Why The MOTHERS Act Should Not Be Passed

[RodISHI]

Big Pharm at work once again.

Why The MOTHERS Act Should Not Be Passed

Please go to MAFaxMay15probs.pdf - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage and print a PDF that you can fax to the Senate: HELP Committee Flyer.pdf - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

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 May09 Vogue Article.pdf - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage
* 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).

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?

Continued at link

The Bitter Pill

The Official Blog of UNITE – uniteforlife.org

Cold Case Files – Paxil Birth Defects
by Evelyn Pringle

Almost like an episode of the TV show, Cold Case Files, the first Paxil birth defect trial was dominated by a story about what happened to the rat pups that died around 1979 and 1980, involved in a study in which Paxil was being tested on pregnant female rats.

The animal studies giving Paxil to rats and rabbits were conducted by a Danish company called Ferrosan before the drug maker, that later became part of GlaxoSmithKline, purchased the drug.

The family’s lead attorney in the case of Kilker v Glaxo, Sean Tracey from Houston, brought in the world-famous neuropsychopharmocology expert from Wales, Dr David Healy, to testify extensively about rat pup study 295............. continued at link

In summary, Healy told the jury that all the rat pups born to mothers who received Paxil were dead four days after they were born, while eighty-eight percent of the pups not exposed to Paxil were still alive on day four.

In fact, of the 415 rat pups born to mothers who received Paxil, Healy testified that, “One in every ten or actually maybe more like possibly one in every eight or so were born dead.”

As far as he could make make out, all the rats were not autopsied, Healy said, so the question was why the pups died.

“It’s clearly the drug that has caused the death,” he told the jury.

“One of the possible reasons for their death is they’re born with birth defects that lead to them actually dying early in infant life,” he testified. “A responsible approach to data like this is to investigate it further and find out just what the cause is.”

 

[RodISHI]

Another good read.

Search Results vaccines The Bitter Pill
Excerpt:

If I thought for one second that what is being offered at taxpayer expense in the new health care bill would do one positive thing for families over the long haul, I might pause in my Free Market views and consider that perhaps an investment in our nations health would be a good thing.

Since the status quo of medicine as it is practiced today is what will be entrenched with this bill, I have to yell to anyone listening that Medical Slavery for the vast majority of our people is what will be practiced on the American Family for the next ten generations…if we make it that far. With death, disibility, infertility, damaged babes, trauma, and a “pill for all that ails us” funded by the taxpayers the fruit of this abortion of a bill, we have to pray that with the election of Scott Brown, and his 41st vote, it will go down to defeat as the last and final attempt by the Commies in our Country to rob the American People of their sovereignty and force a Medical Dictatorship and Pharmacuetical Facism on the Men, Women, and Children of the US.

Rather than handing the pharma companies a fifty year guarantee of profits, the attorney general of the US should be serving them with papers of indictment for the past hundred years of medical fraud perpetrated on the American People and force them to refund every person medically damaged by Vaccines, Antibiotics, Bogus and unnecessary surgery, court ordered psychiatric meds, forced chemo, and the thousands of children pulled from their parents homes and put into foster care simply because parents refused to accept current medical dogma should be returned to their homes, detoxed from the psychiatric drugs they have been forced to take, and compensated financially for all of the side effects that the toxicity of the drugs caused.

The Fox is in the hen house and the Farmer has just come out and asked him if he wants that chicken baked or fried. It is time to shoot the Fox and set the hens free.

 

[RodISHI]

Email I received this morning. The women at Unite For Life-The Bitter Pill are women who have been through experiences of what can be done to young mothers and children by medical powers and pharmacy industries. They are sharing their stories and trying to help others avoid what they have had to experience already.

URGENT: Reps Should Remove MOTHERS Act and Other Dangerous Psycho-Pharma Programs From Health Bill

The MOTHERS Act is in the Health Care bill. We need people to start faxing and calling your representatives NOW as a vote is scheduled for this week. Call, fax, or email immediately. Make sure your representative knows to vote NO on Health Care. See below for information on this and other provisions of the bill.

Re: The MOTHERS Act – If you also wish to fax in information on that bill specifically, the PDF is here: MAFaxMay15probs.pdf - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage


To find your Representative and get their contact information, go to Congress.org - : Congressional Directory

to look them up (you need to enter your zip code). You can also call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

The following information on The MOTHERS Act was publicized on a pro-MOTHERS Act website. Note that required screening has been added into the recently passed Senate health care bill in something called the Mikulski Amendment.

"If you are interested in reading the bill’s specific language, you can go to this link

and click on “Full Text of Bill as Passed”. The language referencing The MOTHERS Act initiatives can be found on pages 595-604, section 2952 “Support Education and Research for Postpartum Depression.”

Also, the Mikulski Amendment, which includes SCREENING for postpartum depression also passed in another part of the healthcare reform bill. It was actually the FIRST Amendment included in healthcare reform. Finally, women and mothers are being heard."

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

Information: The Health Care Bill undergoing reconciliation is filled with mental health provisions intended to prop up psychiatry as well as the pharmaceutical industry with billions in future income. Though there were some differences in recent Senate and House bills, key mental health components of the recent House bill carried over in both versions (page and section references from recent House version):

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 Congress.org - : Congressional Directory

to look them up (you need to enter your zip code). You can also call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

http://www.usmessageboard.com/health-and-lifestyle/108129-22-month-old-prescribed-ritalin.html

The Medicating of America
by Maureen Kennedy Salaman
President, National Health Federation
June 2006
Nobody is Safe
Whatever you choose to call them: psychotropic, neuroleptic, or psychoactive drugs, Americans have become so complacent about, and dependent upon, psychiatric medications that some parents are using them to chemically restrain their children and teenagers.
A two-year investigation by the Florida Statewide Advocacy Council found that more than 50 percent of Florida's foster children ‑‑ including infants and toddlers ‑‑ were being given mind‑altering drugs. Forty-four percent of them had not been seen by a pediatrician, and of those who had, five percent had no diagnosis. Another 12 percent had a diagnosis of "other," which included hearing impaired, bed-wetting and the dubious, subjective diagnosis of "adjustment disorder."