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"Senator Says F.D.A. Asked Canada Not to Suspend ADHD Drug Spotlight on Adderall" " The controversy . . . promises to engulf the F.D.A. in more questions about its oversight of the pharmaceutical industry. " [By Gardiner Harris And Benedict Carey, NY times.] http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/11/politics/11drug.html?pagewanted=print&posi tion= A day after Canadian officials suspended the use of a hyperactivity drug amid reports of deaths associated with its use, Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa contended that United States health officials had asked the Canadian regulators not to do so. Senator Grassley, a Republican, said on Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration had...

When Chad Taylor noticed his son was apparently experiencing serious side effects from Ritalin prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, he decided to take the boy off the medication. Now, he says he may be accused of child abuse. In February, 12-year-old Daniel began displaying some symptoms that his father suspected were related to the use of Ritalin. "He was losing weight, wasn't sleeping, wasn't eating," Taylor told ABC News affiliate KOAT-TV in New Mexico. "[He] just wasn't Daniel." So Taylor took Daniel off Ritalin, against his doctor's wishes. And though Taylor noticed Daniel was sleeping better and his appetite...

Spending on drugs to treat children and adolescents for behavior-related disorders rose 77 percent from 2000 to the end of 2003, according to a study of prescription purchases by Medco Health Solutions, a pharmacy benefits management company. The increase, to $536 a patient a year on average, reflected rising prices as growing numbers of young people used newer and more expensive drugs, said Robert S. Epstein, chief medical officer of Medco. The report is to be released today. Sales of the behavioral drugs are growing faster than any other type of medicine taken by children, pulling ahead of the previous...

(CNSNews.com) - Parents seeking a way to help their children overcome attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have increasingly resorted to the prescription drug, Ritalin. However, critics claim some doctors and entrepreneurs are exploiting the behavioral disorder and the dissatisfaction with Ritalin for their own financial gain. Recently, the mother of now-12-year-old Michael Mozer of New York City hired a lawyer to look into the possibility of suing Michael's elementary school because administrators there had allegedly been too hasty in diagnosing the boy with ADHD. Michael Mozer ended up being prescribed Ritalin, his mother Patricia Weathers told the New York Post,...

19-year-old charged with mom's death 12/31/2002 From Wire Reports SUGAR LAND, Texas - A 19-year-old man has been charged with stabbing his mother to death after he was seen walking down a street with blood on his clothing, the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Department said Monday. When authorities spotted and approached Anansi Flaherty on Sunday, they say, he confessed to killing his mother. The body of Vanessa Sweetman, 45, was later found with stab wounds in the home she shared with her son and husband. Officials said Ms. Sweetman's husband had gone to run errands and wasn't home when...