More people are figuring out that the Church of Scientology is behind some of the opposition to the MOTHERS Act. I already knew that from the number of advisors to the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a Scientology-founded organization, who have spoken out against the Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act for postpartum depression research and support. The article was published by The Record in Hackensack.
NJ's The Record Covers Scientology's Opposition to the MOTHERS Act
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I got trolled by one of them. What a joke. I don't usually wish suffering on others, but I make an exception for those special snowflakes.
Thanks for putting this out there.
Well, Amy Philo commented and it seems that earlier assumptions made by others were correct; she stated that anyone who supported this bill needed an 'ethics screening', a method used within the COS on Scientologists to force them to 'confess' to their 'hidden crimes'. How would Ms. Philo know what an 'ethics screening' was and in what context to use it… unless she IS a Scientologist.
All the more reason to fight to get this bill to pass.
And in case that MIkem fronm the comments section reads this…
The two young gun men at Columbine were NOT TAKING MEDS NOR WERE UNDER THE CARE OF A PSYCHOLOGIST WHEN THEY COMMITTED THE SHOOTINGS. They were severely bullied and were deemed outcasts by members of their peers. If anything, I think early intervention with psychiatric care might have very well PREVENTED the Columbine tragedy. I advise you to get your facts strait before throwing out such an unfounded accusation.
Hi y'all. I just wanted to comment again, I am not a Scientologist. I had no idea that Scientologists had an ethics screening. I was speaking from my heart. I don't understand why you guys actually think that there is no possible way anyone could use their minds or hearts to think and that people must be controlled by Scientology. I guess you know more about Scientology than I do! This is ridiculous. Here is the press release I am sending out in response to this article (P.S. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris were both on meds for depression as documented by autopsy as well as personal friends – I can't remember which was which but one was confirmed via blood test and the other is just testimony from a close personal friend of the boys. By the way, Donna Taylor who is the mother of Mark Taylor, the first victim shot at Columbine, has a statement against The MOTHERS Act which has been submitted to the Senate, and she is listed on my press releases as a contact):
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Setting “The Record” Straight on "The MOTHERS Act"
by Amy Philo
May 21, 2008
“You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do”
– lyrics from “Masters of War” by Bob Dylan
Elise Young, reporter for The Record, a New Jersey paper, recently published an article on a federal bill called The MOTHERS Act, which was so far south of balanced journalism that it would more appropriately be categorized as an ad for the psycho/pharmaceutical industry. It certainly was not an unbiased look at the very strong and widespread opposition to the bill based on valid criticisms. No, this reporter was more interested in a puff piece for the Psycho/Pharma cartel complete with the standard (and very tired old line) that the only possible opposition to a bill which would increase the number of new mothers being put on antidepressant drugs documented by the US FDA to cause mania, psychosis, worsening depression, suicidal and homicidal tendencies would be…that's right… the Scientologists. For no other American would possibly be concerned that the bill was originally named after a new mother by the name of Melanie Stokes, who after being diagnosed with postpartum depression, put on a cocktail of psychiatric drugs, hospitalized and then electroshocked- in other words "treated" in the mental health system — committed suicide.
Judging from his comments in this article, US Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey apparently cares more about revenue for the businesses in his state than he does about the Constitution or the citizens who will be put in danger if this bill passes the Senate (most of the world’s pharmaceutical companies are located in New Jersey). No attention has been paid in this article to those already harmed by the New Jersey version of this PPD law, which has been used to justify the police-forced transport of mothers to psychiatric hospitals.
The Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act states that PPD is treatable if attended to with medication. It provides grants to those who will help ensure that all women considered at risk for depression (including pregnant women) are referred to mental health care providers and in some cases, prophylactically drugged or hospitalized.
Pharmaceutical sales manager Melanie Stokes was abused to death in 2001 by our mental health system with four successive cocktails of prescribed antidepressant, anti-anxiety and antipsychotic drugs as well as electroshock. Following her fourth psychiatric hospitalization since her daughter’s birth, Melanie jumped out of a 12-story hotel window in Chicago, leaving 3 1/2 month old Sommer motherless.
Antidepressants have been proven to be no better than a sugar pill, and they carry a black box warning for doubling suicidal behavior and thinking. They also increase the risk of psychosis for new moms 1000%. It is an outrage that anyone would use Melanie’s name to attempt to pass a bill that will undoubtedly kill more women and children.
Prior to the publication of Elise Young’s piece on The MOTHERS Act, I provided her numerous resources:
· Lists of pharma-backed groups who support the bill, and the dollar amounts they received from pharmaceutical companies
· Medical literature on the dangers and ineffectiveness of antidepressant drugs including the risk of death and birth defects for babies exposed to them
· Contacts for the numerous groups and victims endorsing our fight to stop this bill
Dr. Ann Blake Tracy also called Elise Young prior to publication but Young was unable to spend long on the phone and subsequently failed to include in this piece information about her conversation with Dr. Tracy, or any of the resources that we provided to her other than the URL for my website.
Lies were reported as facts on the sidebar of this article, such as that medication actually improves or eliminates symptoms- and in the piece itself were quotations from Robert Menendez misinforming the public about drugs, lies about the bill itself, and also insulting the opposition by calling our arguments “wrong-minded.”
The fact that Scientologists oppose psychiatric drugs does not diminish the truth about the dangers of antidepressants. Are the FDA and the researchers published in medical journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine part of Scientology? After all, the FDA requires black box warnings on antidepressant labels and ads, something that was not added to this article. And the NEJM published previously suppressed information showing that antidepressants are ineffective! The Record’s irresponsible publishing of this article as well as their failure to allow our movement even the right to continue commenting on the piece online are like a slap in the face to all those lost to or harmed by these drugs. I wonder whether the paper’s management have any journalistic integrity at all.
In 2004 I was prescribed Zoloft when only six days postpartum, for anxiety after my firstborn son Isaac nearly died from choking at the age of three days. Instead of being helped by Zoloft, I was plagued by constant drug-induced homicidal thoughts toward my baby beginning with a hallucination of throwing him down the stairs. I loved Isaac so much that I would have rather sacrificed my own life than live another day fearing I might hurt him. This was why I initially went to the ER after three days on Zoloft, because I thought perhaps they could help me, and Isaac would not have to grow up without a mother.
Instead I became an involuntary patient in the psychiatric ward for two days where I was forced to continue Zoloft and nearly given a host of other drugs. By the end of my time on Zoloft five months later I would constantly imagine murdering my cats, mom, husband, neighbors, baby, and then committing suicide to finish it all. I eventually went against medical advice and tapered off the drug, which resulted in my return to normal and saved me and my family from continuing pain and fear.
Doctors did not recognize that any of my problems were caused by Zoloft and their only recommendation was to not have more children or stay on drugs indefinitely. My second son Toby would never have been born if I had listened to their advice.
Toby and Isaac are worth every hour I spend fighting, and I hope and pray that when my children grow up, they will not have to go to outrageous lengths to protect their families from bull like the ridiculous excuses for medical care that I received, or from the outrageous human rights violations and attempts to murder millions of innocents that we see from the sugar-coated MOTHERS Act and its deceptive salespeople.
###
URGENT! Sign the petition against the MOTHERS Act at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-the-dangero…
Visit http://www.uniteforlife.org
Hi y'all. I just wanted to comment again, I am not a Scientologist. I had no idea that Scientologists had an ethics screening. I was speaking from my heart. I don't understand why you guys actually think that there is no possible way anyone could use their minds or hearts to think and that people must be controlled by Scientology. I guess you know more about Scientology than I do! This is ridiculous. Here is the press release I am sending out in response to this article (P.S. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris were both on meds for depression as documented by autopsy as well as personal friends – I can't remember which was which but one was confirmed via blood test and the other is just testimony from a close personal friend of the boys. By the way, Donna Taylor who is the mother of Mark Taylor, the first victim shot at Columbine, has a statement against The MOTHERS Act which has been submitted to the Senate, and she is listed on my press releases as a contact):
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Setting “The Record” Straight on "The MOTHERS Act"
by Amy Philo
May 21, 2008
“You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do”
– lyrics from “Masters of War” by Bob Dylan
Elise Young, reporter for The Record, a New Jersey paper, recently published an article on a federal bill called The MOTHERS Act, which was so far south of balanced journalism that it would more appropriately be categorized as an ad for the psycho/pharmaceutical industry. It certainly was not an unbiased look at the very strong and widespread opposition to the bill based on valid criticisms. No, this reporter was more interested in a puff piece for the Psycho/Pharma cartel complete with the standard (and very tired old line) that the only possible opposition to a bill which would increase the number of new mothers being put on antidepressant drugs documented by the US FDA to cause mania, psychosis, worsening depression, suicidal and homicidal tendencies would be…that's right… the Scientologists. For no other American would possibly be concerned that the bill was originally named after a new mother by the name of Melanie Stokes, who after being diagnosed with postpartum depression, put on a cocktail of psychiatric drugs, hospitalized and then electroshocked- in other words "treated" in the mental health system — committed suicide.
Judging from his comments in this article, US Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey apparently cares more about revenue for the businesses in his state than he does about the Constitution or the citizens who will be put in danger if this bill passes the Senate (most of the world’s pharmaceutical companies are located in New Jersey). No attention has been paid in this article to those already harmed by the New Jersey version of this PPD law, which has been used to justify the police-forced transport of mothers to psychiatric hospitals.
The Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act states that PPD is treatable if attended to with medication. It provides grants to those who will help ensure that all women considered at risk for depression (including pregnant women) are referred to mental health care providers and in some cases, prophylactically drugged or hospitalized.
Pharmaceutical sales manager Melanie Stokes was abused to death in 2001 by our mental health system with four successive cocktails of prescribed antidepressant, anti-anxiety and antipsychotic drugs as well as electroshock. Following her fourth psychiatric hospitalization since her daughter’s birth, Melanie jumped out of a 12-story hotel window in Chicago, leaving 3 1/2 month old Sommer motherless.
Antidepressants have been proven to be no better than a sugar pill, and they carry a black box warning for doubling suicidal behavior and thinking. They also increase the risk of psychosis for new moms 1000%. It is an outrage that anyone would use Melanie’s name to attempt to pass a bill that will undoubtedly kill more women and children.
Prior to the publication of Elise Young’s piece on The MOTHERS Act, I provided her numerous resources:
· Lists of pharma-backed groups who support the bill, and the dollar amounts they received from pharmaceutical companies
· Medical literature on the dangers and ineffectiveness of antidepressant drugs including the risk of death and birth defects for babies exposed to them
· Contacts for the numerous groups and victims endorsing our fight to stop this bill
Dr. Ann Blake Tracy also called Elise Young prior to publication but Young was unable to spend long on the phone and subsequently failed to include in this piece information about her conversation with Dr. Tracy, or any of the resources that we provided to her other than the URL for my website.
Lies were reported as facts on the sidebar of this article, such as that medication actually improves or eliminates symptoms- and in the piece itself were quotations from Robert Menendez misinforming the public about drugs, lies about the bill itself, and also insulting the opposition by calling our arguments “wrong-minded.”
The fact that Scientologists oppose psychiatric drugs does not diminish the truth about the dangers of antidepressants. Are the FDA and the researchers published in medical journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine part of Scientology? After all, the FDA requires black box warnings on antidepressant labels and ads, something that was not added to this article. And the NEJM published previously suppressed information showing that antidepressants are ineffective! The Record’s irresponsible publishing of this article as well as their failure to allow our movement even the right to continue commenting on the piece online are like a slap in the face to all those lost to or harmed by these drugs. I wonder whether the paper’s management have any journalistic integrity at all.
In 2004 I was prescribed Zoloft when only six days postpartum, for anxiety after my firstborn son Isaac nearly died from choking at the age of three days. Instead of being helped by Zoloft, I was plagued by constant drug-induced homicidal thoughts toward my baby beginning with a hallucination of throwing him down the stairs. I loved Isaac so much that I would have rather sacrificed my own life than live another day fearing I might hurt him. This was why I initially went to the ER after three days on Zoloft, because I thought perhaps they could help me, and Isaac would not have to grow up without a mother.
Instead I became an involuntary patient in the psychiatric ward for two days where I was forced to continue Zoloft and nearly given a host of other drugs. By the end of my time on Zoloft five months later I would constantly imagine murdering my cats, mom, husband, neighbors, baby, and then committing suicide to finish it all. I eventually went against medical advice and tapered off the drug, which resulted in my return to normal and saved me and my family from continuing pain and fear.
Doctors did not recognize that any of my problems were caused by Zoloft and their only recommendation was to not have more children or stay on drugs indefinitely. My second son Toby would never have been born if I had listened to their advice.
Toby and Isaac are worth every hour I spend fighting, and I hope and pray that when my children grow up, they will not have to go to outrageous lengths to protect their families from bull like the ridiculous excuses for medical care that I received, or from the outrageous human rights violations and attempts to murder millions of innocents that we see from the sugar-coated MOTHERS Act and its deceptive salespeople.
###
URGENT! Sign the petition against the MOTHERS Act at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-the-dangero…
Visit http://www.uniteforlife.org
P.S. I just realized that you guys actually took me seriously about the screening thing (ethics screening) – That was actually meant to be a sarcastic comment implying how unethical people can be when they refuse to admit to the harm caused by these drugs. I also used this in a video a few months back. The idea is to point out that some people should rethink whether their actions are ethical. I am not in favor of requiring screenings, much less ethics screenings which I actually was not aware existed. Thanks for giving me an "a ha" moment. I respectfully request that people stop calling me a Scientologist. It is getting really old. And it underscores your belief that there could really be no factual grounds to dislike antidepressants. It's as though you think the problems with medications are made up. I invite you to read the drug labels or check out my website which documents warnings from throughout medical literature and FDA literature etc.
Psychiatrist Joseph Glenmullen notes in his book the Antidepressant Solution that GlaxoSmithKline knew antidepressants were ineffective for children and yet promoted them for children anyway. Psychiatrist David Healy has studied suicide and homicide due to antidepressants and antipsychotics and he states they are very dangerous drugs for some people. http://www.ssristories.com is a good site to get a grip on what these drugs do.
Amy Philo,
Like anything else, not all thing fit all people. What didn't work for you, worked for me. In fact, nothing else did. If it weren't for Zoloft, going inpatient, and a psychiatrist, I may not be here at all.
I'm sorry you had such a bad experience.
Choice is a good thing. Others should be allowed a choice. To make their own decision.
^ Thank you, Diane! It's good to know you're doing well.
I'd also like to point out that with medicine of ANY kind, there is ALWAYS a risk involved; it's pure ignorance to think otherwise. Even 'natural' remedies carry a risk of either not working or making a problem worse. Ms. Philo, it's not that anyone here is ignoring the risks of medications; on the contrary, people want to to know ALL the risks associated with a medication. Which is why we ALWAYS ASK QUESTIONS AND EDUCATE OURSELVES on the risks before moving forward. I'm sorry you had such a bad experience, but the regrettable and ignorant actions of a few people DO NOT embody the whole of psychiatry.
You saw you're against required screenings. If not that, then what else? What would you suggest then for an expectant/ new mother who began to show all the signs of Postpartum and she wasn't diagnosed in time? What other proven effective alternative can you suggest that would assist her and her family in this time?
As for the Scientology argument; I have NOT ONCE heard 'ethics screening' used by anyone unless they were familiar with the term and it's context. It is lingo such as this that is frequent within the COS. At the very bottom of your homepage, you state clearly that 'Unite for Life' is not affiliated with any religious organization. However, the clear fact that you have connections to the Citizens Commission on Human Rights and as it is a part of the 'Church' of Scientology, you are, for all rights and purposes, very much associated with THE most questionable 'religion' known to exist.
Don't believe me? I urge you to contact Kendra Wiseman at exscientologykids.com. Kendra's father is the current President of CCHR!
One more thing; having Donna Taylor as a contact DOES NOT tell me anything. Just because you claim that she is both against the MOTHERS Act and a contact doesn't prove to anyone that Mark Taylor was taking meds or seeing a psychiatrist at anytime before the shootings. Unless you can present evidence that states otherwise, I don't see anyone believing you. It's not enough to say it's true because you say so without proof to back your words.
Correction my bad: Mark Taylor was one of the VICTIMS. The shooters were Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris.
I looked up further info on you accusation that meds were the reason for the Columbine massacre, Ms. Philo. Of the two, Eric Harris was THE ONLY ONE WHO HAD SOME MEDS IN HIS SYSTEM. Upon further investigation it seems the two shooters had been in serious trouble before. Click here to see how far gone these boys were. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Harris_and_Dyla…
According to these sources, Harris taking Luvox (Fluvoxamine) was in response to his and Klebold's breaking into a van and both served ten months in juvenile detention. Reports suggested that Harris was a clinical psychopath and Klebold a depressive. People who are mentally unstable like that are very good at hiding what they really think and feel; they will show the outside world what they want them to see. If they want people to think they're normal and stable, than they will be calm and cooperative. In my personal opinion, medication didn't cause them to walk into their school and killed students and faculty; the massacre was brought on by the darkness and irrational hatred of their twisted minds, a darkness they effectively concealed from the world.
In response to the most recent comments, Donna Taylor's statement has been submitted to the Senate. Whether or not you choose to believe the truth is not up to me. And Mark Taylor has testified before the FDA that he knows the reason he was shot 7-13 times in the chest and presumed dead, thrown in the back of a police truck on top of a dozen dead bodies before getting to the hospital where he survived. Michael Moore has also spoken out against these drugs as the real cause of Columbine after reading Dr. Tracy's book and realizing that our country is in trouble because of these drugs – check http://www.drugawareness.org to see a clip from one of Dr. Gary Null's films. Dr. Ann Blake Tracy is friends with Mark Taylor now (also with Corey Baadsgaard who held a class hostage while taking an antidepressant, which he cannot remember doing because he was in an REM sleepwalk state when he committed the crime). The records were sealed for Klebold, just as they were for Cho – however, Klebold's friends attested to the fact that he was on meds.
My website is operated independent of anyone. I am not about to discriminate against a group because they were founded by a certain religion. CCHR is to be commended for the work they do. I didn't know anyone from CCHR when founding CHAADA in 2005 and yet I still chose to list their site under my links. Mathy Downing is a member of CHAADA and also does a lot of work with CCHR and other groups – she is also an Episcopal. Her daughter committed suicide because she was taking Zoloft for test anxiety. Kim Witczak does work with Consumers Union because her husband Woody committed suicide on Zoloft after 5 weeks on the drug which he was taking for insomnia. Kim also agrees with me that we should all work together for awareness no matter which religion people hold. CCHR does and amazing job getting the truth out there and people need to hear what they have to say. Being a Scientologist is not a prerequisite to speaking the truth about antidepressants and other drugs.
If you wish to risk your life by taking ineffective and potentially deadly drugs that remains your choice.
As for your question as to what I would suggest for women – I would suggest that they reach out for support to people who will not push them to take drugs that could cause them to murder their own children. Antidepressants do not work because they raise your serotonin which is the direct cause of all the insanity – just see the articles about serotonin syndrome which I archived on my site. One is from a website from a US Pharmacy organization and any competent doctor would need to know about it. The other information on serotonin comes from Dr. Tracy's website and her book, Prozac: Panacea or Pandora – Our Serotonin Nightmare.
Testimony about serotonin contributed to the FDA finally adding their black box warning for antidepressants doubling the risk of suicide. So your desperate attempts to deny the truth are in direct contrast to science and warnings from our own FDA.
Judging from the response I have seen from this group in regard to the story about what happened to me as well as the way in which Melanie Stokes' tragic suicide has been misreported (not to mention the degree to which you deny and twist the statements made in the text of The MOTHERS Act), it is pretty clear that no tragedy in the world is going to lead this group to admit to the harm that comes to mothers and babies with exposure to antidepressants.
If you really think you should be informed about the risks of drugs you would not make every effort to discredit the truth about these medications. Attacking CCHR is pointless as well. If Melanie Stokes or I had ever even heard of CCHR and their warnings before we took drugs there is a good chance I never would have been on Zoloft for 5 months and been incredibly homicidal and there is a good chance Melanie Stokes would be alive today and her daughter Sommer would have a mom.
You should all be incredibly ashamed of yourseleves for your association with pushing drugs that can kill people and have never been proven to even work for depression.