PARENTS SUE OVER DRUG FOR HYPERACTIVITY

A group of families who claim their children were harmed by Ritalin, a
drug to cure hyperactivity, is planning a legal action against clinicians.

Ritalin, originally launched in America, has become increasingly
fashionable for treating "difficult" children in Britain.

More than 130,000 prescriptions were issued last year, some for
children still in nappies, despite the fact that Novartis, the drug's
manufacturer, does not recommend it for youngsters under six.

The company also advises doctors not to prescribe it for longer than
one month, but many of the children have been on it for several years,
and according to their parents have become addicted.

Seven families are now planning to take their case against doctors to
court. Felicity Ewing, one of the parents who has joined the group
legal action, said the drug was first given to her six-year-old son
Calvin when he was two.

He has received continuous repeat prescriptions with little monitoring
of his condition, she claims. "I was horrified when I recently
discovered there are worries the drug can restrict children's growth
and alter their mental development," she said.

"My son has been on a very high dose and until I recently changed GPs,
nobody has been interested in trying to get him off it."

The group is taking its lead from an American parents' organisation
which is seeking to bring doctors to account for overuse of the drug.

In some American schools, as many as a fifth of the children are on
the drug.

Although Ritalin is part of the amphetamine family of stimulants, it
is used to calm children diagnosed with attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a condition of restlessness,
impulsiveness and aggression. ADHD is believed to be the result of an
imbalance of chemicals in the brain.

It is claimed that Ritalin increases alertness and extends the
attention span in hyperactive children.

Nigel Grayson, 34, an accountant from Manchester who is leading the
parents' group, said his son was put on eight times the recommended
daily dose of the drug, and continued to be given it as he reacted to
the trauma of his parents splitting up.

His parents are now united in their efforts to wean him off it. "This
drug is being overprescribed by doctors who have no concern about the
consequences and we want people to be made aware of the dangers,"
Grayson said.

A spokesman for Alexander Harris, the Manchester solicitors
co-ordinating the British legal action, said American lawyers had
issued proceedings against Novartis in Texas earlier this month.

"The action here is in its very early stages, but there is clearly a
problem," she said.

The American action seeks unspecified damages for Novartis's alleged
failure to warn of Ritalin's impact on children's cardiovascular and
nervous systems.

Novartis said it would vigorously defend the claims and argued that
the drug has been safely and effectively used for 40 years.

However, concern about overuse of Ritalin is growing. Steve Baldwin,
professor of clinical psychology at Teesside University, runs a drug
withdrawal service for children diagnosed with hyperactivity.

"These drugs are psychostimulants which should not be given to young
children," he said. "Huge numbers of prescriptions are being issued
and there are better ways to treat children with these disorders."