URGENT – Our Chance to Stop Funding of The MOTHERS Act

The Bitter Pill has;

URGENT – PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATOR TODAY OR TOMORROW!!

You can find your Senators’ phone numbers here:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Your Rep’s number can be found here: http://www.house.gov/htbin/zipfind

A document for you to print and fax is here:

http://www.box.net/shared/i26tmogzs5

An older PDF of Senate Fax numbers and phone numbers is here (if your Senators’ numbers are out of date you can also look them up online – I think this may just be missing Al Franken and Scott Brown):

http://www.box.net/shared/90h42i1nvu

Here are a few of the Reps’ fax numbers, you can also look yours up on your Representative’s website or on Congress.org. This list may be a bit outdated. http://www.box.net/shared/b3hhqymcvm

Information:

Menendez has his vultures asking people to call to support appropriations / funding for programs which will be for “delivery of essential services” in “the postpartum depression initiative” a.k.a. The MOTHERS Act. The relevant portions of the Health Care Reform bill which pertain to The MOTHERS Act are: Section 2952 of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, plus screening for pregnant and new moms via the Mikulski Amendment for Women’s Health (same bill).

The “public service” awareness campaign and “research” are supposedly already going to be automatically budgeted, according to PSI’s Susan Stone. But as you know, the additional grants to entities will be essentially unchecked and unmonitored funds to God-knows-who (probably the same people who are already under investigation).

So what we need is for everyone to call (and fax if possible) your Senators and your Rep. and ask them not to support any appropriations for The MOTHERS Act – not to fund something that has absolutely no oversight and no checks and balances as to which entities will receive funding and what those programs will be. Here are the talking points.

# The bill cites various “entities” that will be eligible for grants and for participating in research and/or development of screening methods and/or treatments and delivery. Who or what are these “entities?” Are they pharmaceutically funded? Do they have conflicts of interest? There are ongoing investigations of various “non-profit” organizations who heavily promote or conduct screening. For example, Screening for Mental Health, Inc., and its sub-organization Signs of Suicide, who heavily promote and conduct mental health screening, received $4,985,925 from pharmaceutical companies prior to 2008. The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) receives 56% of its funding from pharmaceutical companies. Ten leading psychiatric researchers (many from prominent universities) have been exposed in the last year for failing to disclose millions of dollars in pharmaceutical payments — yet this bill contains no provisions for full disclosure of conflicts of interest for any “entity” receiving federal taxpayer funded grants.

# Given that the Senate Finance Committee recently exposed the financial conflicts of interest of the top ten psychiatric researchers in the U.S., it is no small issue that The MOTHERS Act provides no research guidelines for public disclosure. See Wall Street Journal article on Emory psychiatrist considered “leading expert” on use of antidepressants in pregnant women who was being funded tens of thousands of dollars by Pharma while doing federal research about the use of antidepressant drugs on pregnant women;http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124460466072501139.html andhttp://www.fiercepharma.com/story/second-emory-doc-fesses-conflicts/2009-06-10

# Under The MOTHERS Act’s current language, research will be conducted without peer review — no checks and balances, no one to validate the integrity of the research which then will be used to determine a woman’s mental health status.

# Simultaneously, without allowing any checks and balances whatsoever on the research, it promotes a national “public education” campaign to include Public Service Announcements and television and radio advertisements, essentially giving Pharma an opportunity for free, federally-funded advertising.

So please call your two Senators and your Representative for your district by tomorrow, June 22!

Filed under: pharmacology

And Calling your DC critters is Not a Time Limited Offer, June 22 not withstanding. Call them Daily.

The author of The Bitter Pill got Slammed with Zoloft, and Millions More young Moms are slated for a Similar Govt. Funded Slamming since DC told America that DC Doesn't Give a Rat's Hind Anything what America wants so long as PhRMA gets what PhRMA wants. America can just Take It & Learn to Live (& Die) with it.

Top 20 Zoloft side effects reported to MedWatch between Jan. 2004 and Dec. 2006:

Depression - 297 cases
Suicidal Ideation - 238 cases
Feeling Abnormal - 237 cases
Anxiety - 229 cases
Insomnia - 194 cases
Condition Aggravated - 189 cases
Dizziness - 179 cases
Agitation - 176 cases
Drug Ineffective - 175 cases
Suicide Attempt - 162 cases
Nausea - 161 cases
Drug Withdrawal Syndrome - 156 cases
Completed Suicide - 154 cases
Aggression - 147 cases
Tremor - 147 cases
Headache - 141 cases
Drug Interaction - 134 cases
Abnormal Behaviour - 126 cases
Diarrhoea - 118 cases
Fall - 111 cases

The other Antidepressants all have their Own disgusting 'Mentally Healthy' ways to toss a Mom & her Baby into a 6 foot hole too. And these casualty numbers don't even Begin to tell the story, because they're only the tiny handful of those Adverse Events which anyone even Bothered to Recognize as the damn drug, and Report it to the FDA.

From here on down are Only the Newer Antipsychotics: raking in Big $ Billions. If They don't Deep Six you Out The Gate through Suicide (or Homicide), they'll 24/7 Jackhammer 25 Years off of you or your child's life, .... & Govt. shoveling More of This stuff down America's throat was a "Must Have It Can't Live Without It" from our current President, House & Senate.

Abilify's top 20 side effects reported to MedWatch between Jan. 2004 and Dec. 2006:

Insomnia - 171 Cases
Increased Weight - 155 Cases
Tremor - 150 Cases
Dystonia - 132 Cases
Nausea - 110 Cases
Psychotic Disorder - 106 Cases
Dyskinesia - 103 Cases
Tardive Dyskinesia - 101 Cases
Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome - 99 Cases
Completed Suicide - 98 Cases
Agitation - 97 Cases
Extrapyramidal Disorder - 86 Cases
Vomiting - 86 Cases
Convulsion - 81 Cases
Somnolence - 78 Cases
Dizziness - 76 Cases
Drug Ineffective - 76 Cases
Drug Interaction - 76 Cases
Anxiety - 73 Cases
Akathisia - 72 Cases

Clozaril/Leponex top 20 side effects reported to MedWatch between Jan. 2004 and Dec. 2006:

Granulocytopenia 606
Death 332
Leukopenia 308
Pneumonia 235
Pyrexia 197
Treatment Noncompliance 187
Convulsion 165
Tachycardia 155
Neutropenia 153
Myocardial Infarction 147
Unevaluable Event 144
White Blood Cell Count Decreased 133
Psychotic Disorder 129
Somnolence 120
White Blood Cell Count Increased 119
Agranulocytosis 118
Vomiting 114
Fall 113
Dyspnoea 112
Drug Level Increased 106

Geodon's top 20 side effects reported to MedWatch between Jan. 2004 and Dec. 2006:

Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome - 101 Cases
Anxiety - 99 Cases
Agitation - 95 Cases
Insomnia - 86 Cases
Tremor - 79 Cases
Somnolence - 79 Cases
Dystonia - 79 Cases
Condition Aggravated - 78 Cases
Psychotic Disorder - 77 Cases
QT Corrected Interval Prolonged - 74 Cases
Drug Ineffective - 70 Cases
Convulsion - 69 Cases
Loss of Consciousness - 66 Cases
Electrocardiogram QT Prolonged - 63 Cases
Dizziness - 61 Cases
Overdose - 60 Cases
Dyspnoea - 60 Cases
Treatment Noncompliance - 59 Cases
Extrapyramidal Disorder - 58 Cases
Completed Suicide - 57 Cases

Risperdal's top 20 side effects reported to MedWatch between Jan. 2004 and Dec. 2006:

Death - 308 Cases
Diabetes Mellitus - 176 Cases
Drug Interaction - 176 Cases
Increased Weight - 138 Cases
Leukopenia - 124 Cases
Fall - 123 Cases
Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome - 116 Cases
Extrapyramidal Disorder - 109 Cases
Tardive Dyskinesia - 104 Cases
Cerebrovascular Accident - 102 Cases
Convulsion - 99 Cases
Somnolence - 98 Cases
Aggression - 99 Cases
Tremor - 93 Cases
Neutropenia - 91 Cases
Rhabdomyolysis - 88 Cases
Condition Aggravated - 86 Cases
Creatine Phosphokinase Increased - 85 Cases
Psychotic Disorder - 82 Cases
Pneumonia - 82 Cases

Seroquel's top 20 side effects reported to MedWatch between Jan. 2004 and Dec. 2006:

Polytraumatism - 992 Cases
Ill-Defined Disorder - 926 Cases
Death - 194 Cases
Overdose - 172 Cases
Drug Interaction - 144 Cases
Completed Suicide - 143 Cases
Leukopenia - 139 Cases
Loss of Consciousness - 126 Cases
Neutropenia - 122 Cases
Somnolence - 119 Cases
Fall - 113 Cases
Dizziness - 107 Cases
Hypotension - 103 Cases
White Blood Cell Count Decreased - 102 Cases
Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome - 95 Cases
Condition Aggravated - 91 Cases
Suicide Attempt - 87 Cases
Agitation - 86 Cases
Convulsion - 79 Cases
Suicidal Ideation - 78 Cases

Zyprexa's top 20 side effects reported to MedWatch between Jan. 2004 and Dec. 2006:

Diabetes Mellitus - 1,456 Cases
Weight Increased - 710 Cases
Hypertension - 414 Cases
Pancreatitis - 346 Cases
Condition Aggravated - 340 Cases
Hyperglycaemia - 327 Cases
Blood Triglycerides Increased - 327 Cases
Prescribed Overdose - 319 Cases
Death - 297 Cases
Diabetic Ketoacidosis - 263 Cases
Blood Glucose Increased - 240 Cases
Vision Blurred - 234 Cases
Obesity - 230 Cases
Blood Cholesterol Increased - 229 Cases
Weight Decreased - 220 Cases
Myocardial Infarction - 213 Cases
Alanine Aminotransferase Increased - 203 Cases
Blood Cholesterol Abnormal - 201 Cases
Metabolic Disorder - 193 Cases
Loss of Consciousness- 192 Cases

Thanks for that Free Govt. Hellcare.

As we've said from the start;

Cut the GD Funding Off, All of it, Now.

November is Coming, ..... in Spades, ..... at the Ballot Box.