Antidepressant drugs banned for children.

The UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has told doctors not to prescribe all but one (Prozac) of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants to children. This follows evidence from clinical trials carried out in the late 1990s, that had subsequently been suppressed, that they can cause children to become suicidal. Trials that did not produce favourable results were neither published nor sent to the FDA (US) or the MHRA. In fact trials into one of the drugs, Lustral (manufactured by Pfizer), found that 9% of children using it became suicidal. It is thought that as many as 50,000 children are on antidepressants in Britain. With Prozac only being effective in around 10% of children, and with a significant shortage of trained counsellors and psychotherapists available, severe problems lie ahead. (The Guardian, December 10, 2003).