TeenScreen Exposed
(Nothing but Drug Pushers)
The drug pushers on street corners from yesteryear are now gathered under the banner "TeenScreen".
TeenScreen
http://www.teenscreen.org/ is a "diagnostic psychiatric service" which is nothing more than a sales gimmick of the pharmaceutical industry. .
TeenScreen is a so-called "suicide" survey done on children who are then referred to psychiatric treatment. The evidence suggests that the objective of the designers of TeenScreen is to place children so selected on psychotropic medication. (The New York Post, December 5, 2004)
"It's just a way to put more people on prescription drugs," said Marcia Angell, a medical ethics lecturer at Harvard Medical School and author of "The Truth About Drug Companies." She said such programs will boost the sale
of antidepressants like Paxil, Zoloft and Prozac even after the FDA in September ordered a "black box" label warning that the pills might spur
suicidal thoughts or actions in minors. (The New York Post, December 5, 2004)
TeenScreen attempts to create in the media a SUICIDE HYSTERIA, when in fact suicides are on the decline. The suicide rate for ages 10 to 19 fell from 6.2 deaths per 100,000 people in 1992 to 4.6 per 100,000 in 2001, according to the Center for Disease Control. In 1991, 10 of 100,000 people in Florida ages 10-24 committed suicide. By 1999, that number had dropped to six out of 100,000.
TeenScreen was developed by psychiatrist David Shaffer of Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute's Division of Child &
Adolescent Psychiatry. Shaffer, according to the Integrity in Science Database, (type in "Shaffer") is a paid consultant and apologist of pharmaceutical companies. As a consultant, Shaffer has served as an expert witness for Hoffman la Roche, and Wyeth and as a consultant to
GlaxoSmithKline on paroxetine (Paxil or Seroxat) and adolescent suicide.
In December of 2003 British drug regulators recommended against the use of antidepressants in the treatment of depressed children under 18 because some of the drugs had been linked to suicidal thoughts and self-harm. According to a December 11, 2003, New York Times article, Shaffer at the request of Pfizer, (the maker of Zoloft) attempted to block the British findings,
sending a letter to the British drug agency saying that there was insufficient data to restrict the use of the drugs in adolescents.
Just this last October, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, announced that all medications used to treat depression must carry a black box warning label, advising that children and teens may become suicidal when taking the drugs. According to a February 3, 2004, New York Times article, Shaffer opposed the FDA regulation, and argued to the FDA's scientific advisory panel that any drop in suicide over the last few years was caused by the growing use of antidepressants!
However, overwhelming evidence indicates that psychiatric drugs are not preventing suicides, they are causing them.
On January 1, 2005, the British Medical Journal, on the heels of the FDA black box warning, reported that the FDA has agreed to review confidential drug company documents that went missing during a controversial product liability suit more than 10 years ago. The documents indicate a link between the drug fluoxetine (Prozac), made by Eli Lilly, and suicide attempts and violence.
In Pinellas County, Florida, an ongoing research project has already established that a large majority of teens who committed suicide were on
psychotropic drugs or had received psychiatric treatment. In the years 2002 and 2003, 81% OF THE SUICIDES were either on psychotropic drugs or had
received psychiatric treatment. This percentage may rise as the research continues.
TeenScreen and Columbia University refuse to divulge who is funding TeenScreen. One corner of the Internet did give a clue to the funding. Eli
Lilly, (the pharmaceutical company) funded the TeenScreen program in Tennessee. (See page 4, left, mid-page).
Although the name TeenScreen was not mentioned, the New York Times, reported, on December 17, 1998 that William J. Ruane, an investment advisor
put $8 million into the screening research of Shaffer, the TeenScreen psychiatrist.
As far back as 1995, Ruane already had "longstanding relationship" (see bottom of reference) with Shaffer. In June of 1995 the Ruanes funded a professorship of Pediatric Psychopharmacology at Columbia University which
"supported training and research into the effectiveness of psychopharmacological agents in treating childhood psychiatric disorders".
The Psychiatric Times reported in March of 1998 that Ruane and wife Joy, gave 1.5 million to study the effects of psychiatric medication in children to the New York State Psychiatric Institute, Shaffer's home base.
According to a New York Post article in 1999, the New York State Psychiatric Institute conducted experiments on kids, some as young as 6, with the
powerful mood-altering drug Prozac and failed to tell the children or their parents about the most serious risks. While testing Prozac on 30 severely
depressed patients ages 12 to 18, researcher's notes indicated, "Some patients have been reported to have an increase in suicidal thoughts and/or violent behavior". Records showed that at least four experiments used Prozac on young children including one funded by Prozac's manufacturer, Eli Lilly Co.
Laurie Flynn, the PR for TeenScreen, searches out teens who have committed suicide and then writes letters to the editors throughout the country,
promoting TeenScreen as the "solution". Flynn is no stranger to the pharmaceutical industry. She formally served as the head of the National
Alliance for the Mentally Ill which received millions of dollars from pharmaceutical companies.
In Florida, David Shern of the Florida Mental Health Institute is attempting to lobby the Pinellas County School Board to change its policy on anonymous surveys of children. He wants the school board policy changed so that he can
obtain the child's name after he does his "suicide" survey. He does not want student surveys to be anonymous, as they are now under existing regulations.
The Florida Mental Health Institute under Shern's direction has received $120,000 from Columbia's TeenScreen. It is not known as of yet how this
money was spent, but a public records request has been submitted for documents. Mr. Shern and his FMHI have also received a grant from Eli Lilly
in the amount of $249,420 for a study on the use of antipsychotic drugs.
As to studies on TeenScreen itself, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (top U.S. Government Research outfit) report of May of 2004 states:
A. There is no evidence that screening for suicide risk reduces suicide attempts or mortality.
B. There is limited evidence on the accuracy of screening tools to identify suicide risk.
C. There is insufficient evidence that treatment of those at high risk reduces suicide attempts or mortality.
D. No studies were found that directly address the harms of screening and treatment for suicide risk. TeenScreen and their drug pushers: Shaffer, Flynn, and Shern will certainly not tell you about this either:
TeenScreen was established in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1997. According to a 2003 Tulsa World newspaper article, Mike Brose, executive director of the
Mental Health Association in Tulsa, stated: "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."
So much for the workability of TeenScreen.
In Colorado (3rd section from the bottom) over 350 youths were suicide screened using TeenScreen's survey. They found that over 50% were at risk of suicide. That's not science! That's a dream come true for pharmaceutical
company marketing types and bean counters.
Mark Taylor, who was shot several times during the April 1999 massacre at Columbine high schools says that programs like TeenScreen experiment on
kids, who will eventually end up on psychotropic drugs, according to an August 16, 2002 Arizona Republic article. He attributes the Columbine
incident to the fact that the shooters were on antidepressants. He pleads to stop the drugging of students.
TeenScreen is purely and simply a marketing scam to sell psychotropic drugs. When they use "even if we save one life" as an argument to arouse emotions in parents that truly care, they are lying. They are not saving lives. TeenScreen is the marketing entrance point for the real killers - psychotropic drugs and the psychotherapists who prescribe them.
TeenScreen, leave the kids alone!
Parents and Teens, remember Columbine!
Click here to send an e-mail to the Pinellas County School Board. Tell them student surveys must remain anonymous. Names of students must not be given to the drug pushers!
