Here’s the description from her book,

“This is every family’s worst nightmare.

It is the story of how a healthy five-month-old baby was reduced to a vegetative state by a medical procedure that the public authorities and the medical profession have refused to accept was in any way responsible.

Alan Duffy was brain damaged following the whooping cough vaccine and lived until he was a skeletal and helpless 22 year old. He died on New Year’s Eve, 1995.

Justice For My Son tells of how Alan’s mother, Vera, patiently and laboriously acquired the knowledge and the evidence over many years, evidence she believes many eminent medical people and the government of the day suppressed. It is evidence of a link between the vaccine and what happened to Alan and exposes a kind of ‘Russian Roulette’ accepted by vaccination programmes.

In fact the Dublin City Coroner used his own department funds to make an appeal on Vera’s behalf to the Supreme Court when he failed to get the government to indemnify him. By this unprecedented action, he demonstrated his belief of where the truth of the matter lies.

This fight won’t bring Alan back. But his mother will not give up until she finally gets justice for her son.”

Vera’s book is on sale here.

Today Shane would be 25 years old. I thought his family and friends might be interested in viewing a poem that he wrote, age 10, and the teacher’s comments…

How much collateral damage is too much?

So, assuming we never believed the pharmaceutical hype that depressants/antidepressants did what they said on the tin, where would Shane be now? Would he be a teacher now, or would he, like other desperate Irish college graduates, be half way across the world in Australia or New Zealand?

So what have we done to warn other people since Shane has died? Apart from the IHRC making recommendations to the Irish Medical Council regarding the prescribing and side effects of SSRI’s, Link, we have also written to the relevant Ministers detailing our concerns.

On October 1st, a former Miniser, who has serious concerns regarding the side-effects and over-prescribing of SSRI’s, requested a meeting with the current Minister for Mental Health, Kathleen Lynch. Myself, Tony, the former Minister and an SSRI expert wanted to meet with the current Minister to voice our concerns. On the 21th of October, ALMOST 4 MONTHS AGO, we received a reply stating that “Kathleen Lynch T.D., Minister for Disability, Equality, Mental Health and Older People has asked me to acknowledge receipt of your recent invitation to her…further reply will issue as soon as possible.”

So being the patient person that I am, 4 months was long enough and considering the Government was put in place to represent the people, which presumably includes me, I sent her off another E-mail on Friday 17th Feb. Armed with another professional, a Pathologist, who has serious concerns about SSRI’s, who is also willing to meet her and who incidentally is not receiving honoraria from ‘industry’, I’m sure she’ll get her finger out? Or am I supposed to wait for another 3 1/2 years till another Minister for Mental health is elected and will again ignore the SSRI issue?

So tell me, if you were the Minister for Mental Health, would you think this information was important?

Excerpt from my E-mail to Kathleen Lynch T.D., Minister for Disability, Equality, Mental Health and Older People…

“I spoke to an Irish Pathologist who would also be interested in attending and sharing his concerns. He also has serious concerns regarding the number of Autopsies he has carried out on people who have just started these drugs and within a short space of time, have gone on to commit suicide. At the time I was speaking to him he had just performed six autopsies, five were suicide victims; four had recently been introduced to SSRI’s. There seems to be a major problem here in this country and something will have to be done to stop more deaths.”

How many more people will die before this issue is addressed? Is the fact that the pharmaceutical industry is propping up the Irish economy an issue here? How much collateral damage is acceptable before the Minister will be shamed into tackling the issue? How many more deaths as a result of prescribed medication will make it unacceptable?

An Excerpt from Professor Healy’s notes from his Cork speech…

“Two recent inquests in which I gave evidence bring out the deeper problems. One was Shane Clancy’s inquest in April 2010. This young man put on citalopram had a classic adverse reaction to it, becoming suicidal early on. His doctor continued the treatment and a few weeks after starting treatment he killed himself and another young man in terrible circumstances. The deaths bore all the stigmata of SSRI induced problems. I gave testimony to this effect at his inquest and the jury agreed that it was not possible to return verdicts of suicide (and by extension homicide).

Some of the senior Irish Cardinals (psychiatrists) got involved in the case – engaging the media and others before, during and after the case, stating that antidepressants came with no problems and that the tragedy in this case would be if publicity led to a drop in the use of antidepressants. The Irish College were pressed into making a statement supporting the use of antidepressants.

The reaction from a retired senior academic was as follows: ―I am afraid I agree with Healy – the College is plain wrong. There is no such thing as a college statement which is circulated to the membership simultaneous with its publication, without opportunity for comment or vote and “in unison” with a body 100% financed by drug companies, and with personal hostile references to expert testimony at an inquest with families still in grief. And this on the heels of a dreadful multiprofessorial letter even before the inquest began. Extraordinary and outside my experience. If I were not retired I’d dissociate and publicly resign.

The second case involved Yvonne Woodley a woman in her early 40s also put on citalopram who had a classic case of treatment induced agitation that worsened as her dose was increased to the point where she hung herself in her house with her children downstairs.

In this case as in the Clancy case, company spokespeople insisted that they did not believe citalopram had contributed to the problem and gave the impression that they did not believe it could contribute to the problem.

The coroner however asked the medical representative for the company – can your drug cause people to commit suicide? In response to this Dr Chris Muldoon had no option but to agree it could.

Companies are legally obliged to agree that their drugs cause people to commit suicide. Our Cardinals are not legally obliged. And here is where they offer one of the greatest services they can to companies – they can and regularly do offer Apologias for industry. They have become industry’s way around the law and any moral code that may apply in this domain. They state in public that not only did the drugs not cause a problem in the Clancy or Woodley cases but that they cannot cause a problem. Done behind closed doors this behaviour is one thing; taking the issue to the media is quite another.

At the height of the controversy about antidepressants and suicide in children in 2004, when US regulators issued a black box warning on the drugs, the American Psychiatric Association issued a suicide note. They stated ―The American Psychiatric Association believes that antidepressants save lives. If the drugs work well and are free of problems given how much psychiatrists cost to employ, it would be better for health systems to employ nurses or pharmacists who can prescribe. APA should have said ―The American Psychiatric Association believes that Psychiatrists save lives.

The Irish College has made a comparable mistake. Doctors need to wake up to the politics of the situation.

Some of you here might like to see the demise of Irish psychiatry, maybe even Irish medicine. This talk is however delivered in the hope that psychiatrists and doctors can save themselves, in the belief that we are better off with good doctors than without.” Notes here.

http://leoniefennell.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/ihrc-and-the-medical-council-of-ireland/

http://leoniefennell.wordpress.com/2011/08/07/the-irish-medicines-board-e27-million-funding-from-the-pharmaceutical-industry/

http://leoniefennell.wordpress.com/2011/05/01/ministerial-pharmaceutical-farcical-brick-wall/

Supposing, supposing that Lundbeck are lying?

Suppose that’s the reason that people are dying?

Supposing, supposing drugs can make people kill?

Suppose they’re not helping, just keeping you ill?

Supposing, supposing it’s your sister or brother?

Suppose who’s next, just themselves or another?

Another Citalopram victim?

A RETIRED Gwent hotelier stabbed a pal twice after claiming the friend taunted him for years about his wife. His pal survived and has made a good recovery. Now 62-year-old Kenneth Jenkins is facing a substantial prison sentence after being convicted of wounding with intent.

He claimed in evidence he was on strong medication for depression at the time and he had no recollection at all of what happened in the pub toilet.

At the time of the attack, he was taking Citalopram and Temazepam and he was suffering from hallucinatory nightmares. OK So, Citalopram and all SSRI’s can cause a person to become suicidal and homicidal…that’s from the PIL’s and Pharma warning letters, not from me.

Coincidentally, Temazepam, aka Restoril, list side effects which include hallucinations, nightmares, restlessness, aggression, violence, overstimulation and agitation.

Just supposing that this 62 year-old man was suffering from Akathisia, hallucinations, aggression, violence, overstimulation and agitation, brought on by Citalopram and/or Temazepam, is he at fault? Should he or the drug company be found guilty?  Full Article.

Robert Raines 78,

In 2008, five days after first taking Citalopram, Robert Raines 78, shot and killed his wife, Elsie 71, then himself. In an ongoing lawsuit taken against Forest Labs, the American distributors of Citalopram, his daughter Robin alleges that her parents deaths were as a direct result of Robert taking Celexa. She alleges that the drug company failed to warn that it posed a risk of suicide to seniors despite knowing for years it might. Full Article.

Supposing she’s right…can someone please warn Kenneth Jenkins and his wife?

Back to the problem of depressants/antidepressants in pregnancy…

This morning I came across a Freedom Of Information e-mail that I had received from the IMB. It was a copy of the Adverse Reactions Reports (ADR’s) relating to Cipramil. I noticed that there was a intrauterine (inside the womb) baby death reported. The death of this baby was  attributed to “exposure to Cipramil during pregnancy.”

Teratogen; An agent, such as a virus, a drug, or radiation, that can cause malformations or functional damage to an embryo or a fetus.

In Ireland women get very little warning about the teratogenic effect of these drugs. Psychiatrists and GP’s seem reluctant to voice their opinion one way or the other. Whether this is because they don’t want to bite the hand that feeds them or because they believe the drug company spiel is anyone’s guess. Either way, spouting about the benefit/risk conundrum is clearly a get-out clause while in the meantime babies are dying.

In 2010 there was a Case in the High Court, where a little girl’s parents alleged that the disabilities she was born with, were caused by prescription drugs taken by her mother during pregnancy. The Case was settled without admission of liability for €500,000. Article.

I’m not an expert so can only give my opinion but Professor Healy is, so here is what he says: “In the case of the SSRIs as the evidence mounts that these drugs cause birth defects, doubling the rate of major malformations, doubling the rate of miscarriage, increasing rates of voluntary terminations and more than likely leading to learning disabilities/autism in a significant number of children born to mothers on these treatments, we have nevertheless a mounting use of these drugs.”

Here is an excerpt from Professor Healy’s talk “The Cardinals Of Psychiatry” Full Paper here.

Final Acts of the Tragedy

We are facing a true tragedy – a system put in place with the best of intentions to prevent injuries from drugs in general but symbolized in particular by injuries to babies in utero is now leading to just the outcomes it sought to avoid.

In the case of the SSRIs as the evidence mounts that these drugs cause birth defects, doubling the rate of major malformations, doubling the rate of miscarriage, increasing rates of voluntary terminations and more than likely leading to learning disabilities/autism in a significant number of children born to mothers on these treatments, we have nevertheless a mounting use of these drugs.  Where antidepressants were once used rarely in pregnancy they are now among the most commonly used drugs – up to 15% of pregnant women. 

This use is actively promoted by our Cardinals, who collectively make it almost impossible for articles to get published drawing attention to the issues. It is a world where articles can only get published in Vogue or other such outlets – outlining the case of Gina Fromm who for instance when she became pregnant in 2004, did a range of things that few women would have done in 1962 – she took cold rather than hot showers in case she might harm her baby, stopped eating yoghurts and incinerated any chicken because of the risk of bacteria from listeria to salmonella. She balked at taking prenatal vitamins, though she had been taking Paxil following a fleeting episode of anxiety.  She continued to take it through her pregnancy; she had found stopping difficult and her doctor reassured her it posed no risk to her baby.  On February 2^nd 2005 her son Mark was born with congenital heart defects.

……………………………………………

The Death of the baby in the IMB e-mail was associated with Cipramil. We asked Lundbeck if their drug was a Teratogen. Although they seem to admit it, here is a prime example of drug company spiel….

Leonie  Do you think that it’s advisable to virtually bathe foetuses in Serotonin given it is now accepted this family of drugs are firmly associated with birth defects?

 Dr. Madsen  Virtually bathe?

 Leonie   Foetuses in Serotonin – pregnancy.

 Tony   Pregnant women.

 Dr. Madsen  I don’t know what you mean by virtually bathe

 Leonie    I’m talking about anti-depressants are known to cause birth defects.  If you think so, would it not be better if women of child-bearing age were cautioned against, perhaps even contra-indicated from using this drug?  Citalopram or Escitalopram?

 Dr. Madsen   Em, I think in…..

 Leonie   Your views?

 Dr. Madsen  In pregnancy?

 Mr. Schroll   the medicines agency authorities you can see what is in the checks that the Doctors and that is up to them to decide…..

 Leonie   So you are passing the buck back to the Doctor again.

 Mr. Schroll  I think when it’s prescription medication, yes.  If it was eh, eh,

 Leonie   And will they be told that it can harm their unborn baby?

 Mr. Schroll   Sorry?

 Leonie   Will the pregnant woman be told that the drug can, can harm her unborn baby?

 Dr. Madsen  Em, I think em, physicians need to double their efforts to make sure that there is a correct risk versus eh, benefit eh, assessment of the em, of any action.

 Leonie   Is Citalopram and Escitalopram a teratogen?

Dr. Madsen   Em, meaning, what, what, what do you mean?

 Leonie  Can it cause harm to foetuses? Unborn babies.

 Dr. Madsen   Em, obviously, in order to have our compounds approved we have done em, a large number of pre-clinical trials em, and we are constantly monitoring and the eh, while the recommendation I believe throughout, is to be, be extra cautious when administering any eh, medications to pregnant women…

 Leonie  Can it cause harm…..to unborn babies?

 Dr. Madsen   Anything can cause harm, can cause harm in any dose…

 Leonie     So yes it can.

 Dr. Madsen  depending on dose

 Leonie      Yep…………Em, why if it can cause harm, is this not clearly, clearly stated on the packaging and information leaflet?

 Mr. Schroll   Do you talk about the patient leaflet or do you talk about the SPC, the label that the Doctors use in order to prescribe the medication?

 Leonie    I’m talking about a pregnant woman that goes down and gets it in the chemist.  Is it on the patient information leaflet?

 Mr. Schroll   In the patient leaflet it says you have to talk to your Doctor….

 Leonie   And what does it say in the Doctor’s leaflet?

 Mr. Schroll  That he has to be extra cautious.  I think that if you go to the… to, to the Irish home page, I believe it is like that, it’s like that in Denmark and elsewhere.  If you go to the medicines agency authorities

 Leonie   So,

Mr. Schroll    It would be part of the discussion to talk about the risks and the benefits and that would be up to the Doctor.

 Leonie    It would be up to the Doctor to tell them that the drug can harm their unborn baby?

 Mr. Schroll   Eh, now, you’re talking…..

 Leonie   It’s not up to Lundbeck, no?  It’s up to the Doctor to tell the woman that the drug can harm their unborn baby?

 Mr. Schroll   To be cautious, yes, yes.

Anything that brings depression out into the open has to be a good thing, right? Are Boh’s aware that the ’Lean on Me’ campaign is funded by a dubious pharmaceutical company?

It’s hard to explain how wrong this is but here is an excerpt from a 2010 Irish Newspaper Article….

Anti-depressants manufacturer funds depression-awareness campaign

Lundbeck’s primary product is Cipramil, the world’s most-prescribed new-generation antidepressant. Cipramil alone accounts for some 82 per cent of the company’s sales.

“Paul David Klemperer is an economist and professor of Economics at Oxford University. He said: “When groups accept financial support from the pharmaceutical industry and medical device manufacturers this constitutes an increasingly important marketing component for the [pharmaceuticals company].”

A member of the pharmaceuticals industry who wishes to remain unnamed says, “Once you scratch the surface you would be amazed how many organisations without the necessary resources avail of external resources like pharmaceutical companies. You then feel like you must align yourself with what those companies want. Questions should be asked about this.”

Lundbeck Ireland declined to comment on their funding of the Lean on Me campaign.

…………………………………                              

Aware also puts it name to this campaign. Aware who describes itself as a “national organisation working to provide support and information to individuals and families affected by depression”, has long been associated with Lundbeck. A national depression organisation allowing itself to be associated with an unetical pharmaceutical company is surely naive at best. I would consider it questionable.

Are people aware that in the U.S, Lundbeck’s partners in crime Forest Labs, have been settling a string of wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits from the parents of children who took Lundbeck’s Celexa and Lexapro? Link.

An example of how Lundbeck treated one of their own employees with depression…Link.

Does anybody think that because Lundbeck denied that their drugs can cause suicide/homicide on Irish TV but admitted it in other countries, they think we’re a tad stupid? Link. 

Lundbeck has already been accused of hidden advertising after it has emerged that the pharmaceutical company is behind a popular internet forum for people suffering from depression. Depression advice website seems to promote products made by pharmaceutical company Lundbeck. Link.

Pharmaceutical companies who manufacture pills with potentially fatal side effects, have been allowed to fund our Universities, the medicines regulator and now sport. Then there’s the nice little sideline by some of our Irish Psychiatrists. It’s only a matter of time before we have ourselves an Irish version of Nemeroff. New York Times.

Information from the “Industry” funded Irish Medicines Board…

For bupropion, citalopram, escitalopram and fluvoxamine there is a trend towards an increased risk of suicidal behaviour with that for citalopram being most marked but does not reach statistical significance for any of these drugs. ( Only DOUBLE that of  placebo?) 

http://leoniefennell.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/lundbecks-says-mind-yourself-if-you-dont-kill-yourself-first/

http://leoniefennell.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/lean-on-me-thats-unless-you-die-from-an-adverse-reaction-of-course/

I have briefly mentioned the latest LawSuit involving allegations of kickbacks and bribes committed by Forest Labs. For people who are not familiar with the pharmaceutical industry, let me explain, Forest are Lundbeck’s partner in crime, who market Citalopram and Escitalopram to the American public.

Forest have the dubious reputation of peddling their medication (off-label) to children. They previously paid 313 million to settle criminal and civil complaints for illegally promoted Citalopram/Celexa/Cipramil for use in children. This was despite a very clear black box warning that this drug could induce sucidality in young people (Under 25′s) and that the same drug was not licenced for under 18′s for that reason. NY Times.

The latest whistleblower suit unsealed in Maryland federal court last month, claim that Forest paid kickbacks and bribes to the main author of the STAR*D drug study, Dr. A. John Rush. The suit alleges that Dr Rush of the University of Texas was paid these bribes so that he would rig the STAR*D study in favor of the company’s drug Celexa. The STAR*D study (Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression) was conducted over 6 years, was funded by NIMH and cost $35 million; that’s not including Forest’s bribary stash account.

Robert Whitaker, whose book “Anatomy of an Epidemic” won an award for best investigative journalism book of 2010, has been campaigning for a full Investigation into the STAR*D scandal. Here.

STAR*D: What Have We Learned? In 2007 the American Journal of Psychiatry published a paper by Dr Rush entitled “STAR*D: What Have We Learned?” Link. In the last paragraph he says “Finally, on a personal note, large efforts like STAR*D are the ultimate exercise in “delayed gratification.” I bet it was.

His declared conflicts of interest:

STAR*D: What Have We Learned? Well I for one have learned that Celexa can cause extremely violent deaths. I have learned that Forest labs and Lundbeck are aware that their drugs can cause suicide and homicide. I have also learned that kickbacks and bribes are an integral part of their operation. Fancy doing a paper on that Dr. Rush?

http://www.madinamerica.com/author/epigott/

http://1boringoldman.com/index.php/2012/02/02/19098/

Professor Healy took part and was brilliant as always. I urge you to watch, if only to see the sickening pharmaceutical adverts and how they are selling sickness, not cures.

Well done to TG4 for this brilliant programme and for having the guts to tackle this issue.

Click on this link to view…TG4. Under the picture, click on documentaries (faisnéis) then branding illness 07.02.12.

This one is for my friends Shea and Shane’s Godmother Louise who are both on statins but have kept themselves fully informed. Consumers might find it interesting to see what Professor Healy has to say on the subject of these cholesterol-lowering drugs. Makes so much sense when someone takes the time to explain; Isn’t that what doctors used to do?

EXCERPT…

“I’m not a big medication person, but I gave a few depressed adolescents SSRIs without much problem [or success].

Then came a young guy, 16 or 17. He was really depressed. Mom had remarried a retired drill sergeant [really], and he was driving them both crazy with his controlling ways and his drinking. The boy saw his way out – a Diesel Mechanic school out of state – but it was over a year away and he had become hopeless.

He got called for an interview at the school, and I was afraid that he was so depressed that he wouldn’t be able to rise to the occasion, so I put him on Citalopram [$4/month at Kroger]. After just a few days, he became “crazy” and like a “madman.” He couldn’t sleep and progressed to delirium. It cleared in a day and a half off the medication. “I was jumping out of my skin. I wanted to kill, me or someone else,” he said later. I learned my lesson.

The end of the case? Mom got a divorce and her son went off to school this fall. Both are doing well, and I’m the wiser. I’ve seen and heard in retrospect other cases, but that’s the one that stuck in my mind. It’s like the Paxil Withdrawal syndrome I was talking about a few days ago. You just have to see it once to become a true believer. Nowadays, the only adolescents on SSRIs prescribed by me are kids with OCD, and they and their parents are explicitly warned before starting the medication”.

Full post here.

The reason I chose this picture is because a Brussles Court has found Citalopram/Cipramil/Celexa to be the same product as Escitalopram/Lexapro/Cipralex; the same product that this retired Psychiatrist is talking about. Some medical professional thought it was OK to give this depressant to a flippin 7 year old boy which resulted in suicide. Poor child! Could he even spell suicide ideation?

Brussels court holds escitalopram to be the same product as citalopram under Articles 3(c)-(d) of the SPC-Regulation. Here.

Charlie Suen,18, a popular teenager killed himself after failing to make the grades for university and splitting from his girlfriend, an inquest heard. Former Tiffin School student Charles Suen wanted to retake some of his A-levels after he struggled with school and missed out on his first choice of Edinburgh University the previous year.

During the inquest, concerns were raised about the delay in Charlie’s referral for psychological therapy and over the prescription of anti-depressant citalopram.

11 days after starting citalopram, Charlie hung himself from his bunk bed at his home.

His GP Michael Desouza felt it was appropriate to prescribe Citalopram for Charlie. Citalopram is used to treat a variety of mental health problems and can improve symptoms such as depression and anxiety. Although, just not efficacious in Charlies Case and many, many other unfortunate cases?

In the early stages of treatment citalopram may intensify depression and suicidal feelings, increasing the risk of self-harm or suicide, but as the drug starts to work the risks decrease. (That is the spin usually used by the company doctors but it is also very very wrong; if you are having an adverse reaction to the drug, staying on the same drug will never make it better and most probably cause death)

Mr and Mrs Suen raised concerns over its prescription to their son and the lack of communication and involvement they had in his treatment.

Mr Suen said: “Although he was 18, just 18, shouldn’t they be asking him ‘Do you want your parents to come? Shouldn’t they be co-ordinating, communicating between us?”

HOW MANY MORE?

Full Article

But the inquest heard Mr Benning’s death was “out of the blue”, because despite his mental health problems he had only ever shown “fleeting thoughts” of committing suicide. A few weeks after Citalopram was introduced, he hung himself in Hatchett Woods.

In the weeks prior to his death he was prescribed the anti psychotic drug citalopram which, the inquest heard, can lead to patients suffering suicidal thoughts as a side effect and his family had expressed concerns at the new drug.

Speaking after the inquest, Mr Benning’s sister Juliet said: “Although we are aware that there may be little statistical evidence to prove the antidepressant citalopram may lead to a heightened risk of suicide, we have gathered enough anecdotal evidence to prove otherwise.

“We would ask that any prescription of the drug made by those in the health authorities is done so with a warning of these risks.”

As one of the comments on this Article states “This man had a 16 yr history of cannabis use, yet within weeks of starting on citalopram he starts to exhibit symptoms that disturb his family. The drug is known to be dangerous, the enclosed notes state as much”… Full Article.

How many people have Lundbeck killed today then? Don’t let it be your family; be informed.

Still not enough deaths for the IMB or the Minister for Health to initiate an investigation? Just how many do they need?