Council on Domestic Relations

    God Bless All The Little Children  

BikeLil boyMillions of Children, Labeled ADD / ADHD,
Were Normal All Along

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“ADHD is a total, 100% fraud.”

— Dr. Fred A. Baughman, Neurologist

(final, with biblio 10/6/00)

By Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD, a life-long, independent, neurologist/child neurologist

My prepared statement delivered to Committee on Education and the Workforce, hearing entitled "Behavioral Drugs in Schools: Questions and Concerns," held September 29, 2000, 9:00 a.m., in Room 2175, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC, 20515-6100

On April 15, 1998, I [1] wrote Attorney General Reno:  "The biggest health care fraud in US history is the representation of ADHD to be a disease, and the drugging of millions of normal children."

Every physician knows, 'disease' equals  'physical abnormality'.  Nowhere in the  brains or bodies of these children, has psychiatry found an abnormality.

On July 15, 1996, Congressman Christopher Shays [2] observed:   "In ADHD, we are trying to draw the line between personality and pathology, and we are placing millions of children and adults on either side of the social, medical and legal boundary that divides the healthy from the sick.  We should do so only with the greatest care, and with particular reticence to make our children medical patients..."

On October 12, 1970, Congressman, Cornelius Gallagher [3] wrote HEW Secretary, Elliott Richardson:   "I have received letters highly critical of the focus of the medical side of minimal brain dysfunction (the reigning designation at the time), which is, incidentally, one of at least thirty-eight names attached to this condition. Such a high incidence in the population – as high as thirty percent in ghetto areas – may not be pathological at all."

In 1948, "neuropsychiatry" was divided into "neurology," dealing with organic diseases of the brain, and "psychiatry," dealing with psychological conditions in normal human beings [4].

But psychiatric drugs appeared in the fifties, and in the sixties psychiatry and pharmaceutical industry authored a joint market strategy: they would call emotional problems "brain diseases," due to "chemical imbalances" needing "chemical balancers" – pills!

In 1980, they invented ADD [5]; in 1987, ADHD [6].  8 of 14 behaviors were diagnostic!

In 1994, ADHD [7] was re-conceptualized; now, six of the nine behaviors diagnosed 3 subtypes.

In 1996, Schiller, of the Department of Education, and  Jensen and Swanson of the NIMH & CHADD [8], wrote:    "Once parents and teachers recognize that children with ADD are not lazy or 'bad', but have a biological disorder, they can stop blaming themselves." 

On October 8, 1996, Diller [9], wrote: "The reason  you have been unable to obtain any articles presenting clear evidence of a physical or chemical abnormality is.. there are none.  The search for a biological marker is doomed from the outset because of the contradictions and ambiguities of the diagnostic construct of ADHD."

In 1993, [10], I testified at the NIH:    "If, as I am convinced, these entities are not diseases, it would be
unethical to initiate research to evaluate biological interventions-unethical and fatally flawed scientifically."

In December 1994, Pearlman [11], wrote:  "I take issue with Pincus' (for the APA) assertion that elimination of the term 'organic' in the DSM-IV has served a useful purpose for psychiatry.  Elimination of the  term 'organic' conveys the impression that psychiatry wishes to conceal the nonorganic character of many behavioral problems."

On May, 13, 1998, Castellanos [12] of the NIMH confessed to me: "We have not yet met the burden of demonstrating the specific pathophysiology that we believe underlies this condition."

Opening the November 16-18, 1998, NIH, Consensus Conference on ADHD, Hyman [13], Director of the NIMH, posited: "ADHD affects from 0-3% in some school districts up to 40% in others. This cannot be right."

Carey [14], 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..."

Degrandpre [15], commenting on the Report of the Panel, observed: "It appears that you define disease as a maladaptive cluster of characteristics. In the history of science and medicine, this would not be a valid definition of disease."

Failing to prove that ADHD is a disease, they seek to re-define the word "disease."

I testified [16]: "Without an iota of proof, the NIMH  proclaims the children "brain-diseased," "abnormal."  CHADD, funded by  Ciba-Geigy, 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."

The final statement of 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."

On April 29, 1999, I [18] challenged the American Medical Association [19], which had concluded: "there is little evidence of widespread overdiagnosis or misdiagnosis of ADHD or of widespread over-prescription of methylphenidate (Ritalin)." 

My challenge:    "Once children are labeled with ADHD, they are no longer treated as normal.  Once Ritalin or any psychotropic drug courses through their brain and body, they are, for the first time, physically, neurologically and biologically, abnormal."

In November 28, 1999, I wrote Matthew D. Cohen, [20] President of CHADD:   "You state ADHD is a 'severe neurobiological condition'. How does CHADD justify calling so many normal children diseased, abnormal.for purposes of justifying prescriptions for them, of addictive, controlled, Schedule II, psychostimulant medications?"

On December 13, 1999, Surgeon General, David Satcher [21] announced:  "Mental illness is no different than diabetes, asthma or other physical ailments.Mental illnesses are physical illnesses.We know the chemical disorders we are treating."

I [22] responded to Satcher:  "All physicians, know that the presence of any bona fide disease. is confirmed by an objective finding – a physical or chemical abnormality.  You know there is no abnormality in life, or at autopsy, in 'depression, bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses.' Your role in this deception is clear you should resign."

In January 2000, twenty years after the start of the ADD/ADHD epidemic, Castellanos [23], observed:  "Incontrovertible evidence is still lacking. I'm confident we'll confirm the case for organic causes."

On May 1, Waters and Kraus [24] of Dallas filed the first of several class action suits charging that the APA, CHADD and Ciba-Giegy/Novartis:   " planned, conspired, and colluded to create, develop, promote and confirm the diagnoses of Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, in a highly successful effort to increase the market for its product Ritalin."


BIBLIOGRAPHY


1.  Baughman FA Jr. Letter to Attorney General, Janet Reno, April 15, 1998.
2.  Testimony of Rep. Christopher Shays, R-CN at the Hearing of the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, July 15, 1996.
3.  Letter from Cornelius E. Gallagher, Chairman of the Right to Privacy Inquiry Special Studies Subcommittee to the Honorable Elliott Richardson, Secretary Department of Health Education and Welfare (HEW) October 12, 1970.
4. The American Academy of Neurology: The First Fifty Years, 1948-1998.  Maynard M. Cohen (ed.).  The American Academy of Neurology, St. Paul, MN.
5. American Psychiatric Association.  Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 3rd edition.  Washington: American Psychiatric Association, 1980.
6. American Psychiatric Association.  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd edition-revised (DSM-III-R). Washington, DC. 1987.
7. American Psychiatric Association.  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition.  Washington, DC. 1994.
8. Schiller E, Jensen PS, Swanson J. In magazine of the Parent Teachers Association, from the Office of Special Education, US Department of Education,1996.
9. Diller, L. personal correspondence to S. Parry, October 8, 1997.
10. Baughman FA. Testimony to the Panel on NIH Research on Antisocial, Aggressive, and Violence-Related Behaviors and their Consequences, September 23, 1993.
11. Pearlman, T.  Letter to the editor in Clinical Psychiatric News December, 1994.
12. Castellanos, FX.   Personal correspondence to F.Baughman of May, 13, 1998.
13. Hyman SE.  Opening remarks at the November 16-18, 1998, NIH, Consensus Conference on ADHD.
14. Carey, WB.  Invited presentation: "Is ADHD a Valid Disorder" at the November 16-18, 1998, NIH, Consensus Conference on ADHD.
15. DeGrandpre, R. Quoted at the November 16-18, 1998, NIH, Consensus Conference on ADHD.
16. Baughman, FA Jr.  Testimony at the NIH, Consensus Conference on ADHD, November 17, 1998.
17. Final Statement of the Panel of the NIH, Consensus Conference on ADHD, November 18, 1998,
18. Baughman, FA.Jr. Treatment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder JAMA 1999 ;281:1490.
19. Goldman LS, Genel M, Bezman RJ, Slanetz PJ, for the Council on Scientific Affairs, American Medical Association.  JAMA. 1998; 279:1100-1107.
20. Baughman, FA Jr., letter to Matthew D. Cohen, Esq., President, CHADD, November 28, 1999.
21. Report on Mental Health of the Surgeon General, December 13, 1999.
22. Baughman FA Jr., letter to Surgeon General, David Satcher, December 13, 1999.
23. Castellanos, FX. Interview in Making Sense of Ritalin, Readers Digest, January, 2000.
24. Law firm of Waters and Kraus, Dallas, Texas, on <ritalinfraud.com>

 [Dr. Baughman's website can be found at:   http://adhdfraud.com/  and is listed in Related Links, below.]

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