TeenScreen Sets Up Shop In Illinois
by Evelyn Pringle
www.OpEdNews.com
A controversial plan to screen all Illinois school children for
mental health disorders is set to become a reality on June 30th, if
the Governor accepts the final proposal from the Illinois Children's
Mental Health Partnership (ICMHP).
Illinois became the first state to hop on the bandwagon for
President Bush's New Freedom Commission's (NFC) plan to subject all
American school children to mental health screening. In 2003,
Illinois Lawmakers passed the $10 million Illinois Children's Mental
Health Act (ICMHP), creating a Children's Mental Health Partnership,
which many expect to become a model for other states.
The Final Report by the Illinois ChildrenÂ's Mental Health Task Force
was released in April 2003 and it is filled with intrusive and
expensive recommendations.
The ICMHP held hearings in various locations across the state in
2004 to gather public feedback on the plan.
While its proposals seem harmless enough at first glance, comments
from parents during the hearings raised many valid concerns. The
State, critics said, no longer assumes that Illinois children are
mentally healthy, it presumes all children need mental health
screening.
The Task Force Report calls for a comprehensive, coordinated
childrenÂ's mental health system comprised of prevention, early
intervention, and treatment for children ages 0-18 years and for a
statewide data-reporting system to track information on each person,
and social-emotional development screens with all mandated school
exams (K, 4th, and 9th),
The Task Force wants to: Start early, beginning prenatally and at
birth, and continue throughout adolescence, including efforts to
support adolescents in making the transition to young adulthood.
Karen Hayes, associate director of Concerned Women for
America-Illinois published an Opinion Piece in the Illinois Leader
on July 23, 2004 and had a great idea.
She said maybe the legislators should be mentally evaluated.
Concerned parent, Joseph Volpendesta, feels the same way. "Mental
Health screening might be much more usefully employed on these
people who come up with these brainstorms; it is obvious that they
have far too much time on their hands and too little regard for
those of us who are paying the bills. What is needed, and at the
earliest opportunity, is a bill to rescind this piece of legislative
claptrap. ... There is no doubt in my mind where the mental health
screening is most needed and it ain't the kids," he said in a letter
to the editor of the Illinois Leader June 13, 2005.
TeenScreen Customer Recruitment Scheme
At the center of the controversy is program called TeenScreen
designed by pharma backed officials at Columbia University.
TeenScreen is supposedly a suicide-prevention program and is
recommended by the NFC, even though a recent US Preventive Services
Task Force study found "no evidence that screening for suicide risk
reduces suicide attempts or mortality."
Columbia claims the TeenScreen survey can assess the symptoms of 8
disorders associated with the risk of suicide or mental illness. On
March 2, 2004, the program's Executive Director, Laurie Flynn,
testified at a congressional hearing and said that in screening
process, "youth complete a 10-minute self-administered questionnaire
that screens for social phobia, panic disorder, generalized anxiety
disorder, major depression, alcohol and drug abuse, and suicidality."
In May 2004, Illinois lawmakers passed a resolution approving the
implementation of TeenScreen in public schools, which said in part:
(1) "Columbia TeenScreen Program", has been proven successful,
offers technical assistance for implementation of a screening
program, and provides all the components for such a program at no
charge at this time; (2) that we recognize that mental illness and
suicide among young people are public health crisis in this State
and that all residents of Illinois should make the identification of
mental disorders and the prevention of suicide among the young
people a public health priority; (3) that every young person should
be screened ... to identify mental illness and prevent suicide; and
(4) That such a screening and identification process should employ
sound, evidence-based tools.
The problem is that TeenScreen is not an evidence-based tool. The
program had already been in place for 6 years in Tulsa, Oklahoma
when the suicide rate rose drastically, causing Michael Brose, the
leader of a mental health partnership organization there, to say,
''To the best of my knowledge, this is the highest number of youth
suicides we've ever had during the school year -- a number we find
very frightening."
TeenScreen is an invention of the pharmaceutical industry and is
nothing more than a customer recruitment scheme to help generate
high volume sales of costly psychiatric drugs. By infiltrating the
nation's public school system, it will generate millions of new
prescription drug customers.
"More screened kids means more money for psychiatrists and the
pharmaceutical industry," said Vera Hassner Sharav, president of the
Alliance for Human Research Protection, a patient advocacy group, to
the Chicago Tribune on June 5, 2005.
"It is important to understand that powerful interests, namely
federal bureaucrats and pharmaceutical lobbies, are behind the push
for mental health screening in schools...the pharmaceutical industry
is eager to sell psychotropic drugs to millions of new customers in
American schools," said Rep Ron Paul, R-Texas, who happens to be a
physician.
TeenScreen made its Illinois debut last fall at the Brimfield High
School in the Peoria area and reports indicate that several more
Illinois schools will be implementing the program next year,
according to investigative reporter, Rhonda Robinson.
TMAP & IMAP
Do the big drug companies have so much power? Why else would this be
happening? It looks like a way to make more young people dependent
on prescription drugs earlier in life when all they really need is
to deal with growing up, just like we all did before there was a
drug for every ailment and new ailment to justify even more new
drugs," parent, Dennis McLouth, of Roseville, Ill, wrote in a letter
to the Editor of the Illinois Leader on June 13, 2005.
My answer to Dennis is yes the drug companies are that powerful, and
it gets worse. The NFC recommends a drug treatment program called
the Texas Medical Algorithm Project (TMAP) that specifically
requires doctors to prescribe the newer generation of psychiatric
drugs to children, including the antidepressants known as the
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors [SSRIs] that can lead
children to commit suicide or other violent acts.
According to the American Hospital Formulary Service Drug
Information 2005, the Â"FDA now states that it has determined that
antidepressants increase the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior
in children and adolescents with major depressive and other
psychiatric disorders."
Dr Ann Blake Tracy, is the executive director of the International
Coalition for Drug Awareness and the author of "Prozac, Panacea or
Pandora: Our Seratonin Nightmare."
She testified at a February 2004, FDA hearing on the adverse effects
of SSRIs, and said, "Research on serotonin has been clear from the
very beginning that the most damaging thing that could be done to
the serotonin system would be to impair one's ability to metabolize
serotonin. Yet that is exactly how SSRI antidepressants exert their
effects."
Tracy said that for decades research has shown that impairing
serotonin metabolism will produce numerous health problems including
"pains around the heart, difficulty breathing, tension and anxiety
which appear from out of nowhere, depression, suicide -- especially
very violent suicide, hostility, violent crime, arson, substance
abuse, psychosis, mania," and the list goes on and on.
"How anyone ever thought it would be 'therapeutic' to chemically
induce these reactions is beyond me," she said.
In one study reviewed by the FDA panel, in a pool of
931 depressed patients taking SSRIs listed on the TMAP, versus 811
depressed patients taking a placebo, there were 52 suicidal acts by
people on the SSRIs versus 18 on placebo.
The drug companies withheld the studies that showed the drugs were
basically ineffective on kids and that they were in fact dangerous.
Most of the studies that have surfaced over the past couple years
were unearthed during the discovery process of recent law suits
against drug companies.
Pediatrician, Dr Karen Effren, questions whether the TMAP list
should be used at all. "If data is withheld about the dangers or
lack of effectiveness of the new psychiatric drugs, why should
physicians believe and carry out the recommendations of the New
Freedom Commission for treatment, such as the Texas Medication
Algorithm Project (TMAP) that uses those drugs as paid for the state
incentive grants?"
These same sentiments had already been expressed in January 1999, by
Peter Weiden MD, who was one of the participants on the original
panel that approved drugs to be on the TMAP list, when he openly
criticized the process in the Journal of Practice in Psychiatry and
Behavioural Health.
Weiden pointed out the fact that drug company money was involved in
the approval of the list. "Another problem is potential bias from
funding sources. The
1996 Guidelines were funded by Janssen (makers of Risperidone [Risperdal])
and most of the guidelines'
authors have received support from the pharmaceutical industry. This
potential conflict of interest may create credibility problems,
especially concerning any recommendations supporting the use of
atypical antipsychotics."
Other drug companies besides Janssen were involved in the creation
of the list. And drug company money was also used to grease the
palms of politician who would ultimately have to approve the TMAP
scheme.
For instance, Eli Lilly helped fund the guidelines and also has
well-known ties to both Bush administrations.
After Bush Sr left the CIA in 1977, he became a member of Lilly's
board of directors. When he left the company to become Reagan's VP
in 1980, he forgot to mention that he still owned stock in the
company at the same time that he was lobbying for tax breaks for
Lilly, even though it manufactured drugs in Puerto Rico.
Bush Junior made Eli Lilly CEO, Sidney Taurel, a member of the
Homeland Security and his former director of the Office of
Management and Budget, Mitch Daniels, was also a former senior vice
president of Lilly.
In the 2000 election the company contributed over $1.5 million to
political candidates, with over 80% going to Bush and the Republican
Party.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, in his 2 bids for
the presidency, Bush has been the number one recipient of either
party for campaign donations from the pharmaceutical industry. The
same Robert Wood Johnson IV, who has ties to the foundation that
funded the TMAP, is also heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, and
raised over $100,000 for Bush's 2000 campaign, and over $200,000 for
campaign 2004.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation also helped fund the Illinois
ChildrenÂ's Mental Health Task Force, which produced the report that
the IllinoisÂ'
ChildrenÂ's Mental Health Act of 2003 is based on, according to
investigative reporter Rhonda Robinson.
The Illinois version of the TMAP list, is IMAP and it is already in
place in 23 Illinois counties, Robinson reports.
Tax Dollar Funded Drug Pushers
Let there be no mistake about it, kids sent to shrinks will end up
on drugs. In 2002, a survey of recently trained child psychiatrists
found that only one in 10 children in their practices did not
receive a medication. See Stubbe DE, Thomas WJ: A survey of
early-career child and adolescent psychiatrists, J Am Acad Child
Adolesc Psychiatry 2002.
A recent review of prescription data for 300,000 children ages 19
and younger, by Medco Health Solutions in 2004, concluded that for
the first time in history, spending for medications for childhood
behavior problems eclipsed expenditure for any other drug category,
including antibiotics.
The final draft of the Illinois plan issued this month wants to:
Promote effective use of MedicaidÂ's Early Periodic Screening,
Diagnosis and Treatment benefit in Illinois to support voluntary
screening of children ages birth to eighteen years, and wants to
"Clarify for providers the diagnoses that create eligibility for
children to obtain Medicaid services."
I wonder how many people are curious as to what might be in store
for the kids they want to screen at age 0.
To answer that question, an investigation of the drugs being
prescribed to Illinois kids on Medicaid might be helpful.
On April 25, 2005, the headlines of the Ohio Columbus Dispatch read:
DRUGGED INTO SUBMISSION, EVEN BABIES GETTING TREATED AS MENTALLY
ILL, Doctors prescribed sedatives and powerful, mood-altering
medications for nearly 700 Ohio babies and toddlers on Medicaid last
summer, according to a Dispatch review of records.
An investigation by the Dispatch revealed that at least 696 Ohio
children who were newborn to 3 years old received mental-health
drugs paid for by Medicaid in July 2004. Hydroxyzine was prescribed
most often, with about three-quarters of the kids on it. The drug, a
long-acting antihistamine, relieves itching caused by allergies,
controls vomiting and reduces anxiety, but is given to young
children most often for its sedative effects.
In addition, more than 90 kids were on another antihistamine, 48
were taking anti-anxiety medication and 28 were prescribed
antidepressants, including the SSRIs Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft.
Twenty-seven received Valium, and 18 were on antipsychotics.
This revelation set off alarms in Ohio. "It's troubling," said John
Saros, executive director of Franklin County Children Services. "How
do doctors even determine that a 2-year-old is anxious? There's a
reason they call it the terrible twos."
All total, nearly 40,000 Ohio children on Medicaid were taking drugs
for anxiety, depression, delusions, hyperactivity and violent
behavior when the investigation was conducted July 2004, according
to the Dispatch.
Illinois' new program keeps stressing that treatment should be
funded by Medicaid. That means drugs folks.
Over-drugging kids on Medicaid in Ohio is not an isolated practice.
Its happening all over the country.
On January 15, 2005, the Miami Herald reported that nearly 1,900
children under the care of Florida's child welfare system are taking
antidepressant drugs, despite a strong federal warning that such
medications are linked to an increased risk of suicidal thinking.
Similar findings held true in Tennessee for kids covered by the
State insurance program. A study conducted in 2004 by Dr William
Cooper, an associate professor of pediatrics at Vanderbilt
University in Nashville, determined that the use of antipsychotic
drugs among low-income children in Tennessee had nearly doubled
between 1996 and 2001.
Cooper's report, published in the August 3, 2004 issue of the
Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine, found that young people
who are not psychotic are being prescribed antipsychotic drugs for
which there was no data on safety or effectiveness.
The study revealed that the proportion of TennCare children who were
prescribed antipsychotics nearly doubled in six years. The most
dramatic increases were among those aged 13 to 18 (116%) and those 6
to 12 (93%). Cooper also found use among preschool children had
increased by 61%.
If the Illinois Governor signs the new law on June 30th, in addition
to children, all pregnant women will be screened for depression
during pregnancy and for up to 1 year following a baby's birth. The
treatment for depression mandated by the IMAP drug list will be the
SSRI antidepressants even though new studies indicate that SSRIs
taken by pregnant women can have serious adverse affects on the
unborn fetus.
"Newborn babies could be at risk of suffering withdrawal symptoms if
their mothers are prescribed antidepressants during pregnancy,"
according to Reuters on February 4, 2005.
Professor Emilio Sanz of the University of La Laguna in Tenerife,
Spain, conducted a study that showed that SSRIs can cause
convulsions, irritability, abnormal crying and tremors in newborn
babies.
For the study, Professor Sanz and his team of researchers searched
the World Health Organization database from 72 countries for the
adverse drug reactions associated with the use of SSRIs, Reuters
reported.
Karen Hayes thinks the whole plan stinks. "Proposing that state
government set mental health competency standards for all Illinois
pregnant women and children to age 18 stuns human sensibilities,"
Karen Hayes wrote, "this proposal calls for collection of mental
health data of women and children, together with bureaucratic
linkage of this information."
She's got that right because according to the plan, the State of
Illinois will: Improve accountability, data tracking and reporting
for childrenÂ's mental health in relevant programs and services and
will (1) Institute contract and monitoring changes to increase the
accountability of current childrenÂ's mental health providers; (2)
Develop a statewide data tracking and reporting system to collect
information on key indicators of childrenÂ's social and emotional
development, and mental health status; (3) Develop policies and
protocols for the sharing of databases among relevant state and
local agencies; (4) Explore the development of uniform reporting
forms and test in select programs for the tracking, reporting and
planning of services.
Follow The Tax Dollars
The task force says it wants to maximize the use of Medicaid/KidCare
by streamlining enrollment, capitalizing on federal reimbursement
and implementing key cost-saving strategies, with savings deposited
into a ChildrenÂ's Mental Health Fund.
It wants to (1) Improve Medicaid reimbursement for prevention, early
intervention and treatment services;
(2) Recognize diagnoses for young children described in DC:0-3 and
pay for mental health services for children with any of these
diagnoses; (3) Clarify for providers the diagnoses that create
eligibility for children to obtain Medicaid services.
Translation: That means to make sure "treatment" (aka
pills) will be paid for, people will be trained to only diagnose
kids with disorders that are covered Medicaid.
The task force plan leaves no funding stone unturned.
It even wants to "Change the Illinois KidCare and Medicaid
eligibility procedures to allow for self-attestation of a familyÂ's
financial circumstances in lieu of current financial documentation
requirements," which means all I have to do is swear I'm poor to
qualify for Medicaid in Illinois.
Drug companies smell the tax dollars and they want these Illinois
kids. Over 2 million children were enrolled in Illinois public
schools, pre-K through 12th grade, during the 2001-02 school year.
Over 960,000 children were enrolled in Medicaid and KidCare in 2002,
and a recent study in Chicago claimed that nearly 50% of inner-city
adolescents demonstrated signs and symptoms of depression.
So lets do the math and see how much the psychiatric-industrial
complex stands to gain. The plans says to: Ensure that all children
enrolled in Medicaid receive periodic developmental screens ... as
mandated under the Early and Periodic Screening Diagnostic Treatment
program.
Lets say the initial diagnostic visit to the shrink costs $150,
what's 150 times 960,000?
The report said 50% of Chicago inner city kids were depressed so
we'll use that percentage for the kids on Medicaid. Half of 960,000
means 480,000 kids are set to be prescribed anti-psychotic drugs
right from the get go.
Off hand I don't know how much all the different drugs cost, but I
have personal knowledge that the cost of Risperdal in 2001, was
close to $500 for a 30 day supply.
In 2001, The Miami Herald published a series of stories about the
common use of Risperdal among children in state care. Child-welfare
advocates said the drug routinely was being used by foster care
providers as a ''chemical restraint'' on children whose unruly
behavior was a frustration to caretakers.
Risperdal is on the IMAP list as the leading drug used to combat
schizophrenia and other types of psychotic disorders, and earns
Janssen about $2.1 billion in annual sales. The drug is prescribed
to more than 10 million people worldwide, according to the Herald.
I suspect a heavy-duty calculator will be needed to calculate dollar
amounts for the potential cost of Risperdal prescriptions to the tax
payers of Illinois.
Tax Payers May Foot Entire Bill
No doubt about it, the promoters of this scheme are looking to grab
tax dollars from every public trough known to man. The plan lists a
host of public funding sources to be examined and includes: Medicaid
and SCHIP, the Social Services Block Grant, Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families, the Child Care and Development Fund, the Title V
Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant, Parts B (Special
Education) and C (Early Intervention) of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Juvenile Justice, and state
funding sources.
In her opinion piece, Karen Hayes questioned the feasibility of such
a large public funded program, "Our government bureaucracies
continue to struggle with the job of tending to the social needs of
needy Illinois families, and ... trying to educate our children in
basic academics. How is it that these same bureaucracies can now be
asked to take on the additional role of being the mental health
evaluator and caretaker of all pregnant women and children in
Illinois?"
"At a time when budget concerns are on the front pages of most
Illinois newspapers," Karen wrote, "we are being asked to give input
to one of the costliest expansions of government and bureaucracy we
have seen in recent years."
"In summary," Hayes said, "it is neither beneficial to children, nor
to taxpayers, to ask government bureaucracies to set competency
standards for mental health. With some amount of lightheartedness,
may I propose that the mental health of the perpetrators of this
concept be evaluated?"
Another parent agrees with her. "The Illinois Legislature ought to
have their own heads subjected to adolescent mental health screening
for even considering passing such legislation," said Jack Kime, in a
June 13, 2005 letter to the Illinois Leader, "If there is anything
more dangerous than having the government put such a program in
place, I don't know what it might be," he said.
Evelyn Pringle
epringle05@yahoo.com
(Evelyn Pringle is a columnist for Independent Media TV and an
investigative journalist focused on exposing government corruption)
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