Melatonin Madness

'Bloody awesome': 

how melatonin is helping children fall asleep 

Many parents will be only too familiar with the problem of children tossing and turning for hours before they finally go to sleep. Rather than put up with it, a growing number of families are turning to prescribed melatonin to help children fall asleep. For many it’s a revelation ... 

Adults who have trouble getting to sleep or need to reset their body clocks to deal with jet lag or shift work have long sworn by melatonin, a synthetic version of the natural hormone that regulates your sleep rhythm. Now there’s enough evidence about safety and efficacy that doctors are prescribing it for children too, usually in low doses.

So said an article that appeared in today's Brisbane Times. As to whether it's safe for children, there has been no long term studies (18 to 24 months seem to have been the longest) so who knows? The pineal gland produces melatonin naturally so the idea of its long term administration to children is disturbing. Common sense suggests that some disturbance to the proper functioning of the pineal gland would result if this practice were to continue over a long period of time.

The headline atop this newspaper article however, presents the practice in a very positive light. This is yet another instance of mainstream media conniving with big pharma and big medicine to induce parents to purchase unnecessary medication for their children. In Australia, a prescription is necessary to purchase melatonin although in other countries it can be bought over the counter. It is regarded as a food supplement rather than a medication and so quality control and restrictions on its distribution are more lax.

The promotion of this supplement is purely for profit: doctors benefit because they need to write the script, pharmacists benefit by dispensing it and the manufacturers benefit by selling it to the pharmacists. Consider this glowing endorsement of Melatonin from a manufacturer:

Andrew Harb, general manager at wholesaler Medisca, said melatonin was a “godsend” for the whole family. One study done with children with autism showed children taking melatonin were getting to sleep half an hour earlier than those taking a placebo and this was measurably reducing stress for their parents.

It's a nice deal: induce autism via vaccinations and then buy Melatonin to combat some of the side effects. One is reminded of the similarly vaccine induced Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and the Ritalin that is prescribed to combat it. Hooking a child on Ritalin, Melatonin or whatever is a major goal of Big Pharma because it is likely to reap financial benefits for the lifetime of the individual.

Meanwhile, note the headline of this article:

Caesarean rates soar with doctors 

'less prepared to take risks'

At the midwifery expert had some telling comments to make on this shameful statistic and to disabuse those who think it has anything to do with doctors being "less prepared to take risks":

Professor Hannah Dahlen, a midwifery expert at Western Sydney University, said evidence suggested episiotomies were medically necessary in only about 10 per cent of cases – for example when the baby’s heart rate was at a critical level. “It’s not a minor operation. It causes people emotional distress. It causes them physical distress,” she said. “I haven’t done an episiotomy in 15 years and I’m still a practicing midwife. You don’t need to do them, except in rare circumstances.” Professor Dahlen said that private obstetricians in particular were encouraged to schedule more caesareans and inductions to avoid being called out every night of the week. She said obstetricians should be forced to declare their individual statistics “so we do identify the obstetricians with 90 per cent caesarean section rates – and they do exist in the country”.

How did things get to this point? Mothers are now given vaccinations while they are pregnant. The baby may well be induced or delivered by caesarean, and the vaccinations begin immediately after birth. The growing infant continues to be jabbed with a bewildering variety of vaccines for the next four years and beyond. It is likely to receive several unnecessary doses of antibiotics and other medications that are deemed necessary, including Melatonin. Yet, the reasons for the epidemics of Autism, Asthma, Allergy and ADHD remain a mystery supposedly to the medical profession. As Heather Fraser writes in her book "The Peanut Allergy Epidemic":

The mantra might well be:

VACCINATE 

MEDICATE

EDUCATE

One is reminded of the lyrics to "Mad World" that was sung originally by Gary Jules:

MAD WORLD 

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head, I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow 

And I find it kinda funny, I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a very very
Mad world, mad world 

Children waiting for the day, they feel good
Happy birthday, happy birthday
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher, tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me 

And I find it kinda funny, I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a very very
Mad world, mad world
Enlarge your world
Mad world

And so children, weakened and damaged by vaccinations, fluoridation, medication, are sent off to school and that's another nightmare ... perhaps it's time for children to get their own back. If you don't laugh, you have to cry.