'ADHD is not a brain disorder' Dutch Commission finds psychiatric claim false

August 30, 2002 - Source: http://www.boston.com

The Netherlands Advertisement Code Commission (Reclame Code Commissie) has ruled that the country's Brain Foundation cannot claim that the controversial psychiatric condition Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurobiological disease or brain dysfunction.

The Commission ordered the Foundation to cease such false claims in their advertising.

The Advertisement Code Commission was responding to a complaint brought by the Dutch chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), an international psychiatric watchdog organization established by the Church of Scientology.

In its decision handed down on Aug. 6, the Advertisement Code Commission found that the Brain Foundation had falsely advertised and solicited funding by publishing ads in newspapers, magazines, flyers and on TV that stated ADHD is an ''inherent brain dysfunction.''

The Advertisement Code Commission decision stated, ''The information that the defendant presented gives no grounds for the definitive statement that ADHD is an inherent brain dysfunction ... Under the circumstances, the defendant has not been careful enough and the advertisement is misleading.''

The decision has prompted calls for similar orders to be made in the U.S. in the wake of a 1,100 percent increase in ADHD being diagnosed in American children between 1987 and 2001.

CCHR's international headquarters in Los Angeles says that similar false claims have been made about ADHD in the U.S. despite a 1999 Surgeon General report stating otherwise. The report on mental health, specifically stated that, ''No single gene has been found to be responsible for any specific mental disorder'' Also, the report states ''There is no definite lesion, laboratory test or abnormality in brain tissue that can identify the (mental) illness.''

Jan Eastgate, President of CCHR International, stated, ''Fraudulent claims that ADHD is neurobiological must stop. We have already filed a similar complaint in the United States. Psychiatrists cannot be allowed to mislead parents, and children need to be protected from false labels and harmful psychiatric drugs. Child Psychiatrists are put on notice that we will continue to file complaints and/or bring legal action as necessary against false and misleading claims.''

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International can be contacted at 800-869-2247. More information on the plight of millions of children subjected to mind-altering psychiatric drugs can be found at CCHR's Web site http://www.fightforkids.com.

Add your comments
What do you think? Email your comments on the above
article to the editor using the form below. Selected comments will be displayed.

© 2001-7  Psychminded Limited. All rights reserved