FIRST LADY SPEAKS AGAINST RITALIN USE

Children: She Says Too Many Youngsters Are Being Put On The Drug
Without Testing.

WASHINGTON - Hillary Rodham Clinton used the power of the White House
bully pulpit to call attention Monday to a troubling matter for
parents of preschoolers - the use of Ritalin and other mind-altering
drugs to treat youngsters' behavior.

"We are not here to bash the use of these medications," Mrs. Clinton
said. "But we do have to ask some serious questions about the use of
prescription drugs."

She outlined a plan to ask the Food and Drug Administration to issue
guidelines for use of such drugs for children under 6. She also
proposed more clinical trials on the young, a fall conference on
children's mental health, handbooks for parents and training for
doctors who treat their children.

Mrs. Clinton said she was motivated by research showing a steep climb
in toddlers being medicated without adequate research into what works
best for children still undergoing crucial brain development.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, usually is
diagnosed in school-age children based on interviews and observed
behavior. Symptoms include a restless inability to sit still to read,
study or even watch television. Some mild forms of these symptoms are
common in many children, leading experts to worry that ADHD is
diagnosed too often.

"Some of these young people have problems that are symptoms of nothing
more than childhood or adolescence," Mrs. Clinton said.

The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that from
1991 to 1995, prescriptions for 2- to 4-year-olds jumped threefold for
Ritalin.

The number of children on anti-depressants such as Prozac, used to
control bedwetting, doubled in the period.