Ritalin is the least toxic of the amphetamines, but even so it does interfere with REM sleep, an essential brain repair mechanism, and it is also known to deplete the neurotransmitter, serotonin. On the other hand, research confirms that about 75 percent of hyperactive children improve, showing better attention, less impulsiveness and less over-active behavior on Ritalin. A recent study showed a significant advantage of 4 points on an IQ test measure comparing ADD children treated with Ritalin versus placebo after a year and a half of follow-up.
Research into ADD is a national priority and the search for a different and better medical approach is spurred by the increasing public dissatisfaction with the idea of treating school-children with drugs. The war on drugs has demonized almost all psychoactive substances, even those that are relatively safe and non-toxic when used in medical settings, even the likes of amphetamines and opiates. It is strange to consider that if children were getting Ritalin in the schoolyard instead of in the doctor’s office, the police would be called at once!
I am not promoting the use of drugs and amphetamines but perhaps this paradox will do some good, and get us to realize that all “drugs” have the potential for abuse and also the potential for good. It is up to patients, doctors, and our political leaders to be rational and scientific in our approach so that we don’t exclude potentially useful substances from medical practice.
There has been significant progress in our understanding of ADD but no one has yet been able to explain the apparent increase in the number of children with this behavior pattern that has caused sales of Ritalin to increase 5-fold in 7 years! Genetic factors surely play a part, for a study of identical twins found 90 percent concordance: if one twin had ADD so did the other. Environmental factors are a well-established factor. Lead and mercury are particularly damaging to brain development and activity. Lead was carefully studied in the 1960s and 70s and the consensus was that half of all cases of ADD that were not otherwise explained, were caused by lead exposure from housepaint, petrol, lead contaminated dirt—and from solder in toothpaste tubes and baby formula cans!
We know these metals are still present in home repair situations calling for the removal of old paint, but the Lead Paint Protection Act of 1976 ended the use of lead in gasoline and indoor paint in the United States and there has been a dramatic reduction in lead level in the American people. Hair levels were commonly 15 to 20 ppm in the 1970s; now it is rare to see a hair sample with more than 4 or 5 ppm (ppm is parts per million, which is the same as micrograms per gram of hair).
Mercury was not removed from paint until after 1991, when a baby died after being placed overnight in a newly-painted, poorly ventilated nursery. I have not seen a research study that estimated the frequency of ADD due to mercury from paint, or dental amalgam (silver fillings contain mercury), probably because it hasn’t been taken seriously up until now. However Drs. Marlowe, Moon and Errera measured hair mercury levels in 59 children, and found a significant correlation to IQ scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale. Even at very low concentration mercury had an adverse effect on brain function. Thus, though the average hair mercury was only 1.04 mcg per gram (ppm), less than half the upper limit of 2.5 ppm that the laboratory accepts as normal, the research indicated that 10 percent of the drop in IQ scores is due to mercury.
Is there sufficient evidence to ban the use of mercury-containing silver fillings in children? It is already happening in Sweden and Germany. The risk of mercury causing adverse effects is credible because mercury accumulates for the life of the filling. In the 1953 disaster at Minamata, Japan, doses of mercury that did not cause symptoms in the pregnant mothers had disastrous outcomes for the babies, which were born with permanently impaired movement, limited speech, and retarded intellect.
Another toxic agent that should be taken seriously is fluoride. There are several credible studies, in animals and humans both, that confirm the fact of brain damage from fluoride—at levels similar to those commonly experienced here in the United States.