New Fax Campaign

Why The MOTHERS Act Should Not Be Passed

Please go to  http://www.box.net/shared/810kj0b8g7 and  print a PDF that you can fax to the Senate: http://www.box.net/shared/4qx33jhgen

Here is the text of the fax if you want to format your own letter:

WHY THE MOTHERS ACT SHOULD NOT BE PASSED

On the surface, The MOTHERS Act (S. 324) reflects its sponsors’ compassion for mothers suffering from postpartum depression and psychosis. But when one looks closely at the important sections of the legislation, it is clear that this costly and sweeping mental health legislation not only fails the mothers of America, it’s intended to inflate the balance sheets of Big Pharma.

• The bill omits language clearly stating there will be an evaluation of the large amount of data available on the known risks of antidepressant and antipsychotic medications currently being prescribed to pregnant women and nursing mothers (including birth defects, heart defects, spontaneous abortions, and infant deaths). See May 9, 2009 Vogue article, “Pregnant Pause: With a flurry of recent reports challenging the safety of antidepressant drugs for unborn babies, doctors and concerned mothers-to-be are rethinking the guidelines” by Alexis Jetter at http://www.box.net/shared/deulxo16fp
• The bill defines ‘postpartum condition’ as only ‘postpartum depression (PPD) or postpartum psychosis.’ The danger is that per these DSM-extracted terms to label women with mental disorders, this is only psychological, not physiological conditions which will be checked for, ruling out discovery of any real physical causes, such as hormonal imbalances or vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and neglecting the treatments thereof. This relates to the issue of “screening tools” in development cited in the bill. Are these merely psychological questionnaires, and who is developing them? Are they pharmaceutically funded?
• The bill cites various “entities” that will be eligible for grants and for participating in research and/or development of screening methods and/or treatments and delivery. Who or what are these “entities?” Are they pharmaceutically funded? Do they have conflicts of interest? There are ongoing investigations of various “non-profit” organizations who heavily promote or conduct screening. For example, Screening for Mental Health, Inc., and its sub-organization Signs of Suicide, who heavily promote and conduct mental health screening, received $4,985,925 from pharmaceutical companies prior to 2008. The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) receives 56% of its funding from pharmaceutical companies. Ten leading psychiatric researchers (many from prominent universities) have been exposed in the last year for failing to disclose millions of dollars in pharmaceutical payments – yet this bill contains no provisions for full disclosure of conflicts of interest for any “entity” receiving federal taxpayer funded grants.
• Given that the Senate Finance Committee recently exposed the financial conflicts of interest of the top ten psychiatric researchers in the U.S., it is no small issue that The MOTHERS Act provides no research guidelines for public disclosure.
• Under The MOTHERS Act’s current language, research will be conducted without peer review – no checks and balances, no one to validate the integrity of the research which then will be used to determine a woman’s mental health status.
• Simultaneously, without allowing any checks and balances whatsoever on the research, it promotes a national “public education” campaign to include Public Service Announcements and television and radio advertisements, essentially giving Pharma an opportunity for free, federally-funded advertising.

SUMMARY: Without a fully completed, published, and publicly disclosed investigation of the dangers of current methods of treatment (drugs), efficacy of non-drug treatments, and discovery and disclosure of the causes for these conditions, clearly defined and available for review by the medical/scientific community and consumers, there should be no endorsement of a national educational or advertising campaign. There must be no new or massive utilization or promotion of any “screening tools” without first disclosing the researchers, entities, and methods used to develop these “screening tools.”

Therefore, as a concerned citizen and voter, I urge you to vote “NO” on The MOTHERS Act (S. 324).

Sincerely,                                                                                  Address:

Stress Testing The MOTHERS Act

by Kelly Patricia O’Meara

May 7, 2009

It seems these days that everything is a test. Yes, the powers that be have decided that taxpayer benevolence now is contingent upon passing a stress test. But much to the dismay of those being tested, the results may reveal, for example, that the nation’s financial wizards and auto giants are actually bankrupt midgets and unworthy of America’s support.

Given that officialdom has embraced the stress test as a barometer of future viability and success and a determinant for public financing, it seems reasonable to request that other important issues that very personally impact the health and welfare of the American people be subjected to similar stress tests. There is none more deserving of stress testing than the proposed MOTHERS Act.

On the surface, the MOTHERS Act reflects its sponsors overwhelming compassion and empathy for women suffering from alleged mental health disorders resulting from childbirth – often referred to as Postpartum Depression. But when one conducts a brief stress test on important sections of the legislation, taxpayers may find that this costly and sweeping mental health legislation actually fails women of America, but goes a long way in inflating the balance sheets of one of the most lucrative industries in the nation – big Pharma.

For instance, the MOTHERS Act legislation that currently is pending in the U.S. Senate states that the Secretary of Health and Human Services may “make grants to eligible entities…” to deliver essential services to individuals with a postpartum condition. What the legislation doesn’t delineate is who and what entities may receive these grants. Are these “entities” funded by pharmaceutical companies? Lawmakers have not specified what constitutes an “entity” so it will be impossible to know if there are conflicts of interest between those who develop the screening tools and conduct research and the pharmaceutical companies who most certainly will benefit financially from the increased diagnosing.

Furthermore, no research guidelines have been provided for public disclosure. This is no small issue, given that the Senate Finance Committee recently exposed the conflicts of interest of the top ten psychiatric researchers in the U.S. who had received millions of dollars in pharmaceutical funding. Where is the guarantee that the “entities” are not pharmaceutical front-men?

The legislation also allows for the “expansion and intensification of activities” into the research of Postpartum conditions and “evaluation of new treatments.” This is a humdinger. Despite ever-increasing published data and clinical studies challenging the safety of antidepressants and other antipsychotic drugs, there is no guidance provided by lawmakers to mandate that the public be made aware of the avalanche of scientific data that not only questions the efficacy of the drugs available to mothers suffering from these conditions, but also warning of the dangers associated with currently available “treatments.”

The section of the legislation dealing with expanding the research into the causes of Postpartum conditions is wholly void of any guidelines that insure the validity of the research conducted, and provides nothing in the way of public disclosure or peer-review of research before it is launched in education campaigns. In the real world, research is conducted and submitted for peer review. In this instance, it appears that Congress has learned nothing from the ongoing banking debacle and naively believes that the researchers will be on their best behavior – self-policing themselves. This is a dangerous omission in the legislation, especially since the Senate Finance Committee has exposed the serious conflicts of interest that exist between researchers and pharmaceutical companies.

Making matters worse, much of the legislation revolves around funding national education campaigns about Postpartum Depression, including Public Service Announcements and television and radio advertisements. Based on the current language of the legislation, research will be conducted without peer review – no checks and balances; no one to validate the integrity of the research which then will be used to determine a woman’s mental health status. Given that this research will be used to develop questions or tests for screening new mothers for possible mental disorders, one might find it important to know that the research has integrity and has been validated by the scientific community, free of pharmaceutical largesse. Congress apparently didn’t think integrity of the research is important and there are no provisions to protect women from pharmaceutical driven research.

Taxpayers may also expect that such important legislation would make provisions for some kind of oversight; some government entity that could provide feedback on the success or failure of this mental health campaign. One avenue that may help lawmakers’ determine if these new programs are working is the Food and Drug Administration’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reports. MedWatch collects information about people who have experienced adverse reactions to drugs overseen by the FDA. With the increased drugging that most certainly will occur with the increase in diagnosing, it seems logical that lawmakers would insert provisions in the legislation to annually review Adverse Event Reports collected by MedWatch, especially those relating to drugs prescribed in the treatment of Postpartum Depression. Unfortunately, because the nation’s lawmakers have provided no provisions for oversight, countless numbers of women may be harmed by the “treatments” but will be none the wiser because no protections were provided in the legislation.

There also is the very basic question of why the government is endorsing this sweeping mental health legislation and sanctioning a national advertising campaign about Postpartum Depression when there is no definitive data about the cause of the condition or that it is an objective confirmable abnormality – the scientific standard for disease. Given that there are so many unknowns in this legislation, it seems irresponsible to go forward without reasonable protections in place.

Congress must insure that all research and screening tests proposed and endorsed by this legislation be disclosed for peer-review and consumer input before implementing any screening tests and approving any research to be used in the national education campaign, including Public Service Announcements and radio and television advertising.

Given the documented risks related to the current modes of treatments, including antidepressant and antipsychotics, which are commonly prescribed for Postpartum Depression and documented to cause birth defects and host of other issues in pregnant and nursing mothers, Congress must include mandatory reviews of published research and clinical data on the drugs prescribed for the treatment of Postpartum Depression.

Finally, Congress must protect the integrity of the research by providing strict guidelines to insure that there are no conflicts of interest between the researcher and the pharmaceutical industry.

Without these safeguards, the MOTHERS Act cannot today, or ever, pass a stress test of viability and mothers and their children certainly will be on the losing end of this mental health campaign. Sometimes it’s in the best interest of the people for Congress NOT to act, and until our lawmakers are confident that all legislative precautions have been taken to insure optimum results, this is one of those times.

About the author:

Kelly Patricia O’Meara is an award-winning investigative journalist who authored more than two dozen articles examining the psychiatric pharmaceutical industry during her tenure at the Washington Times’ Insight Magazine. Her articles resulted in record sales of the issues in which they appeared and among the national and international press that have featured her articles are Fox News, the O’Reilly Factor, CBS News, BBC, ABC’s 20/20 and Hannity and Colmes. She is also the author of Psyched Out: How Psychiatry Sells Sickness and Pushes Pills that Kill. Prior to working as an investigative journalist, O’Meara spent sixteen years on Capitol Hill and was the lead investigator in several Congressional investigations. She holds a B.S. in Political Science from the University of Maryland.

Filed under: mothers act , Kelly O'Meara, May 15 Fax

New Poll: Vote for or against HR 3962!

Go to the UNITE website and participate in the polls on the right side of the page. A new poll asks if you think the House should pass the new health care bill that is scheduled for a vote on Saturday. Scroll to the bottom.

The U.S. House should pass health care bill HR 3962 containing The MOTHERS Act.

	No
	Yes

Filed under: Congress, Melanie Stokes, Pregnancy, antidepressants, mothers act , HR 3962

Reps Should Remove Dangerous Psycho-Pharma Agenda From House Health Bill

I have taken the information provided in the previous post regarding the new House Health Care bill, and put it in a printable fax. There is also a link to the MOTHERS Act information on this website inserted into the fax. Please take action ASAP.

Here is a link to a printable PDF to sign, address and fax to your representative: http://www.box.net/shared/g66igsuuvx

If you do not have a PDF reader installed you can download this Word document: http://www.box.net/shared/131md0mxdo

Re: The MOTHERS Act – If you also wish to fax in information on that bill specifically, the PDF is here: http://www.box.net/shared/810kj0b8g7

To find your Representative and get their contact information, go to http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt to look them up (you need to enter your zip code). You can also call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

Filed under: Congress , Health Care, House bill, mothers act, Reps Should Remove Dangerous Psycho-Pharma Agenda From House Health Bill

URGENT: New House Health Care Bill Contains MOTHERS Act and Other Dangerous Psych Programs

The MOTHERS Act is in the recently introduced House Health Care bill. We need people to start faxing and calling your representatives NOW as a vote is scheduled for Saturday. Call, fax, or email immediately. Make sure your representative knows to vote NO on HR 3962. See below for information on this and other provisions of the bill. Here is a link to a printable PDF to sign, address and fax to your representative: http://www.box.net/shared/g66igsuuvx

If you do not have a PDF reader installed you can download this Word document: http://www.box.net/shared/131md0mxdo

Re: The MOTHERS Act – If you also wish to fax in information on that bill specifically, the PDF is here: http://www.box.net/shared/810kj0b8g7

New Health Care Bill Drafted by House of Representatives Filled with Psycho/Pharma Industry Agenda

Information: The newly-forged 1990-page “Affordable Health Care for America Act” (HR 3962) offered by the House of Representatives is filled with mental health provisions intended to prop up psychiatry as well as the pharmaceutical industry with billions in future income. Key mental health components of this House bill:

MOTHERS Act
The bill includes the language of the MOTHERS Act, to “expand treatment for postpartum conditions” and calls for the development of “improved screening and diagnostic techniques,” but makes no provisions to ensure any entities doing such research are free from conflicts of interest or pharmaceutical funding.  For example, Screening for Mental Health, Inc., and its sub-organization Signs of Suicide, who heavily promote and conduct mental health screening, received $4,985,925 from pharmaceutical companies prior to 2008, and ten leading psychiatric researchers have been exposed in the last year for failing to disclose millions of dollars in pharmaceutical payments.  Yet this bill contains no provisions for full disclosure of conflicts of interest for any “entity” that could receive federal taxpayer funded grants, do research or promotional campaigns – such as the provision in the bill calling for a national PR campaign using TV, radio public and other public service announcements to urge women be screened and seek treatment for postpartum depression.  The bill also calls for “clinical research” for the development of new treatments (drugs), but again, no guidelines for ensuring that any researchers/research entities are free from pharmaceutical funding or conflicts of interest. Section 2529, Page 1418

Mental Health Parity
The bill mandates Mental Health Parity, or equal insurance coverage for mental disorders as what are covered for physical diseases, whether under their regular health insurance or whether a person gets their new coverage through the Health Insurance Exchange.  Psychiatric patients are traditionally “cured” when their insurance benefits run out.  In this bill, those benefits never run out.  Considering there are no medical tests to verify the existence of any psychiatric disorder, and without anything other than a psychiatrist’s opinion about whether or not the person’s “illness” is “cured,” this legislation becomes nothing more than taxpayer funded billions to the psycho/pharmaceutical industry who will continue their jihad of mass drugging of Americans.  This provision could easily encompass all 374 diagnoses in psychiatry’s diagnostic manual, covering everything from Phase of Life Problem to Arithmetic Disorder.  Section 214, Page 100

Home Visitation Programs for Families with Young Children or Families Expecting Children
The bill creates a home visitation program for families with young children or which are expecting children or who have certain “risk factors.”  The program provides assessments regarding matters of “age appropriate behaviors,” for children, prevention of family violence and referral to outside services.  – Section 1904, Page 1177

School Based Health Clinics
The bill includes funding for School Based Health Clinics that will include subjective psychiatric mental health screening (called mental health assessments) of children, and “referral to a continuum of services including emergency psychiatric care, community support programs, inpatient care, and outpatient programs” as part of their “comprehensive primary health services.”  This is a direct feeder line for the psycho/pharmaceutical industry directly into our schools. – Section 2511, Page 1352

Wellness Program Grants for small employers
The grants in the bill serve as an incentive for employers to include “mental health” as part of the Wellness Program Grants to businesses.  Part of the program entails a “Behavioral Change Component” that encourages “healthy living through counseling” and may include programs relating to “tobacco use, obesity, stress management, depression and mental health.” – Section 112, Page 67

Federally Qualified Behavioral Health Centers
The bill creates new “Federally Qualified Behavioral Health Centers” and in order for existing community mental health centers to qualify, they have to provide, among other things, “mental health screening, assessment, and diagnosis,” as well as “outpatient clinic mental health services, including screening, assessment, diagnosis, psychotherapy and medication,” in addition to “crisis mental health services including 24-hour mobile crisis teams.”  - Section 2513, Page 1367

Your voice needs to be heard in Washington on this outrageous bill. Call, fax, or email your Representative and tell them that you are opposed to the above points in the Health Care Reform bill. To find your Representative and get their contact information, go to http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt to look them up (you need to enter your zip code). You can also call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

Filed under: pharmacology

Minnesota Congresswoman Introduces Bill to Deny Pfizer & Other Criminals Federal Funding

Via Pharmalot:

http://www.pharmalot.com/2009/10/congresswoman-deny-pfizer-any-federal-funding

Congresswoman: Deny Pfizer Any Federal Funding

By Ed Silverman // October 19th, 2009 // 5:24 pm

Now that Pfizer agreed to pay $2.3 billion for illegally marketing several drugs, including Bextra, Zyvox, Geodon and Lyrica, over several years, one Congresswoman wants to punish stop such behavior – at least among those that do business with the federal government (background is here).

And so Betty McCollum, a Democrat from Minnesota, has introduced a bill that prohibits companies with a felony conviction from receiving any federal funding for five years after a conviction; prohibits corporate felons from making federal campaign contributions for five years, and limits the lobbying the corporation can do during that period to $1 million.

She calls her legislation the ACORN Act, or Against Corporations Organizing to Rip-off the Nation Act of 2009. Why? A significant target of recent Congressional action is the better-known ACORN, a non-profit that trains and advocates for poor and working-class Americans. Over the past 15 years, ACORN has received $53 million in federal funds. By contrast, Pfizer won $73 million in federal contracts in 2007, as The Nation notes, but has largely escaped Congressional wrath.

In her view, corporate felons rip-off taxpayers, shower contributions on congress and continue to cash in on federal contracts. So she wants to ‘defund corporate cooks.’ And she singles out Pfizer. In her bill, the section listing ‘Additional Definitions’ notes that any company “includes Pfizer, Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc. and any Pfizer-related affiliate.” And the bill specifically mentions any felony of the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act as an example of a felony violation by a company. Hint, hint.

“Why are companies that break the law as a business strategy allowed to receive taxpayer funds?” McCollum tells the mag. “A government contract is a privilege, not a right. If a company commits a felony against the people of the United States, then that privilege must end.”

Filed under: Pfizer , ACORN Act, Betty McCollum, Deny Pfizer Any Federal Funding, Ed Silverman, Pharmalot

Go Vote for Natural News in Four Blogger’s Choice Categories!

Please take a few minutes to go to the Blogger’s Choice awards and vote for Natural News. I’m proud to recommend this site to you because they have the best information on so many topics from cancer & depression to vaccines, swine flu, emergency preparedness, health care legislation, childbirth, breastfeeding and green living.

I nominated them for four categories:

Best Blog of All Time

Best Health Blog

Best Podcast

Best Video Blogger

In case you need evidence to support voting in these categories, I suggest visiting their site and looking at the current articles. Mike Adams’s Don’t Inject Me video even made it into the national news media. I have many friends into natural health and one practitioner in particular told me that she tells her staff, if I am ever unreachable, and you have a question, just go to Natural News and look it up. I can’t think of a better endorsement than that.

Filed under: Natural News , best blog of all time, best health blog, best podcast, best video blogger, Blogger's Choice Awards, Natural News, swine flu

GSK and KOL’s Monster Mash

Happy Early Halloween from Fiddy.

Awesome video please check it out.

http://fiddaman.blogspot.com/2009/10/gsk-and-kols-monster-mash.html

Filed under: pharmacology , Alistair Benbow, Andrew Witty, Biederman, electroshock, Fiddy, frightening, Glaxo Smith Kline, GSK, halloween, Happy Halloween, Joseph Biederman, JP Garnier, Martin Keller, psychiatrists, scary

Kilker v. GSK Documents Available for Download

Sadly I have not had the chance to read all of these yet so I can’t tell you what’s in them but according to Fiddy it’s some pretty amazing stuff. I encourage you to download and read the documents in the Kilker v. GSK trial in which the jury found GSK guilty and ordered a $2.5 million verdict for the heart defect they caused that poor little boy.

Download here.

Filed under: Paxil in pregnancy, Pregnancy, antidepressants, drug "safety", mothers act , Birth Defects, guilty, heart defects, Kilker v. Glaxo Smith Kline, Kilker v. GSK, lawsuits

Ron Paul’s Parental Consent Act of 2009: Contact Your Reps!

Please contact your Representative in Congress and ask them to sponsor H.R. 2218,  The Parental Consent Act of 2009.

Here is a link to the bill text: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-2218

Here is a great article by Dr. John Breeding explaining the background of the bill and the Bush Administration’s “New Freedom Commission on Mental Health” which Dr. Breeding appropriately coins the “No Freedom” commission.

To take action against specific Orwellian psychiatric programs included in recent versions of the Federal Health legislation, see this link:

Senate Nixes Public Disclosure of Revised Health Care Language – Take Action.

For more background on some of the bills now coming up in Congress to fulfill the goals of the “Freedom Commission” see:

http://tinyurl.com/BillionsPsych

http://tinyurl.com/ykqy8e2

Filed under: Barack Obama, Bush Family, Congress, Freedom Commission on Mental Health, The Future of The United States , Barack Obama, Bush, Dr. John Breeding, Federal Health Care Bill Calls for Billions in Orwellian Psych Programs and Treatments, John McCain, mental health, New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, No Freedom Commission, Parental Consent Act of 2009, Parental Rights, Ron Paul

Reports on Intra-Uterine Death, Umbilical Cord Problems; Preventing Infant Deaths

Please go here http://wp.me/phViM-3u for updates on our MADNAP blog BREATH on ways to prevent threatened miscarriage and to reduce the chances of problems with umbilical cord abnormalities and placenta problems, and to reduce intra-uterine deaths.

Filed under: pharmacology

October 15 is Infant and Child Death Awareness and Prevention Day

As October 15 approaches (next Thursday) I want to ask all readers, what are you specifically doing to help save a baby’s life? Regular readers of this blog know the problems caused by psychiatric drugs but new readers may not know of all the risks. Aside from the risk of birth defects with antidepressants we have babies dying in utero or being stillborn or miscarried about twice as often as babies not exposed to antidepressants. Here is a stillbirth article from 2006, you can find others if you do a google search: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4886762.stm

I hope everyone will think of something that they can do over the next week to honor these babies, and either complete it by October 15 or start on October 15. You have the power to make a difference and save a baby’s life and save a family from tragedy.

For those who have lost children, The MISS Foundation is a wonderful source of support. Please consider donating to The MISS Foundation to support their efforts in advocacy, research, and education to reduce infant and child mortality.

October 15th is Infant and Child Death Awareness and Prevention Day. We honor all the children who died too soon, and the families who suffer in their absence. Together, we heal and transcend our place in the world…

The MISS Foundation provides crisis support and long term aid to families after the death of a child.

The following video covers Dr. Joanne Cacciatore’s advocacy through The MISS Foundation in successfully passing The Missing Angels Bill into law in many states. This law allows grieving parents to have a certificate of birth resulting in a stillbirth, not simply death certificates for their babies.

Her goal is to have every state pass such a law. If you can share this with your state legislators please do so. For more information on the status of this campaign throughout the U.S., go to http://www.missingangelsbill.org/

The Missing Angels Bill in Tennessee needs your support. Go here for a one click form to send yours in!: http://www.missingangelsbill.org/support.php?se_id=26

Filed under: pharmacology , Infant and Child Death Awareness and Prevention Day, MISS Foundation, Missing Angels Bill, October 15