Biopsychiatry Illuminated

THE CANDLELIGHT PROJECT
by Bob Collier

13 July 2003
Issue 50

Fred Baughman, MD, who I mention several times in my report, has been an adult and child neurologist in California for 35 years. In many ways, Dr. Baughman is the 'Leader of the Opposition' in the matter of 'ADHD'. He has been striving for many years to bring the truth about this so-called 'disease' to the attention of as many people as possible.

In addition to scientific articles that have appeared in leading national and international medical journals, Dr. Baughman has testified for victimized parents and children in 'ADHD'/Ritalin legal cases, writes for the print media and appears on talk radio shows, always making the point that 'ADHD' is fraudulent - "a creation of the psychiatric- pharmaceutical cartel, without which they would have nothing to prescribe their dangerous, addictive, Schedule II stimulants for."

I was going to attempt, this week, to provide you with an overview of Dr. Baughman's thoughts on 'ADHD', but then, as luck would have it, I received a copy of a letter Dr. Baughman recently wrote to the [US] Federal Trade Commission that has, in effect, done the job for me.

Here is the text of Dr. Baughman's letter. I'm sure it will speak for itself.

Regarding: Deception/Fraud in the sales of drugs for so-called ADHD against Novartis (complaint #31256612) Shire (#3125742), GlaxoSmithKline (#3125799) McNeil (#3125814) and Lilly (#3125825)

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I rendered my oral/telephone testimony regarding these five complaints earlier this afternoon. In doing so I failed to emphasize the incomparable role of Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorders-CHADD, in deceiving the US public regarding the true nature of so-called ADHD.

In the June 18, 2003, press release from Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorders (CHADD), they call ADHD a "neurobiological disorder", by which, make no mistake, they mean an abnormality of the biology of the brain - a disease. This has been the essence of their message to the US public, patients, and parents, from the time of their founding, by Ciba/Novartis, for Ciba/Novartis, and now, and since their founding in 1987, for all pharmaceutical companies (Shire, GlaxoSmithKline, McNeil and Lilly) that market drugs for so-called ADHD. This claim is an outright lie, by which to sell drugs, not science at all. CHADD is to be considered a marketing arm of each, for the marketing of their respective drugs for ADHD. All of them contribute heavily and consistently to the support and operation of CHADD. This is why the FTC must, at long last, intervene, for the well-being of the consumer public of the US.

The definition of minimal brain damage/dysfunction (MBD - a forerunner of ADD/ADHD)/attention deficit disorder (ADD)/ attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), has been regularly changed since the 1960s when it was known as "hyperactive child syndrome". It was made ADD for the 1980 DSM-III; ADHD for the 1987 DSM-III-R, and another variant of ADHD for the 1994 DSM-IV. All are called brain diseases throughout the psychiatry/mental health industry without a shred of scientific proof or a test by which to demonstrate an objective abnormality, person-by-person, for any single diagnosis. Using the lie - the representation of ADHD to be a disease - normal children diseased - the manufactured epidemic (of a manufactured disease) has reached an astounding, despicable, 6 million.

At the November 16-18, 1998, ADHD Consensus Conference, William B. Carey, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania, reporting on "Is ADHD a Valid Disorder?" concluded: "What is... described as ADHD in the United States appears to be a set of normal behavioral variations..."

My invited testimony to the Consensus Conference, 11/17/98 was: "Without an iota of proof or credible science, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has proclaimed the behaviors of ADHD a "disease", and the children "brain- diseased", "abnormal". CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorders), 35,000-strong, funded by Ciba- Geigy, manufacturer of Ritalin, has spread the "neuro-biological" lie. The US Department of Education, absolving itself of controlling the children and rendering them literate, coerces the labeling and drugging ... ADHD is a total, 100% fraud."

No evidence having been presented to support a claim of abnormality/disease, the final statement of Consensus Conference Panel [17], November 18, 1998, was: "...we do not have an independent, valid test for ADHD, and there are no data to indicate that ADHD is due to a brain malfunction."

There may be believers in ADHD (and other psychiatric "diseases"/ "chemical imbalances"), even in the Congress and the Senate, but beliefs are no substitute for medical science. It is never permissible to tell parents that their normal children are abnormal/diseased without having demonstrated, objectively, an abnormality/disease. To knowingly do so is to violate their right to informed consent, which itself, is medical malpractice. To then, knowingly drug or otherwise, medically "treat" the normal child/patient is assault and battery - poisoning.

Recently, Kelly Patrick O'Meara interviewed CHADD CEO, E. Clarke Ross [Insight Magazine, May 13-26, 2003, p 38], and wrote: "Despite the fact that documents provided on CHADD's website declare that ADHD not only is a "neurobiological" disorder but also a "neurological" disorder; the bottom line apparently has little to do with science. As Ross (E. Clarke Ross, CEO, CHADD) states, it "is a matter of belief." And that is precisely what opponents of the alleged disorder have been saying for years - that psychiatric diagnoses are subjective opinions unallied by science."

Here, with 6 million (at least) "diagnosed" and "treated", the CEO of the leading ADHD advocacy (and "sales") group in the world, telling us ADHD "is a matter of belief". CHADD assumed for itself the duty to articulate the truth and science regarding ADHD, but this is exactly what they have not done. Instead CHADD has lied to the parents, patients and the public throughout it's existence, since the late 1980's, and has lied, as well, to the Congress and to every state legislature, and the judiciary, stating, in effect, that ADHD is a disorder/disease when, all along, all at CHADD (including all on their professional advisory board, "scientists" from the NIMH included) knew there was never any such proof - that the children labeled and drugged were NORMAL - normal, that is, until the drugging began.

There is no evidence today that ADHD is an abnormality/disease, much less a diagnosable one. It is time that the FTC and other agents and agencies of the US federal government that have "gone along" with this massive deception and victimization of US youth, and of the public as a whole, required proof, or called a halt to all such representations of ADHD and all psychiatric conditions as diseases/chemical imbalances.

There are clear financial reasons why CHADD's ADHD-as-a-disease lie is supported by unrestricted grants from Eli Lilly and Company, L.P., McNeil Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals, and Novartis Pharmaceutical Corp. These are clear reasons why CHADD's ADHD-as-a-disease lie has been joined by the American Association of School Administrators, American Psychiatric Association, Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation, Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders, Learning Disabilities Association of America, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of Social Workers, National Center for Learning Disabilities, National Mental Health Association, National Recreation and Park Association, School Social Work Association of America, and the Tourette Syndrome Association, Inc., and others too numerous to mention here.

To a number, their members make their livings "diagnosing" and "treating" the millions of children labeled ADHD who were normal when diagnosed, and whose first and only abnormality was the first, mandatory drugs, usually an addictive dangerous, sometimes deadly Schedule II stimulant, with which each was inititated into a life-in-perpetuity as a psychiatric patient.

Finally, please consider the following, a decision on the lack of scientific validity of ADHD from the Netherlands Advertisement Code Commission, August 11, 2002:

DUTCH COMMISSION FINDS PSYCHIATRIC CLAIM IS FALSE - ADHD IS NOT A BRAIN DISORDER - The Netherlands Advertisement Code Commission (Reclame Code Commissie) has ruled that the country's Brain Foundation cannot claim that the controversial psychiatric condition Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurobiological disease or brain dysfunction. The Commission ordered the Foundation to cease such false claims in their advertising ... In its decision handed down on August 6th, the Advertisement Code Commission found that the Brain Foundation had falsely advertised and solicited funding by publishing ads in newspapers, magazines, flyers and on TV that stated ADHD is an "inherent brain dysfunction." The Advertisement Code Commission decision stated, "The information that the defendant presented gives no grounds for the definitive statement that ADHD is an inherent brain dysfunction ... Under the circumstances, the defendant has not been careful enough and the advertisement is misleading."

And, make no mistake, it is not science, and it is not medicine, in any legitimate sense of the word - it is advertising. The ADHD fraud, and with it the drugging of millions of entirely normal American children, must be acknowledged, and brought to an end.

Sincerely yours,

Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD

How is it that different people can interpret the same information in totally different ways? Next week, how a book I read during my recent holiday in Queensland revealed to me the "One Wrong Idea" behind the cult of biopsychiatry.

ADHD-Report.com: The concerned parents' guide to childrens' attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD/ADD)

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