The Latest Ominous News About Ritalin

In 2005, a study appeared in Cancer Letters that would have evoked widespread media coverage if it had been about an illegal drug, rather than about a pharmaceutical company product (El-Zein, 2005). Researchers from the University of Texas examined 12 children treated with therapeutic effects of Ritalin to determine whether this central nervous system stimulant produces cytogenetic abnormalities in pediatric patients at therapeutic doses. Using peripheral blood lymphocytes taken from the children, they found a 2.4-fold increase in chromosome aberrations and similar defects. They concluded, These findings warrant further investigations of the possible health effects of methylphenidate in humans, especially in view of the well-documented relationship between elevated frequencies of chromosome aberrations and increased cancer risk.  

More recent studies of the effect of methylphenidate on the growing animal brain have produced even more ominous results with direct connections to emotional and behavioral development. Carlezon and Konradi (2004), from Harvard s Department of Psychiatry, observed that some children are being treated with psychiatric drugs as early as age 2. They summarized their research  

When we exposed rats to the prescription stimulant methylphenidate during early adolescence, we discovered long-lasting behavioral and 

In a presentation at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) in late 2004, William Carlezon and his collaborator, Susan Andersen, explained that following exposure to methylphenidate when young, the animals behavior became abnormal in adulthood. According to the reporter ( New Study Shows, 2004), 

The animals had a reduced ability to experience pleasure and reward, particularly when it was measured by sensitivity to cocaine. In addition, they found that the animals exposed to Ritalin during pre-adolescence were more prone to express despair-like behaviors in stressful situations (such as swim tests) as adults. Overall, the animals showed more evidence of dysfunctional brain reward systems and depressive-like behaviors in adulthood. 

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