Scaremongerers of the World Unite

April, 16, 2012 | 6 Comments

Comments

    • Allen Frances who was chairman of DSM 1V and critic of DSM V should be commended for speaking out about his concerns about the power to harm as ‘Not doing Harm’ is overlooked in the creation of new diseases and ‘false epidemics’. Selling diagnosis sells drugs he says. I heard Allen Frances speak at the ‘Selling Sickness’ conference, organised by Gezonde scepsis in Amsterdam. He spoke about the harm from psychotropic medicines and referred to psychiatric hospital as ‘prison’. The amazing talk can be heard, with other speakers at the conference, on this video. Allen Frances begins speaking at 57.04 on the video:
      http://vimeo.com/16696039

  1. Another favorite is to label critics as Scientologists. I’ve been labelled one many times. Thing is, I’m an atheist, I follow no religion. Having said that, I have nothing against anyone who wishes to follow any type of religion – whatever brings them comfort is a good thing. My comfort comes from my writing…and looking at Shania Twain CD covers 🙂

  2. I would like to nominate Maria Bradshaw of http://www.casper.org.nz/ who lost her son Toran due to a Prozac induced suicide.

    Despite the fact that New Zealand were living in the dark ages where suicide was concerned and that she could be fined for even mentioning that Toran died by suicide, she has single-handedly brought NZ into the 21th century.

    One NZ minister actually suggested that communities might show their “disgust” about suicide, by not celebrating suicide victim’s lives, instead he thought it would be a good idea to bury them at the entrance of the cemetery. What an idiot.

    She is a force to be reckoned with, has helped hundreds of bereaved families (including mine) and has tirelessly publicised the dangers of SSRI’s in NZ.

    The NZ Government had no choice but to consider her approach to suicide prevention, the dangerous adverse effects of medicating children and the ‘abusive’ coroner system when she met with the NZ Prime Minister last year.

    So I nominate Maria for the Dave Nutt Prize. Sorry I know she’s not a doctor either but it’s extremely hard to find any doctor who will go up against the ‘industry’ or their colleagues.

    Leonie

  3. As I said in my other postings, we will never thank enough people like you or Irving Kirsch for exposing these issues. On the legal front, the work of US Senator Chuck Grassley needs also to be commended. What worries me is the lack of effort by the mainstream media to make the larger case. All there is are small pieces here and there but there isn’t a single well publicized effort to connect the dots as the big media usually do when they deal with a scandal of this magnitude. Take somebody like me; I am by all means a news junkie; yet it wasn’t until I was forcibly medicated that I began to search for answers. And even then, it took me sometime of reading things from here and there to reach my current understanding. I find your mention of James Coyne here http://www.healyprozac.com/AcademicStalking/AcademicStalking.htm interesting. He has been one of the fiercest critics of the work by Irving Kirsch on the lack of efficacy of antidepressants, engaging in ad hominem attacks against him http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-skeptical-sleuth/201203/irving-kirsch-d-j-vu-all-over-again/comments . I wonder what’s the real driver of this much hatred against all critics of the status quo.

  4. Scaremongering with respect to the ingestion of many medications is a noble act these days. It is also, as Orwell said: “In a time of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” I happen to live in a part of Canada that contains an area described as the largest environmental hazard in North America. It makes Love Canal look like a mud puddle. It was created by the disposal, over many, many years, of an incredible number and amount of industrial toxins resulting from steel manufacturing and coal mining. There is, currently, a class action law suit for health and property damages that will probably take years to settle. In 2004, I was asked to gather health data for the courts in order that this might be certified as a class action. What I discovered left me feeling that I should be living in a HazMat suit. The presence of industrial toxins was frightening enough but, in addition, we found in the water table, large amounts of medications and their metabolites due, most likely, to flushing and through urination and feces.
    The FDA produces this:
    “MEDICINES RECOMMENDED FOR DISPOSAL BY FLUSHING
    This list from FDA tells you what expired, unwanted, or unused medicines you should flush down the sink or toilet to help prevent danger to people and pets in the home. Flushing these medicines will get rid of them right away and help keep your family and pets safe.
    FDA continually evaluates medicines for safety risks and will update the list as needed.
    Included are:
    Fentanyl, Morphine Sulfate, Methylphenidate, Demerol, Meperidine Hydrochloride, Diazepam, Dilaudid, Methadone Hydrochloride, Oxycodone Hydrochloride, Percocet, Percodan.
    We are aware of recent reports that have noted trace amounts of medicines in the water system. The majority of medicines found in the water system are a result of the body’s natural routes of drug elimination (in urine or feces). Scientists, to date, have found no evidence of harmful effects to human health from medicines in the environment.”
    Of course not, because they haven’t really been looking for them.
    Treatment involving radioactive materials have equally nonchalant instructions for disposal. For example, HIDA scans.
    “In most cases you can go about your day after your HIDA scan. You’ll likely still have some of the radioactive tracer in your body. The substance will leave your body through your urine over the next day or two. For this reason your doctor may ask that you:
    Flush the toilet twice after urinating
    Wash your hands thoroughly after you urinate
    Drink water throughout the day to help flush the radioactive tracer from your body.”
    We are not only at risk from prescription medications but from other people’s prescriptions whether we know it or not.
    And, to ask the intelligent child’s question, “Where does rain come from?”

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