This dubious, government sponsored and massive screening initiative was formulated by a panel of "experts" assembled to carry out the requirements of President Bush's "New Freedom Commission on Mental Health" in April 2002 and it will implement the "TMAP formula" nationally. [The "TMAP formula" is co-developed by
Dr. Graham Emslie, who recently tried to deceive the public again with a selfmade "study" (see article) promoting Prozac (Sarafem, fluoxetine) and other SSRI's as perfectly safe to use. And this all in the midst of federal investigations into the marketing & safety of antidepressants. Dr. Graham Emslie receives research grants from Eli Lilly & Company, the maker of Prozac and Cymbalta (duloxetine).]

The "TMAP formula" practice guidelines designate antidepressants & antipsychotics as the treatment of choice for mental illness, not on the basis of evidence, but on the basis of a consensus panel. A panel under the direct influence of Big Pharma. It is the culmination of a series of dubious federally sponsored, "mental health" initiatives - that began during the Clinton Administration- and which focus especially on children.

The Bush administration US Screen Program, deceptively titled the "New Freedom Initiative for People with Disabilities", hides it's secrets way down deep in Chapter 4, under the section "Promoting Full Access to Community Life." The full 2004 progress report can be found at the following URL: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/newfreedom/toc-2004.html  (not online anymore = hidden!)

An extract from chapter 4:
"The Commission also concluded that the roles played by states must be central to the transformation process, but states must rely heavily upon the involvement of consumers in research, planning, and evaluation activities. At the same time, the coordinated efforts of more than 25 Federal agencies must undergird and reinforce the states' processes. Every adult with a serious mental illness or child with a serious emotional disturbance must have an individualized plan of care coordinating services among programs and across agencies. Every state must have a comprehensive mental health plan, the ownership of which is shared by all state agencies impacting the care of persons with serious mental illnesses."

So, according to this plan, EVERY man, woman and child in the United States is to be screened, analyzed and monitored by the US government and legal enforceable personalized "care" regimes WILL BE applied to those exhibiting signs of "mental illness."

According to the DSM-IV manual (Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association), mild depression (cyclothymia), sadness, sorrow, grief & boredom and even anger (bereavement), shyness (avoidant personality disorder), forgetfulness (Amnesia), sleep problems, math problems, bedwetting, to name a few, are all categorized as "mental illnesses."

TEENSCREEN®
Citizens in the United States need to know that the first target population for this forced massive screening for "mental illness" are America's children and pregnant women. This initiative has already been in operation since July 2003 in 168 of America's schools under the auspice of the "TeenScreen®" program, developed by Columbia University physicians (under leadership of David Shaffer M.D, spokesman of Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals), [the same group that has been designated by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to review the studies on SSRI-antidepressants inducing self-harm & suicide in children]. Fifty two million American school children and six million school personnel are about to be ordered to undergo screening tests for hidden mental illnesses (as if mental illness needs to be ferreted out and captured like a rabid animal). This is not science fiction... this is harsh reality and it is happening now!

The TeenScreen® developers have purposely sought to elude, undermine and eliminate pupils and parental rights under the federal "Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment" (PPRA) Act of 1998 and therefore should be prosecuted. See: TeenScreen® News - Fall 2003
"Active parental consent must be obtained, however, if a child is going to be removed from an instructional activity for screening. However, if the screening will be given to all students, as opposed to some, it becomes part of the curriculum and no longer requires active parental consent (i.e., if all ninth-graders will be screened as a matter of policy, it is considered part of the curriculum)".

For a proper answer to this cold criminal behaviour at cost of parents' and children's health and rights...
See: Parental consent: "TeenScheme" sets the record wrong
See: TeenScreen: More to do with Drugging Children than Saving Lives - One Family’s Story

The PPRA Act is intended to protect the rights of parents and students and will be further detailed in this article. Any attempt of screening pupils without parental consent is in stark contrast with the purpose of this federal law. We present an example of legal victory in a case brought against the San Antonio School District for violation of the PPRA Act that occurred when high school students were given an intrusive psychological survey that asked personal questions such as "Do you ever wish you were a boy or girl instead of what you are?" See: Violation of PPRA in Texas-1999
See also: How Public School Curriculum Has Changed!

PROTECTION OF PUPIL RIGHTS AMANDMENT (PPRA)
The PPRA is intended to protect the rights of parents and students in two ways: It seeks to ensure that schools make psychological surveys such as TeenScreen available for inspection by parents and seeks to ensure that schools obtain written parental consent.

So TeenScreen says that if a local mental health screening program is approved by the Board of Education as part of the educational program, they are not required to get active parental consent under PPRA...

However, The U.S. Department of Education says TeenScreen's statement is not right and says the question of whether "active" consent is required under PPRA is not based on whether the program is part of the school's education program. Rather, PPRA requires requires schools to obtain prior written consent ("active") before a student is required to take a survey that is funded by the U.S. Department of Education (in whole or in part) and that asks questions such as the above questions TeenScreen poses to children.

OUR PRIVACY, OUR FREEDOM, OUR RESPONSIBILITY
This nationwide screening program initiative establishes a coercive selection policy that opens the door to discrimination and forced treatment with powerful, psychotropic drugs that have caused more harm to children (and adults) than the conditions for which they were prescribed. Children and adults who will be labeled mentally ill on the basis of unreliable, subjective tests (essentially questionnaires), can expect to lose their autonomy as a brigade of mental health providers intrudes on their lives and takes over their decision-making authority. Those labeled mentally ill can expect to be stripped of their civil and human rights.

We don't have policies to screen innocent people for crimes they have not committed - based on the theory that early intervention is a justifiable crime prevention measure. We don't have screening policies to ferret out would-be terrorists. What possible justification does the government have to put children through a dubious screening process for suspected mental illness? This involuntary, pseudo-medical government sponsored selection policy is a chilling example of the illegitimate intrusion by government into personal and confidential healthcare decisions. Why is the US government in such a hurry to implement its "mental health" screening plans?

Screening for mental illness serves no useful medical or societal purpose inasmuch as there are no reliable diagnostic tools for mental illness and no proven safe and effective treatments. Clinical trial data from SSRI antidepressants and so-called atypical anti-psychotics failed to demonstrate either the safety of these drugs, or a benefit greater than placebo. The public needs to be ever vigilant against such overreaching government policies which historically have proven harmful. Being labeled "mentally ill" and being forced to ingest psychotropic drugs whose harmful effects are only beginning to be disclosed, is not in the best interest of children.

According to this nationwide screening program initiative, every man, woman and child in the United States is to be screened, analyzed and monitored by the US government and legal enforceable personalized "care" regimes will be applied to those exhibiting signs of "mental illness." This initiative is illegal and nothing short of an assault on personal dignity and legal rights - a downright violation of human rights. If allowed to go forth, these programs will create a totalitarian Orwellian nightmare.

This dubious, government sponsored and massive screening initiative formulated to the "New Freedom Commission on Mental Health" is in violation of the "Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment" Act of 1998.

ACTION REQUIERED! - THE PROTECTION OF PUPIL RIGHTS AMANDMENT
The "Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment" (PPRA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232h; 34 CFR Part 98) is intended to protect the rights of parents and students in two ways:

(1) It seeks to ensure that schools and contractors make instructional materials available for inspection by parents if those materials will be used in connection with a department of education funded survey, analysis, or evaluation in which their children participate; and
(2) It seeks to ensure that schools and contractors obtain written parental consent before minor students are required to participate in any department of education funded survey, analysis, or evaluation that reveals information concerning:

- Mental and psychological problems that are potentially embarrassing to the student and his/her family.

See: PUPIL RIGHTS LAW ALLOWS PARENTS TO OPT STUDENTS OUT OF SURVEYS May, 2004.
"As the result of recent amendments to PPRA in the No Child Left Behind education law (Public Law 107-110, signed January 8, 2002), parents have additional rights to examine materials with regard to the surveying of minor students, even when the surveys are not Education Department-funded, and to opt their children out of surveys and certain non-emergency medical examinations."

- "The rights of parents to inspect, upon request, a survey created by a third party before the survey is administered or distributed by a school to students;
- arrangements to protect student privacy in a survey if it includes any of the eight items noted above;
- the right of parents to inspect any instructional materials used as part of the education curriculum;
- administration of physical examinations or screenings that the school may administer to students;
- collection, disclosure, or use of personal information collected from students for the purpose of marketing, selling;
- the right of parents to inspect any instrument used in collecting information for marketing or selling."

"Schools must notify parents of their PPRA policies at least once annually and must give parents ample opportunity to opt out (remove their child) from participation in surveys containing one or more of the eight items of information specified in the original law. Parents are also allowed to remove their children from any non-emergency invasive physical examination or screening that is required for attendance or is not necessary to protect the immediate health and safety of the student or other students."

WHAT TO DO?
As you can see from the assessment of this initiative as outlined above, any mental health screening that takes place without first providing the citizenry an opportunity to provide their complete informed consent is in violation of the PPRA Act of 1998, as well as a gross violation of basic human rights.

E-mail your school district superintendent and ask if TeenScreen has been implemented or if there are any plans to implement it. Keep things in writing. If the answer is yes, alert other parents and voice your opposition. File a "parental informed consent notice" with your child's school. Click HERE for a sample.
More information: TeenScreen - A Front Group for the Psycho-Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex

THIS IS AN URGENT CALL TO ACTION !!!

Citizens in EVERY State of America also must act immediately to contact their respective legislators to have the Bush Administration/Pharmaceutical arranged intendented mandate repealed. The PPRA is a FEDERAL ACT and predates this intended mandate by several years. Furthermore, the PPRA makes NULL AND VOID the requirements of this intended mandate.

Citizens in EVERY State of America MUST meet this new threat to their Constitutional Rights head on!
Strike this initiative down before it even has a chance to plant it's dangerous tentacles in YOUR State!.
Under the Tiahrt amendment that took effect in 2002, additional requirements are now in place, and they apply as well to surveys funded by sources other than the U.S. Department of Education... as discussed previously!

The "Illinois Children's Mental Health Act of 2003" (a 53 page legislative report) requires the development of a state "Children's Mental Health Plan" and details a vast new bureaucracy which stresses intervention and treatment for all pregnant women and children from birth to age 18 who reside in Illinois.

"Screenings, testing, and treatments are to be offered in homes, pre-schools, daycare, and throughout the public school system. A child over the age of 12 will be provided two mental health sessions without parental consent."

There is absolutely no redeeming feature to ANY mandatory mental health screening programs. There are no proven "treatments" for the prevention of mental illness. Screening for mental illness programs are intended to give the government control in defiance of our constitutional rights, while generating even greater profits for the psychotropic drug / mental health industry.