WE'RE GIVING OUR KIDS A PILL THAT CAN KILL

Hundreds Of B.C. Youngsters Being Prescribed Controversial Drug The
Experts Want Banned.

HEADER reading:

(Shocking new findings have been uncovered as part of an ongoing
Province investigation into overprescribing drugs to children with
attention and behavioural problems.)

TODAY: We're still prescribing a drug that can cause liver failure and
even death.
TOMORROW: Top pediatrician says 50% of doctors aren't
qualified to diagnose attention deficit disorder -- and B.C. kids are
breaking records in the use of behaviour-altering drugs.

(British Columbia)--Hundreds of B.C. kids are taking a drug that can kill
them -- and they're being prescribed it because they have attention and
behavioural problems.

They're still taking the drug Cylert despite the fact that it's been
known for years that it can cause liver failure and even death in a
small percentage of patients.

A Freedom of Information request to the College of Pharmacists showed
that 285 children and teenagers were prescribed Cylert to treat
attention deficit disorder last year.

"Unbelievable!" said Dr. Emmett Francoeur, immediate past president of
the Canadian Pediatric Society.

"Given that we have other medications now that really work well, I
don't know why on earth people would want to use Cylert," he said.

The drug, also known by the generic name Pemoline, is currently under
investigation by Health Canada.

When Cylert goes wrong, it can be a swift and lethal killer. Almost a
dozen patients have died through liver failure, including an Ontario
boy taking the drug for ADD. Jonathan Bain died a few days after his
14th birthday.

The drug, still widely prescribed in B.C., can cause massive damage to
one of the body's most vital organs, the liver.

It happens in only a tiny fraction of patients. But when it does, the
effect is traumatic.

Says Francoeur: "For sure we know about the liver problems with Cylert."

Abbott Laboratories, which manufactures the drug, has ceased actively
promoting it, although it is still available by prescription.

U.S. authorities have issued a "Dear Doctor" letter to physicians
about Cylert, warning of "13 cases of acute hepatic failure" reported
in the U.S.

"Of the 13 cases reported . . . 11 resulted in death or liver
transplant," said the letter, which says the risk of death on Cylert
is at least 17 times normal.

Cylert is sometimes prescribed to patients when Ritalin and Dexedrine
fail to control hyperactivity and improve attention.

B.C. Children's Hospital no longer prescribes Cylert for ADD, said Dr.
Derryck Smith, chief of child psychiatry.

"It is really off the list of medications that we will use at this
point," he said.

But despite the concerns, about 29,000 prescriptions for the drug were
written across Canada last year, according to IMS Health, a private
health information service.

In December last year, B.C. Health Minister Penny Priddy, responding
to an appeal from a leading Ontario doctor for Cylert to be banned,
said about 2,500 prescriptions for the drug had been written in 1997
and that she wanted to get more information about it.

However, Priddy has refused to be interviewed on Cylert or any other
drug treatments for ADD in connection with the ongoing Province series
on drugging our children.

Health Canada launched its investigation into the drug last December,
but a spokeswoman said no decision has been made on whether to advise
doctors in Canada to stop using the drug for ADD.

"Our concern is to look at the data very, very closely and make a
solid and sound decision," said Health Canada spokeswoman Reva Berman.

"We are keenly aware of the issue and we won't take any longer than
necessary on making a decision on how to proceed."

Smith earlier urged Health Canada to review the medication. "If I was
Health Canada, I certainly would review the data on this," he said.