Over-Medicated Youth

According to Randall Fitzgerald (144), "because children have lower body weights and less-developed metabolisms, they are more vulnerable to toxic effects from synthetic chemicals." Despite this reality, there is a growing body of evidence that some pharmaceutical preparations are being over-prescribed for children. These preparations include antibiotics, psychotropic drugs, and vaccines - all of which have come under attack in recent years by researchers, including Emilio Sanz (1223) who argues that despite the benefits of such pharmaceuticals, inadequate attention is given to their potentially damaging side effects.

Sanz (1223) states that "the use of antibiotics in children as been a sensitive issue since the 1920s when penicillin and other major antibiotics began to be discovered. General practitioners (GPs) and pediatricians have been regularly blamed by academic and research physicians for prescribing excessive antibiotics." Antibiotics are extremely useful in treating a number of life-threatening conditions but these prescription only medicines as they are categorized in most countries can result in the development of immunity to their beneficial effects or may have only limited impact upon the conditions for which they are prescribed.

If antibiotics are considered to be potentially dangerous for children and are being over-prescribed, Fitzgerald (144) argues that a drug called Ritalin that was approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in 1961 "fo

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