need to find a parent willing to press charges for this criminal action to carry any weight, so if you are a parent of a child used in Dr. Biederman's medical experiments -- or if you know a parent who would be willing to talk to us about this -- simply forward this article to them and ask them to pick up the phone and contact us. We will help them press criminal charges against Dr. Biederman. Sadly, we may not find any parent willing to do this because, let's face it: Parents who are willing to allow their children to participate in such medical experiments usually aren't very well informed on health in the first place. Many of these parents, in fact, are likely on mind-altering medication themselves, so don't keep your fingers crossed on our ability to see this through.
It is astonishing that, with all the harm being caused by psychiatric doctors, nobody has yet found the presence of mind to simply pick up the phone and call the FBI, or the Sheriff, or the local police to begin a criminal investigation into what I call the "chemical molestation of children" being conducted by psychiatric researchers today. If molesting a child is a crime (as it should be), then why is chemically harming a child's brain not equally concerning to parents? (Answer: Because it's cleverly framed in the language of "treatment" and other psychobabble designed to confound uninformed parents who gullibly believe whatever an apparent medical authority says -- even when it's completely hogwash.)
Thank you all for your enthusiastic comments about our continued coverage of this important topic. I believe we have turned the corner on this in the mainstream media. Cracks are starting to appear in the wall of denial that has been erected by the psychiatric industry for so long, and once the truth comes out on this topic, even the billions of dollars in Big Pharma influence won't be able to stop the tidal wave of public outrage that's about to be unleashed. I imagine a day when a million moms march on Washington, demanding prosecutions of all the psychiatric doctors and greedy drug companies that put their children on mind-altering drugs for no justifiable medical reason whatsoever!
When this happens, NaturalNews will be there, rallying the public to join in this long-overdue backlash against modern psychiatry. When criminals like Dr. Biederman are marched off to prison in handcuffs and orange jumpsuits, we'll be there to document the event and post it on NaturalNews.com so that future generations can learn from the monumental errors of our current generation.
Psychiatric medicine is to the modern world as the Holocaust was to the 1930's. It is a form of chemical warfare against the People, and it is a crime against all of humanity.
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