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EDUCATION FOR A FREE NATION
105 Peavey Rd, Suite 116, Chaska, MN 55318
952-361-4931 www.edwatch.org - edwatch@lakes.com

July 20, 2006

Stop Universal Mental Health Screening for Teens

         JOIN THE ON-LINE PETITION AGAINST TEENSCREEN
Click Here to Sign UP
        
        Opposition to universal mental health screening is mounting, and the public can take a simple action to join in.

         Controversial, subjective and invasive probing of all teens, billed as suicide prevention, is the goal of the pharmaceutical lobby and its activist organizations who thrive on school referrals. EdWatch and other groups nationally have opposed federal funding and promotion of the TeenScreen program. Its defenders insist parents are fully involved, but the facts suggest otherwise. Last year, the Rutherford Institute took up the case of an Indiana couple whose daughter Chelsea was screened without their consent.
"According to Chelsea, all her friends were told that something was wrong with them, too. In fact, it seemed that the only students who werent told they were suffering from some sort of so-called disorder94 were the ones with the opt-out slips. And when Chelseas mom heard about the events of the day and her daughters diagnosis of OCD and social anxiety disorder, she immediately took action." ( TeenScreen: One Familys Story)
         The school is being sued for conducting a mental health screening exam on a teenager without parental consent. John Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, tells parents they should fight the increasing government violation of family privacy. He recommends informing local school officials "that you be notified immediately if they are planning to conduct mental health screening on your children," which he calls "this encroachment on parental rights." (Click here to find a sample letter you may send to the school and an attorney opting your child out of invasive surveys and screenings.)

        Chelsea's mother, Theresa Rhoades, has launched a website to petition school board members and state and federal legislators to stop using TeenScreen. Groups and individuals nationally are promoting the petition, and well over 5,000 people have already signed on. This is only the beginning. Mrs. Rhoades plans to present the petition to elected public officials at all levels. She personally assures EdWatch that names are stored on the online petition web group, and that they will not be shared with any private organizations.
        
        TeenScreen is sweeping into our schools. Legislatures are passing plans to screen the mental health of all pregnant women and all children from infancy up to 22 years of age during routine physical exams. Treatment involves massive expansion of the use of expensive, dangerous and ineffective drugs. Federal money and policies push the system into place.
 
Learn more
Sounding the alarm on Infant Mental Health
Taxpayer Funds Promote Child Drugging and Screening

Purchase DVD:
"The Dangers of Universal Mental Health Screening"

        This new DVD is a valuable resource for informing yourself, legislators, candidates for public office, school board members, and the community about the enormity of the dangers of this "womb to tomb system" that is making great inroads into the most sacred areas of our personal family lives.

        This DVD is a live 45-minute professionally videotaped presentation by Karen R. Effrem, MD, pediatrician, education researcher, and board member of EdWatch. Included is a brief 7-minute introduction, useful for testimony in your own state. Dr. Effrem's medical degree is from Johns Hopkins University, and her pediatric training is from the University of Minnesota. She has provided testimony for Congress, as well as in-depth analysis of numerous pieces of major federal education, health, and early childhood legislation for congressional staff and many organizations. Dr. Effrem serves on the boards of four national organizations: EdWatch, the Alliance for Human Research Protection, the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology, and the National Physicians Center.  She has spoken at numerous state and national conferences. She has been interviewed by or quoted in Wall Street Journal, WorldNetDaily, NewsMax, newspapers, and radio and television stations across the country.

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