Teen Screen

Below is a portion of an newspaper article about a new system that the government is wanting to put into highschools across the nation. It is a computerized test to assess and diagnos teens to see what type of psychological problems they have. The disgusting part about all of this is that it is funded and back by the pharmacetucal companies. Can you say conflict of intrest? The most distrubing part is that the test is being administered without parental consent. If the whistle isn't blown on this who knows what else they will find okay to do to our children without consent. Because the article is so very long I have included to portions of it and then a link to read the rest.

TeenScreen - The Law Suits Begin

By Evelyn Pringle
The scheme concocted by the pharmaceutical industry and pushed forward by
the Bush administration to screen the entire nation's public school
population for mental illness and treat them with controversial drugs was
already setting off alarms among parents all across the country. But in the
state of Indiana, the alarm just got louder.

Tax payers had better get out their check books because school taxes are
about to go up as the law suits against school boards start mounting over
the TeenScreen depression survey being administered to children in the school.

The first notice of intent to sue was filed this month in Indiana by
Michael and Teresa Rhoades who were outraged when they learned their
daughter had been given a psychological test at school without their consent.

In December 2004, their daughter came home from school and said she had
been diagnosed with an obsessive compulsive and social anxiety disorder
after taking the TeenScreen survey.

Teresa Rhoades always viewed her daughter as a happy normal teenager. “I
was absolutely outraged that my daughter was told she had these two
conditions based off a computer test,” said Rhoades.

Attorney John Price, who is representing the Rhoadeses, confirmed that he
had sent a notice of tort claim to both the school and Madison Center,
which worked with the school system to administer the test.

This action means that the Rhoadeses are declaring their intent to file a
lawsuit against both entities. Price said state law requires a notice of
claim to be sent to any governmental agencies, including schools, before a
lawsuit can be filed against them, according to the June 9, South Bend
Tribune.

In the notice, Teresa and Michael Rhoades claim the survey was erroneous,
improper, and done with reckless disregard for their daughter's welfare and
that they did not give the school permission to give the test.

The parents allege that when their daughter took the test, she was
improperly diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder and social anxiety
disorder. That diagnosis, they claim, caused both the teen and her parents
emotional distress, and the family intends to seek the "maximum amount of
damages."

The Indiana child was diagnosed with two disorders in one crack but there
are many more.

If a teen doesn't like doing math assignments, parents should not worry.
TeenScreen may determine that the child simply has a mental illness known
as developmental- arithmetic disorder.

There's also a diagnosis for those children who like to argue with their
parents, they may be afflicted with a mental illness known
oppositional- defiant disorder.

And for anybody critical of the of the above 2 disorders, they may be
suffering the mental illness called noncompliance- with-treatment disorder.

No kidding, these illnesses are included in the more than 350 "mental
disorders" listed in the American Psychiatric Association' s Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the insurance billing bible for
mental disorders.

Tax Dollars Already Being Funneled To Pharma

In addition to lawsuits, tax dollars are already funding TeenScreen and
many of the drugs purchased by the new customers it recruits.

While promoting TeenScreen to Congress, its Executive Director, Laurie
Flynn, flat out lied when she told members of congress that TeenScreen was
free and its website statement that "The program does not receive financial
support from the government and is not affiliated with, or funded by, any
pharmaceutical companies," is also a blatant lie.

On Oct 21, 2004 Bush authorized $82 million for suicide prevention programs
like TeenScreen and a report in Psychiatric Times said the administration
had proposed an increase in the budget for the Center for Mental Health
Service from $862 million in 2004 to $912 million in fiscal 2005.
TeenScreen is sure to get a cut of those tax dollars.

Federal tax dollars are also being funneled through state governments to
fund TeenScreen. On Nov 17, 2004, Officials at the University of South
Florida Department of Child & Family Studies said $98,641 was awarded to
expand the TeenScreen program in the Tampa Bay area.

In Ohio, under the governor's Executive Budget for 2006 and 2007, the
Department of Mental Health has specifically earmarked $70,000 for
TeenScreen for each of those years, reports investigator Sue Weibert.

On June, 2002 the Update Newsletter published by the Tennessee Department
of Mental Health, reported that 170 Nashville students had completed a
TeenScreen survey. The Newsletter said the survey was funded by grants from
AdvoCare and Eli Lilly. Last I knew, Eli Lilly was a pharmaceutical company.

The great news for Pharma was that 96 of the 170 students who took the
survey ended up speaking to a therapist which no doubt resulted in the
recruitment of 96 new pill-popping teens.

Tax Dollars Spent On Drugs
Click Here for Financial information on Teen Screen

In Ohio there's Mike Hogan, Director of the Ohio Department of Mental
Health. He's hooked in with Parexel Medical Marketing, a front group that
takes Pharma money to set "advisory panels" for Pharma. The panel
memberships are made up exclusively of Mental Health, Medicaid and other
Directors from the various states. Michael Hogan is listed as an advisory
board member.

The panel members are treated to trips, first class accommodations and
other perks in exchange for showing up and listening to a spiel by Janssen
sales personnel who direct the course of the meetings. The same kinds of
meetings that Fiorello attended.

Hopefully will be just a matter of time before the new senate committee
disbands this gang of pharma-backed government pill-pushers.

Trying To Save The Children

Dire warnings against mass mental health screening are coming from every
segment of society, including parents, physicians, academics, journalists,
and human rights groups because the influence of the pharmaceutical
industry in this scheme is so patently obvious.

People are particularly worried about saving the children from senseless
and dangerous drugging. According to long-time anti-child drugging
advocate, Doyle Mills, "Psychiatry has a long history of abject failure.
Psychiatric treatments - drugs, electroconvulsive therapy, lobotomies -
have harmed millions and robbed them of any hope of a normal life."

Expert records researcher, Ken Kramer, has been fighting against child
drugging for years has conducted a research project on child suicides in
Florida that determined that medicating kids with the types of dangerous
mind-altering drugs on these lists is causing suicide. He helped defeat
TeenScreen's attempt to gain access to schools in 2 of Florida's largest
counties. Ken has a TeenScreen website at
http://www.psychsea rch.net/teenscre en.html

Dr Karen Effrem, a pediatrician and strong opponent of mandatory screening
recently warned, "Universal mental health screening and the drugging of
children ... needs to be stopped so that many thousands if not millions of
children will be saved from receiving stigmatizing diagnoses that would
follow them for the rest of their lives. America's school children should
not be medicated by expensive, ineffective, and dangerous medications based
on vague and dubious diagnoses."

In a letter to the editor in the Washington Times on October 31, 2004,
Effrem summed up the dangers of using tax dollars to fund mass mental
health screening of children:

"Given the very real problems of already existing coercion, subjective
criteria, dangerous and ineffective medication, and the failure of
screening to prevent suicide ... Congress would be wise to withhold the $44
million requested for state grants."

The nation's first law suit has been filed and let it serve as a warning to
other schools across the country to think twice before allowing the
TeenScreen recruitment scheme to zero in on their students.