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September
28, 2004 Mr.
Andrew Heyward President
of CBS Television 524
West 57th Street New
York, NY 10019 Dear
Mr. Heyward: Our
National Parent Organization is outraged that CBS would allow a
self-appointed expert, one man who so many of the American public rely on
for advice, Dr. Phil, to misrepresent the current mental health crisis on
Attention Deficit Disorder, and the drugs that are recommended to parents
for their children by the Association of School Psychologists, teachers,
and school personnel throughout this Country’s public education system. Dr.
Phil failed to present this issue without bias, failed to thoroughly
research this issue and use current relevant information regarding it, and
failed to reveal pertinent facts that the public has the right to know.
This is a travesty of social ethics.
The fact that Dr. Phil failed to mention the current ongoing
Federal litigation on the labeling and drugging of school-aged children,
which includes constitutional violations against schools and their
ramifications, is misleading to the public and dangerous to our
children’s health and well being. The
medical community itself is in dispute over ADD/ADHD as per its scientific
backing as a brain-based condition. The
mental health community is in dispute as well over it.
Dr. Phil did not show any dispute whatsoever.
This fact alone is a distortion of the truth and a
misrepresentation, at the very least, to the American public.
There
have been 3 Federal Congressional Hearings regarding ADD/ADHD, drug
“treatment”, and forced drug “treatment” by schools nationwide.
These hearings, through transcripts and videotape, show this
ongoing dispute within the medical community itself over ADHD being
marketed to the public as a brain-based condition, or disease, without
scientific validation. The
transcripts clearly show the many medical professionals attesting under
oath that attention deficit disorder is a subjective label lacking
scientific merit. Currently
there are over 18 states that have laws in place outlawing schools from
recommending the label ADHD to parents and forcing them to drug their
children. Because of this
widespread state legislation, the Federal government has aided parents by
proposing a Federal bill, “The Child Medication Safety Act,” which
would, if passed, prohibit all schools in the U.S from recommending and
coercing parents to drug their children.
At
NO time did Dr. Phil present any of this information.
At NO time did Dr. Phil attempt to show any of the ongoing disputes
among medical professionals regarding this topic.
At No time did Dr. Phil show any of the parents whose children have
been harmed or have died as a result of the many drugs used in
“treatment” for this label. To exclude all of this information is
clear bias and demonstrates the medias failure to ensure equal coverage on
this important topic. Currently
antidepressant use in children, the lack of efficacy and safety regarding
these drugs, and the real failure to warn parents and caregivers of the
risks of drug “treatment” are all being investigated.
The Federal government has initiated hearings this month (Oversight
and Investigative Committee) regarding antidepressant use in children and
the real deadly effects that these drugs can have.
Many of these drugs under investigation are prescribed to our
children off-label for ADHD. With
this in mind, we wish to point out that at NO time did Dr. Phil attempt to
alert the public to this crucial information. Suppressing
certain truths and at the same time allowing misinformation to be marketed
to an unsuspecting public is blatantly wrong and is a disturbing trend in
the media’s own twisted liaison with the pharmaceutical industries
advertising financial incentives. We
are disappointed in CBS for allowing Dr. Phil to air this distortion of
this issue. CBS’s approach
in educating the public is seriously flawed and in its failure it has done
a grave disservice, not only to our children, wrongfully labeled with this
mental illness and harmed by drug “treatment”, but to their families
and what should be these individuals basic right to informed consent. Best
Regards, Sheila
Matthews Ablechild.org Cc:
Dan Burton
Oversight and Investigation Committee Members (Antidepressants
& Children)
Eliot Spitzer
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