FOLLOW THE MONEY TRAIL

[FB: John Merrow, noted investigative journalist, produced the 1995 video: ADD—A Dubious Diagnosis. What follows was sent me by my good friend and ally, John Breeding, Ph.D.]

Since 1988, when CHADD and Ciba-Geigy (now Novartis), the manufacturer of Ritalin, began their financial relationship, Ciba has given almost a million dollars to CHADD, helping it to expand its membership from 800 to 35,000 people.

Merrow interviews several parents whose children are on Ritalin, parents who have been relying on CHADD for information. They are clearly taken aback when they learn that CHADD obtains a significant amount of its funding from the drug company that makes Ritalin.

CHADD has used Ciba money to promote its pharmaceutical message through a public service announcement (PSA) produced for television. Nineteen million people have seen this PSA. As Merrow says, "CHADD's name is on it, but Ciba Geigy paid for it."

It turns out that in all of CHADD's considerable literature written for the public, there is rare mention of Ciba. In fact, the only instance of the connection Merrow could find on the record was a small-print citation on an announcement of a single CHADD conference.

In recounting CHADD's promotion of drug "therapy" for ADD, Merrow says, "CHADD's literature also says psychostimulant medications [like Ritalin] are not addictive."

Merrow brings this up to Gene Haslip, a Drug Enforcement Agency official in Washington. Haslip is visibly annoyed. "Well," he says, "I think that's very misleading. It's [Ritalin's] certainly a drug that can cause a very high degree of dependency, like all of the very potent stimulants."

Merrow reveals that CHADD received a $750,000 grant from the US Dept. of Education, in 1996, to produce a video, Facing the Challenge of ADD. The video doesn't just mention the generic name methylphenidate, it announces the drug by its brand name, Ritalin. This, at government (taxpayer) expense.

We see a press conference announcing the release of the video. The CHADD president presents an award to Dr. Thomas Hehir, Director of Special Education Programs at the US Dept. of Education. This sets the stage for a conversation between Merrow and Dr. Hehir, providing a rare moment when discovery of the truth is recorded on camera, when PR is swept aside.

MERROW: "Are you aware that most of the people in the film [the video, Facing the Challenge of ADD-referring to people who are giving testimonials about how their ADD children have been helped by treatment] are not just members of CHADD ... but in the CHADD leadership, including the former national president? They're all board members of CHADD in Chicago. Are you aware of that? They're not identified in the film."

HEHIR: "I'm not aware of that."

MERROW: "Do you know about the financial connection between CHADD and Ciba Geigy, the company that makes Ritalin?"

HEHIR: "I do not."

MERROW: "In the last six years, CHADD has received $818,000 in grants from Ciba Geigy."

HEHIR: "I did not know that."

MERROW: "Does that strike you as a potential conflict of interest?"

HEHIR: "That strikes me as a potential conflict of interest. Yes it does."

MERROW: "Now, that's not disclosed either. Even though the film talks about Ritalin as a-one way, and it's the first way presented-of taking care of treating Attention Deficit Disorder. That's not disclosed either. Does that trouble you?"

HEHIR: "Um, it concerns me."

MERROW: "Are you going to look into this, when you go back to your office?"

HEHIR: "I certainly will look into some of the things you've brought up."

MERROW: "Should they have told you that all those people in that film are CHADD leadership? Should they have told you that CHADD gets twenty percent of its money from the people who make Ritalin?"

HEHIR: "I should have known that."

MERROW: "They should have told you."

HEHIR: "Yes."

This funded video, in which CHADD devotes all of twenty seconds to mentioning Ritalin's adverse effects, is no longer distributed by the US Department of Education.

CHADD has now told its members that it receives funding from Ciba. It says it will continue to take money from Ciba.