Child Porn Arrests in Australia-wide Operation Snare Psychologist

This is obviously a very big story in Australia. See these reports from the Herald Sun and the Courier Times, among others, as well as this original report from the Australian Federal Police. No names are available identifying the arrested culprits.

A forensic psychologist is among those arrested in the largest child pornography investigation ever by Australian Federal Police.

More than a million images were seized during the six-month Operation Irenic, including pictures of infants being raped, abused and tortured.

Australia-wide, 24 men were arrested including a former police officer and a teacher, ranging in age from 30 to 70.

Suspects include a forensic psychologist, a sales assistant and an RSPCA worker.

More than 100 police were involved in the investigation which identified one child as being at risk, resulting in its removal from harm.

"The child was at times in the presence of a person who had been downloading child abuse images and it's our understanding that that individual was actively preparing this child for abuse," said AFP acting Assistant Commissioner Kevin Zuccato.

He said investigations were far from complete and what had been discovered so far was "the tip of the iceberg".

"With these types of investigations we don't stop at just arresting the people who download the images," he said.

"Our main objective is to identify everybody that we possibly can involved in these type of offences and working internationally to bring those people to justice and hold them to account."

He praised the way in which police services from across Australia co-operated throughout the investigation.

"This shows that offenders who try to remain anonymous by using the internet to commit offences can and will be caught."

The operation had led to the arrests earlier this week of seven men who have already appeared before courts in NSW and Victoria, bringing the total alleged Australian offenders to 31.

Over the weekend police in NSW and Victoria raided eight properties, making a series of arrests and seizing computers containing thousands of images.

Days later, AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty promised more arrests as part of an ongoing international operation.

AntiDepressant Side Effects During Pregnancy

A case where some mid-wives were not as aware of the side-effects of anti-depressants during pregnancy as they should have been. As seen in this report

The Health and Disability Commissioner has criticised the West Coast District Health Board after lack of care by three midwives left a newborn boy with permanent neurological problems.

Commissioner Ron Paterson also criticised the DHB over the subsequent delays and handling of the complaint into the case.

When the boy, known as Baby A, was born in 2004, he developed hypoglycaemia, or low blood sugar, after he stopped feeding normally in the two days after his birth.

Mr Paterson said the baby, at the lower end of the normal weight range, was vulnerable to hypoglycaemia as his mother, Ms A, was a heavy smoker and taking antidepressants during her pregnancy.

An independent adviser to Mr Paterson, midwife Nimisha Waller, said that as Baby A's weight was still inside the normal range he was not considered to be at risk of hypoglycaemia and did not get regular blood glucose monitoring.

She said all the midwives failed in developing a plan of care on a daily basis and did not recognise a change in Baby A's feeding pattern which resulted in the condition.

Mr Paterson said the combination of risk factors meant the midwives should have immediately monitored blood sugar levels and monitored feeding.

The three midwives have since reviewed their practice and written apologies to Ms A for the lack of care. The DHB has also written an apology to Ms A and is to audit its neonatal policies in regard to low-weight or at-risk babies.

Mother Mixed Prozac with Applesauce, Gave It to Her Infant Child for Six Months

From this report out of Indiana

A Center Grove area woman is accused of feeding her 12-year-old daughter applesauce spiked with Prozac every night for the past six months.

Karen Walsh, 51, 3712 Chancellor Drive, Greenwood, was arrested on a charge of neglect of a dependent, a Class D felony that carries a sentence of up to three years in prison.

Walsh told police she gave her child the antidepressant without the girl's knowledge to help her sleep.

The child is now in the custody of her father, who was unaware that the girl was being fed Prozac, Johnson County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Doug Cox said.

No doctor diagnosed the girl as needing the medication or prescribed it to her.

When not prescribed, Prozac can cause a range of medical problems including heightened suicidal tendencies, three physicians told police.

The Division of Family and Children's Services received a complaint that Walsh was giving her child Prozac and notified police, who questioned her Tuesday.

Walsh, who was taking Prozac prescribed to her, said she didn't want to take her daughter to the doctor for her sleeping problem because she knew he would tell her to stop giving the child Prozac, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Walsh told police she knew giving her child Prozac was wrong and could harm her health, according to the affidavit.

When asked by a detective, she described in detail the side effects an incorrect dosage could cause, such as permanent neurological damage.

She told police she gave her daughter about 10 mg per day, which she described as a "clinical dose."

Every night, she took a 20 mg time-released capsule and broke it open, emptying out the powder. She divided the powder into equal amounts, mixing half into her daughter's applesauce.

Walsh sometimes had to wake her from sleeping to give her the spiked applesauce, she told police.

Police required Walsh to sign a statement that she wouldn't give her daughter any medication in any form.

A physician will need to monitor the girl's health as she gradually stops taking Prozac, Cox said. She will need to stay on a reduced dosage for a while so sudden withdrawal doesn't endanger her health.

"She won't be able to safely quit cold turkey," Cox said.

Walsh was released from the jail Wednesday on $3,000 bond.

Babies Given Antidepressants In New Zealand

Tip of the hat to the Pharmalot weblog, which brings to our attention this report in the New Zealand Herald

Medical authorities are mystified and concerned at figures suggesting antidepressant drugs are being prescribed for children, some less than a year old.

Records of the national drug buying agency Pharmac suggest thousands of prescriptions a year are being written for children under 10.

Antidepressants are powerful psychiatric drugs with potentially severe side-effects.

They are not usually prescribed to children younger than 8, and more commonly are not used on those younger than 13.

Depression is not found in babies and doctors the Herald spoke to could see no reason for prescribing antidepressants for them.

The Government's drugs regulator, Medsafe, warned in 2004 that antidepressants could increase the risk of suicide.

For children and adolescents, it said, the risk of suicidal ideas and behaviour from newer antidepressants called selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) generally outweighed their benefits.

Older "tricyclic" antidepressants were not generally recommended for those under 18 because of the risk of heart problems.

The number of state-funded antidepressant prescriptions has nearly doubled since 2000 to more than a million a year, costing the Government about $30 million.

Figures given by Pharmac to the United Future Party show 4728 antidepressant prescriptions were written for children under 10 in 2004-05, declining to 2425 in the last June year.

Causing most alarm are the figures for babies, even though they dropped sharply during the three years.

For 1-year-olds, 768 prescriptions were written in 2004-05, down to 24 by last year. For those under 1, there were 453 prescriptions in 2004-05 but only nine last year.

The numbers also declined for every other age group under 10, but each group remained in the hundreds last year.

Antidepressants are used for conditions including severe depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder and bulimia nervosa.

The tricyclic type were previously used to control bed-wetting, but this could not explain the prescriptions for babies.

Commonly reported side-effects of the SSRIs fluoxetine and paroxetine include diarrhoea, insomnia, sleepiness and tremors.

Pharmac yesterday said that the figures were correct. But it was mystified by them.

"I can't understand them," said medical director Dr Peter Moodie, who had not studied the figures until the Herald contacted him.

He said wrong coding of dates of birth could explain the single-digit figures, "but when it's hundreds, one assumes the figures are right".

Pharmac would re-check them and look to see which doctors had prescribed them to children.

Dr Moodie said he would also ask Medsafe to look at the issue.

Medsafe did not return Herald calls last night.

United Future health spokeswoman Judy Turner said the figures were frightening.

"Babies are born with only 15 per cent of their brain fully developed; 85 per cent of development happens from 0 to 3 years," she said.

"Surely the antidepressants will interfere with the hard-wiring of the children's brains and influence their long-term wellbeing."

The clinical director of paediatrics at Kidz First children's hospital in Otahuhu, Dr Wendy Walker, had never used antidepressants with babies, nor heard of anyone else doing so.

"I would never prescribe them in my practice as a hospital-based acute paediatrician."

Emeritus Professor John Werry, a child psychiatrist, said that "as far as we know" giving SSRIs to babies would not harm them.

"But one doesn't like to give growing and developing kids medications that affect basic bio-cyclic processes because it just doesn't seem like a good idea unless the kid is really in severe difficulty."

It would be rare in NZ to prescribe antidepressants before the teenage years, Professor Werry said.

The youngest child he had prescribed one to was a boy with autism aged 8 or 9, but that was "very exceptional".

Auckland City Hospital neonatal paediatrician Dr Simon Rowley said he would "never dream" of prescribing antidepressants to anyone under about 10. He was sceptical of the Pharmac figures.

Political Storm Over Giving Ritalin to Babies Under a Year Old

A political storm brewing in Britain. From the Daily Mail.

Thousands of children are needlessly being prescribed mind-altering powerful drugs for hyperactivity, according to opposition MPs.

Research suggests that some GPs are even handing out Ritalin pills to children under a year old.

Almost 400,000 youngsters aged between five and 19 are being treated with Ritalin and similar drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, despite fears about the drugs' side-effects.

The Conservative Party says the number of prescriptions for behavioural problems has risen by 156 per cent in the last six years.

Those diagnosed with ADHD often display disruptive behaviour and have difficulty paying attention to specific tasks.

In the last five years alone, NHS spending on stimulant drugs such as Ritalin has trebled - despite concerns over the potential health risks.

Official guidelines recommend drug treatment only for the most severely affected children. But the Tories claim that Ritalin and similar drugs are being prescribed to those with mild symptoms.

A formal diagnosis of ADHD should take many hours, but they say some GPs are prescribing powerful drugs after brief consultations.

This is despite reports of side effects such as cardiovascular disorders, hallucinations and even suicidal thoughts.

At least nine deaths have been reported to the UK's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency since Ritalin became available in the early 1990s. Shadow Commons leader Theresa May said: "They are powerful prescription drugs and we don't know what their long-term effects are. Despite this, they are being given to children before they are a year old.

"I have no doubt that there are children in the UK with ADHD who will benefit from Ritalin.

"But the increase of prescriptions raises questions in my mind as to whether it is being prescribed properly in each and every case.

"A six-year-old who was prescribed Ritalin experienced low moods and marked depression and tried to throw himself out of a window within two months of starting treatment. He recovered after drug withdrawal."

She is calling on NHS bosses to review their policy on prescribing such drugs. "With such widespread use of these prescription medicines we need a review of the current guidelines, with a view to tightening them," she said.

"More research should be done into the effectiveness of non-drug treatment and natural remedies to treat ADHD."

As there are no official records on the number of children prescribed Ritalin in Britain, the Tories used research compiled from global studies conducted over the past decade.

It comes after a report by the University of California showed the use of ADHD drugs has tripled worldwide since 1993.

Monthly prescriptions for Ritalin in England and Wales increased from 4,000 in 1994 to 359,000 in 2004, it claimed.

But Andrea Bilbow, chief executive of ADHD charity Addiss, dismissed the research as "misleading" and claimed that the disorder was still "under-diagnosed and underprescribed".

I would love to see an investigation into the affairs of Mister Bilbow, biased sort that I am.

See also this report from the Netherlands: Ritalin Prescriptions up 30%