More than 50,000 Australian children are being hand-fed antidepressant drugs that have been banned overseas.

More than 50,000 Australian children are being hand-fed antidepressant drugs that have been banned overseas. A British medical authority, The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, told doctors in December not to prescribe the drugs to patients under 18 because they can increase the risk of suicide.

The warning covers five of the six drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

The US Food and Drug Administration has warned doctors to proceed with extreme caution in prescribing any SSRI other than Prozac to children. However, the Australian federal health department has done nothing to warn patients and doctors of the dangers, or moved to ban the five varieties of SSRI.