{"id":149,"date":"2009-05-06T07:00:06","date_gmt":"2009-05-06T13:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/?p=149"},"modified":"2024-07-14T05:43:47","modified_gmt":"2024-07-14T10:43:47","slug":"just-say-no-to-the-mothers-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/2009\/05\/06\/just-say-no-to-the-mothers-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Just Say No to the Mothers Act"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">by <span style=\"color: #009900;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Evelyn Pringle 4-27-09<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The customer base the  psycho-pharmaceutical industry is hoping to corral through passage of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.congress.org\/congressorg\/webreturn\/?url=http:\/\/thomas.loc.gov\/cgi-bin\/query\/z?c111:H.R.20:\">Mothers  Act [H.R. 20]<\/a> is the more than four million women who give birth in the US  each year. That number was 4,317,119 in 2007, according to the CDC.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The Act&#8217;s passage, after  eight years of solid efforts, would set the stage for the screening of all  pregnant women for a whole list of mental disorders. The bill has already passed  in the US House of Representatives and will soon be up for a vote in the Senate. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The definition section of  the Act specifically states that the term &#8220;postpartum condition&#8221; means  &#8220;postpartum depression or postpartum psychosis.&#8221; There is not one word about  perinatal &#8220;mood&#8221; or &#8220;anxiety&#8221; disorders in the bill.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The transformation of the  postpartum language in the Act to further the formation of a new cottage  industry for treating multiple disorders can be traced back to websites such as  Postpartum Progress, Postpartum Support International, and a site called  PerinatalPro, which leads directly to the treatment center owned by the site&#8217;s  creator Susan Stone.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">On January 26, 2009, Susan  cranked out an announcement on the internet with the headline: &#8220;U.S. Senator  Robert Menendez reintroduces important postpartum depression legislation in  Senate today!!&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">However, in Stone&#8217;s message  to the pubic the &#8220;postpartum depression&#8221; in the headline suddenly transforms  into &#8220;perinatal mood disorders,&#8221; and she warns of a crisis of epidemic  proportions in stating: <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">&#8220;The statistics we have on  the numbers of women suffering from perinatal mood disorders (which range from  12 &#8211; 22% in the research) easily exceed the incidence associated with a public  health crisis.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">&#8220;And remember,&#8221; she says,  &#8220;these statistics, do NOT include the suffering of women who miscarry, endure  stillbirths, give up babies for adoption or terminate pregnancies, all of whom  are also susceptible to these devastating disorders and whose circumstances are  included in the furthering of research and support being sought.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">In her message, Susan  reports: &#8220;Today, I had the joy of participating in a conference call with the  office of Senator Menendez and the other organizational sponsors of The Melanie  Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act where we received a heads up that U.S. Senator Robert  Menendez was hoping to reintroduce the bill today.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">While the Mothers Act refers  to helping women with postpartum depression and psychosis only, the bill&#8217;s top  promoters, obviously kept in the loop by the main sponsor in the Senate, clearly  have a larger customer recruitment scheme in the works. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">On a Postpartum Progress  page with a heading, &#8220;WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!&#8221; the website&#8217;s creator, Katherine  Stone, explains that the word perinatal &#8220;refers in this case to the period  during and after pregnancy.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">&#8220;Among the mental disorders  women face during this time, there are two main types: anxiety disorders and  mood disorders,&#8221; she advises.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">&#8220;Anxiety disorders include  generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic  stress disorder and panic disorder,&#8221; she reports.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">&#8220;Mood disorders include  depression, bipolar disorder and psychosis,&#8221; she explains. Under the heading  &#8220;Postpartum Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,&#8221; she writes: <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">&#8220;All you have to do to be at  risk for getting postpartum PTSD is to have the perception of a traumatic  childbirth &#8212; in other words, even if your doctors and nurses feel that  everything went fairly normally, if it was upsetting and scary and unexpected to  you that&#8217;s what counts.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">She concludes with the  misleading statement that, &#8220;all of these illnesses are completely  treatable.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Katherine&#8217;s bio claims she  &#8220;is a nationally-recognized, award-winning advocate for women with perinatal  mood and anxiety disorders.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">In the Menendez press  release on January 26, 2009, there was no mention of &#8220;mood&#8221; and &#8220;anxiety&#8221;  disorders. If he was not in on this disease mongering plot, he would have told  these two broads to knock it off by now. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Drugging for  profit<\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Although no psychiatric drug  has been FDA approved as safe for use by pregnant and nursing mothers, the  treatment for all the perinatal mental disorders calls for the new generation of  antidepressants, along with atypical antipsychotics and epilepsy drugs, now  commonly referred to as &#8220;mood stabilizers.&#8221; <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The atypical antipsychotics  are Seroquel by AstraZeneca, Risperdal and Invega marketed by Janssen, a  division of Johnson &amp; Johnson, Geodon by Pfizer, Abilify from Bristol-Myers  Squibb, Novartis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Clozaril, and Eli Lilly\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Zyprexa. The average price for these  drugs on DrugStore.com is about $900 for a hundred pills.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The SSRI and SNRI  antidepressants include GlaxoSmithKline\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Paxil and Wellbutrin, Pfizer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Zoloft,  Celexa and Lexapro from Forest Labs, Luvox by Solvay, Wyeth\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Effexor and  Pristiq, and Lilly&#8217;s Prozac, Cymbalta, and Symbyax, a pill with Zyprexa and  Prozac combined. The price of these drugs, on average, is about $300 for ninety  pills at DrugStore.com.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">On March 23, 2009, <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: #009900;\">Philip  Dawd<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">y reported  on the popular website <a href=\"http:\/\/www.furiousseasons.com\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ee;\">Furious Seasons<\/span><\/a>, that &#8220;in a sign of just how bizarre  things have gotten in DC, the FDA today approved Symbyax for treatment resistant  depression, meaning depression that hasn&#8217;t responded to two anti-depressants.&#8221; <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">&#8220;So the FDA just approved a  drug that&#8217;s known to cause diabetes, epic weight gain and suicidality to treat  depression,&#8221; he said. &#8220;This makes so much sense!&#8221; <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The antipsychotics are now  the top money-makers. In overall prescription sales in the US, they led all  classes of drugs in 2008, with sales of $14.6 billion, according to IMS Health.  Anticonvulsants came in fourth with $11.3 billion in sales, followed by  antidepressants at fifth with sales of $9.6 billion.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The Epilepsy Foundation  estimates that one million women in the US have epilepsy, but the number of  women taking anticonvulsants is reported to be two to three times higher than  women with epilepsy. The prices for these drugs can run as high as $929 for 180  tablets of Glaxo&#8217;s Lamictal, and $1170 for 180 tablets of J&amp;J&#8217;s  Topamax.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Numerous recent reports have  linked the use of drugs such as Depakote, Neurontin, Lamictal and Tegretol with  not only suicide but also birth defects, including heart defects, brain damage,  and mental retardation. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Big Pharma funds Mothers Act  supporters<\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">As of April 9, 2009, the  groups supporting the Mother&#8217;s Act listed on PerinatalPro with Big Pharma  funding traceable through their annual reports and the grant reports of Eli  Lilly and Pfizer for 2007 and 2008, include the American College of  Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Psychiatric Association, Association  of Maternal and Child Health Programs, Children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Defense Fund, Depression and  Bipolar Support Alliance, March of Dimes, Mental Health America (MHA), National  Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), National Association of Social Workers,  National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, and the Suicide Prevention  Action Network USA.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Pfizer&#8217;s 2008 grant report  shows the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, received $10,000  for &#8220;General Operating Support.&#8221; Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bureau of Maternal and Child Health  received funding from Lilly and Pfizer to launch a three-pronged maternal  depression awareness initiative consisting of education, screening and advocacy,  according to the July, 2005 paper, Improving Maternal and Infant Mental Health:  Focus on Maternal Depression, by Ngozi Onunaku.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Collaborating partners also  included the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, University of  Miami, and Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Department of Mental Health, Onunaku reports. Public  awareness efforts reached the Florida State Legislature, who passed a resolution  to establish April as women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s depression screening month.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Onunaku listed the Lilly and  Pfizer funded Florida project as an example of state and community efforts that  may be useful in reaching the goal of increasing maternal depression awareness.  In the paper, he reported the following:<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">&#8220;Prenatal depression occurs  during pregnancy when mothers-to-be experience hormonal and biological changes,  stress, and the demands of pregnancy. Approximately 14-25% of pregnant women  have enough depressive symptoms to meet the criteria for a clinical  diagnosis.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">&#8220;The use of medication to  treat maternal depression is controversial; there is concern about mothers  taking medication during pregnancy and after delivery, especially while  breastfeeding. Research suggests that infant development is not adversely  affected by certain kinds of medication.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">&#8220;There is equal  consideration regarding the possible risks posed to a child whose mother is  severely depressed and needs medication but remains untreated.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">In 2008, Lilly gave the  American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists $16,000, and a $2,000  donation was made in the third quarter of 2007.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Lilly gave the American  Psychiatric Association grants worth more than $600,000 in both the first and  second quarters of 2008. In 2007, the group received over $400,000 from Lilly.  The drug maker gave roughly $450,000 more to the American Psychiatric Foundation  for the APA fellowship program. Pfizer donated more than $700,000 to the  &#8220;non-profit&#8221; APA in 2008.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The National Council for  Community Behavioral Healthcare is described as &#8220;a non-profit association  representing 1,300 mental health and addictions treatment and rehabilitation  organizations,&#8221; on its website. This gang received $200,000 from Lilly in the  first quarter of 2008, and another $215,000 in the fourth quarter. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Mother&#8217;s Act supporter,  Suicide Prevention Action Network USA, has merged with the American Foundation  for Suicide Prevention, according to a November 6, 2008 press release  announcement.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">A year earlier, Emory  University reported that Charles Nemeroff had been elected president of the  American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and would begin serving his  three-year tenure in January 2008.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Emory&#8217;s press release noted  that Nemeroff had served on the AFSP&#8217;s national board of directors since 1999  and had &#8220;been a member of the Foundation&#8217;s Scientific Council for more than 10  years and was named chair of the Council in 2007.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">In about the same time frame  between 2000 and 2007, Senator Charles Grassley&#8217;s Senate Finance Committee  investigation found that Nemeroff had earned more than $2.8 million from drug  companies, but failed to disclose at least $1.2 million to Emory.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">On November 3, 2008, Dr  Bernard Caroll summed up Nemeroff&#8217;s fall from grace on the Healthcare Renewal  website as follows: <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">&#8220;The fallout to date  includes his severance from several NIH-funded projects at Emory University  School of Medicine, a freeze of NIH funding for a major center grant, and his  stepping down from Emory\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chair of psychiatry while an internal investigation  proceeds.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Dr. Nemeroff\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s credibility is under a cloud, to say the  least, and his influence is rapidly waning. &#8230; In the hardnosed, commercial  world of Continuing Medical Education, for instance, the signs are that Dr.  Nemeroff is toast. Whereas he once coordinated multi-city traveling CME road  shows and a parade of spots on CME websites like Medscape, his profile now is  suffering. Go to this <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/search.medscape.com\/all-search?queryText=Nemeroff\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; color: #0000ee;\">Medscape  website<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">, for instance. You will find  that his current Expert Viewpoint spots are missing, replaced by the message,  \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This article is temporarily unavailable.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Nemeroff&#8217;s Bio on the Emory Website on December 22, 2008  listed his Clinical Interests as: &#8220;Depression and antipsychotic pharmacological  therapy, social phobias, fetal effects of pre- and post-natal drug therapy,  depression, mood disorders, antipsychotic therapy.&#8221;<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Lilly&#8217;s 2008 grant report  shows the Suicide Prevention Action Network USA received one $10,000 grant and  another $70,000 grant. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention also  received three grants worth $78,000.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Lilly&#8217;s 2007 report shows  the Action Network received $10,000 in one quarter and $70,000 in another. The  Foundation got $25,000 in 2007. The 2004 spring issue of USA&#8217;s Network News  reports that: &#8220;Network News is funded by a grant from the Eli Lilly and Company  Foundation.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The Summer 2005 Network News  noted that &#8220;Donations Sustain SPAN USA.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The donor list shows Pfizer  gave over $10,000. The group received more than $1,000 from Bristol-Meyers,  Janssen, and Novartis. Forest Pharmaceuticals gave over $500.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The 2006 Spring Network News  announced the &#8220;Friend for Life&#8221; sponsors. Forest and the industry&#8217;s trade group,  PhRMA donated over $15,000. Pfizer gave between $10,000 and $14,999. Solvay was  listed as giving between $6,000 and $9,999 and companies that gave between  $2,000 and $5,999 were AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers. J&amp;J, Lilly and  Novartis each donated between $500 and $1,999.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">As expected, the two most  notorious front groups, NAMI and MHA, received the most money from psychiatric  drug makers. NAMI&#8217;s annual reports list about every drug company on the planet  as a corporate partner without specifying how much each donated. But the grant  reports of Lilly and Pfizer for 2007 and 2008 show NAMI groups received millions  of dollars from those two drug makers alone. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">In the fourth quarter of  2008, Pfizer gave NAMI a grant of $132,000 to fund a campaign that best  describes the drug maker&#8217;s goal called the &#8220;Campaign for the Mind of America.&#8221;  In the third quarter, Pfizer doled out another $225,000 to fund the same  campaign.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Lilly is also funding the  Campaign for the Mind, with grants of $450,000 in both 2007 and 2008. Lilly also  provides extra funding to NAMI groups all over the country for the &#8220;Walk for the  Mind of America.&#8221; In 2007, walking money totaled $17,000 in the first quarter,  $11,500 in the second, and $13,000 for the third and fourth combined. In 2008,  Lilly&#8217;s &#8220;Walk for the Mind&#8221; quarterly totals were $11,500, $24,000, $12,500 and  $2,000. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">In 2007, NAMI presented a  $50,000 &#8220;Mind of America Scientific Research Award&#8221; to Dr A John Rush. He also  landed on the Grassley hit list last fall for not disclosing drug company money  to the University of Texas.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><em><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">On April 6, 2009, Senator  Grassley sent a letter to NAMI asking for the disclosure of all funding from  drug makers and industry created foundations over the past few  years.<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Mental Health America groups  also received millions of dollars from Pfizer and Lilly alone in 2007 and 2008.  This group runs a &#8220;Campaign for America&#8217;s Mental Health&#8221; and received grants of  $200,000 and $300,000 in 2008 from Pfizer to fund it. Lilly gave $300,000 to  fund this Campaign in 2007.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">MHA&#8217;s 2006 annual report  shows the group received over $1 million each from Lilly, Bristol-Myers, and  Wyeth. Janssen and Pfizer gave between $500,000 and $1,000,000, and AstraZeneca  and Forest donated between $100,000 and $499,000. Glaxo gave between $50,000 and  $100,000 in 2006.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The most troubling donation  to this Mothers Act supporter is a $20,000 Pfizer grant to a Georgia group to  fund: Project Healthy Moms: Education for Prevention\/Treatment for Perinatal  Depression Disorders, which apparently ended up, at least in part, in the  pocketbook of Katherine Stone. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The Georgia group&#8217;s June 8,  2008 e-news said the grant was for: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Project Healthy Moms: What You Need To Know  About Perinatal Mood Disorders.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The $20,000 funded 1-hour  speaking events with Katherine, &#8220;aimed at educating practitioners and the  general public throughout Georgia about prevention of and treatment for such  illnesses as ante partum depression, postpartum depression, postpartum  anxiety\/OCD and postpartum psychosis,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the newsletter said.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Katherine was described as a  \u00e2\u20ac\u0153former postpartum OCD sufferer and author of Postpartum Progress, the most  widely-read blog in the United States on postpartum mood disorders.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">E-news said attendees would  learn: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153One size does NOT fit all: Why postpartum depression is just part of a  spectrum of mood disorders women may experience &amp; what to look for.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The newsletter only listed 5  scheduled events but told readers to contact Katherine directly by email or  phone to schedule more. E-news did acknowledge that: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This special hour of  learning is made possible by a grant from Pfizer,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but listed no  amount.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The leaders of these  &#8220;non-profits&#8221; are also making out like bandits. In 2006, NAMI&#8217;s top dog, Michael  Fitzpatrick, had a salary of $212,281, and $10,090 in employee benefit  contributions and deferred compensation plans, for a 35-hour work week. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">MHA&#8217;s 2002 tax returns show  the CEO and President, Michael Faenza, received compensation of $306,727, and  another $35,275 in contributions to employee benefit plans and deferred  compensation that year, for a 35 hour work week. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The Depression and Bipolar  Support Alliance received $37,510 from Lilly in 2007 and $20,000 in 2008. This  group provides live links to form letters that can be filled in and sent to  Congress members asking them to vote for the Mother&#8217;s Act. The two Stone gals  provide links to the Mothers Act alerts put out by the Alliance on their  websites.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The group&#8217;s 2007 Annual  Report shows this non-profit received between $150,000 and $499,000 from  AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Wyeth. Abbott, Cyberonics, Lilly, Forest, Glaxo,  Organon, and Otsuka American Pharmaceuticals gave between $10,000 and  $149,999.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The report also notes that a  &#8220;First-ever DBSA Hope Award&#8221; for lifetime achievement was presented to Frederick  Goodwin. Back in August 2002, the speakers at the annual conference of the  Alliance included three stars from the Grassley hit list, Goodwin, Nemeroff and  Joseph Beiderman.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">The front groups team up  with a &#8220;non-profit&#8221; called &#8220;Screening for Mental Health,&#8221; to carry out mental  illness screening days all over the country every year. Their websites also  provide live links to internet screening programs set up by this  firm.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Up to 2008, the SMH had  received close to $5 million from drug companies. Lilly gave the firm $124,000  in 2007 and $100,000 in 2008.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Finally, the Children&#8217;s  Defense Fund received a grant for $125,000 in 2003 from the Robert Wood Johnson  Foundation. The March of Dimes got $6,500 from Pfizer in 2008, and the National  Association of Social Workers also received $7,500 from Pfizer.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: #009900;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Amy Philo<\/span>,<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"> a young Texas mother who  survived what can only be described as a postpartum ambush by the  psycho-pharmaceutical cartel, is at the forefront of the &#8220;Unite for Life&#8221;  coalition fighting against the Mothers Act. As of April 25, 2009, the Unite  coalition had thirty-five organizations signed on as opposed to the legislation.  Needless to say, none of them were listed in the grant reports of Lilly or  Pfizer.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Amy was screened and drugged  because she got extremely concerned about her baby and had a panic attack after  watching him nearly choke to death. &#8220;I lived through forced hospitalization,  drugging, and four months of being homicidal, suicidal, and psychotic because of  Zoloft,&#8221; she recounts on her website.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">&#8220;No mother should have to  live through what I have,&#8221; she states.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Over a recent three to four  year period, Amy found there were 1,031 documented deaths of babies caused by  psychiatric drug exposure reported to the FDA&#8217;s MedWatch system.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Amy recently learned that  the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives has withdrawn their  support from the Mothers Act. However, she reports a new addition to the list of  supporters is the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition. A quick  check of their website found the group&#8217;s corporate sponsors include Wyeth,  Glaxo, J&amp;J, Merck, and Sanofi Pasteur. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;\" align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">*************<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><em><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Evelyn  Pringle<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><a href=\"mailto:epringle05@yahoo.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; color: #0000ee;\">epringle05@yahoo.com<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><em><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">(This article was sponsored  by the Pogust, Braslow &amp; Millrood law firm in Conshohocken,  Pennsylvania)<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';\">(Evelyn  Pringle is a columnist for Scoop Independent News and an investigative  journalist focused on exposing corruption in government and corporate  America)<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';\">[P.S.  &#8220;Just Say No&#8221; means &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.congress.org\/congressorg\/home\/\">contact  your Senator and Represetative in Congress and tell them <\/a>to vote  No!&#8221;]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Act&#8217;s passage would set the stage for the screening of all pregnant women for a whole list of mental disorders, leading to wholesale psychiatric drugging of pregnant women with harmful and addictive drugs. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/2009\/05\/06\/just-say-no-to-the-mothers-act\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-muddy-river-newsletter","category-press-releases"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6NMpC-2p","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}