One reader suggested a product called Delacet, a completely natural product that kills the lice and their eggs, so presumably no combing is required afterwards. It’s been tested by magazines such as Woman’s Own and Family Circle, says our reader, and even by our own, sadly departed, Natural Parent, so it must be all right then.

Another reader shares with us the recommendation of Dr John Dillon, a GP in Castlerea. Dr Dillon suggests a herbal product called Antelice, a combination of Western and Chinese herbs.

These children are being prescribed powerful antidepressants that could be making them suicidal, and so the FDA has agreed to review the practice.

Today, it’s been reckoned that 2 per cent of all youths in the USA are now prescribed an antidepressant. Prescriptions to children increased by 400 per cent between 1988 and 1994 alone, a study has found.

Researchers have discovered that children as young as two have been prescribed an antidepressant such as Prozac, although usage more usually begins at the age of six and then carries on until the age of 19.

Nobody knows for sure how many children have committed suicide, attempted suicide or had suicidal thoughts while on these drugs, and regulators the world over have always hidden behind the fact that these children may have been suicidal because of their depression.

The FDA has nonetheless conceded that the drugs are more likely than a placebo to cause suicidal thoughts. It based its conclusion on a review of 20 placebo-controlled trials, involving over 4100 children and adolescents who were prescribed one of eight antidepressants. The ‘gang of eight’ includes citalopram, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, mirtazapine, nefazodone,paroxetine, sertraline and venlazafine.

Worse, perhaps, the FDA concluded that the drugs were not even effective.

Of the drugs reviewed, only Prozac (fluoxetine) has been approved for pediatric use, and fluvoxamine is not even approved as an antidepressant in the USA.

Pfizer, the manufacturer of sertraline, marketed as Lustral in the UK and as Zoloft in the USA, has been quick to try and distance itself from the review.

In a study of 376 depressed children aged from 6 to 17 years, sertraline was ‘effective and well-tolerated’, the researchers concluded. A generous conclusion for a study that saw 17 of the children having to stop treatment because of a side-effect, and two who tried to commit suicide. It’s perhaps worth pointing out that Pfizer kindly sponsored the research.

But even leaving all that aside, there is no doubt that the drugs should not be prescribed to children anyway. Aside from Prozac, none of the drugs has been licensed for pediatric use, and so the drugs regulators should be stopping the practice for that reason alone.

(Sources: Pediatrics, 2002; 109: 721-7; Journal of the American Medical Association, 2003; 290: 1033-41).

A naturopath recommends Delacet, a formula that kills the lice and their eggs. It has to stay on the head for three hours each session. Delacet is distributed by Healthpol at 62 Hoodcote Gardens, London N21 2NE.

One concoction, based on research that appeared in the International Journal of Aromatherapy, is made up of jojoba or castor oil, with a 2% mix of eucalyptus, geranium, rosemary and thyme. Cover the hair with a shower cap after the oil has been applied, and leave on for at least an hour, or overnight if possible. Wash and condition, and leave the conditioner in until you have combed out the hair with a nit comb. As a preventative, you can mix one of the oils with a shampoo and conditioner.

The clock starts ticking in 1988 (probably before that, but let’s make that the start year) when the medical authorities first realized that children as young as two years were being prescribed antidepressants. These powerful drugs have never been licensed for use in children, let alone toddlers.

By 1994, this unauthorised usage had increased by 400 per cent, by which time, a worrying pattern of suicides among children was being established. This was quickly picked up by researchers, and 20 studies all confirmed everyone’s worst fears that eight popular antidepressants were indeed being prescribed to kids, and that an alarming number of children were committing suicide or were developing suicidal thoughts while taking one of the drugs.

The American drugs ‘watchdog’, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), finally woke up to the problem about a year ago, and agreed to ‘review the practice’.

Finally, in June this year, Wyeth, the manufacturer of one of the eight antidepressants, issued a warning note about the suicide risk. It also mentions, en passant, that children should not be prescribed the drug.

So the answer is 16 years, but extra points can be awarded to the family member who responds with ’16 years and counting’. The other manufacturers have yet to issue a warning, after all, and those readers in the UK will be gladdened to hear that, as ever, our own drugs vigilante has yet to notice that there’s a problem.

(Source: FDA website)

One Neways distributor recommends. . .the Neways hair conditioner. The product is formulated with amino acids, rather than the animal fat that is used in most conditioners. The texture of the hair is smoother as a result, and the lice cannot get a firm enough grip to lay their eggs.

Another reader recommends a preparation called Antelice, which is the top treatment in Ireland, apparently. It’s both a preventative and a treatment, and it’s odourless and non-greasy.

One reader suggests a more prosaic solution – try Vosene shampoo. Apply every other day, together with a conditioner, and comb out the hair after every rinse. It took three weeks to work, says our reader, but that was still better than anything else she had used.

It’s been announced this week that GlaxoSmithKline, the UK’s largest drug company, avoided publishing the data because it was concerned the findings would affect its lucrative adult market for the drug.

Two major clinical trials, codenamed protocols 329 and 377, tested Seroxat (paroxetine) on a group of children and adolescents with major depression and found that the drug was no more effective than a placebo, or sugar pill.

Despite these findings, GlaxoSmithKline was also aware that the drug caused suicidal tendencies, especially among the young.

The full findings of the studies, which were carried out in 1998, came to light only last spring when the UK regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, banned the drug for use among children because it was ineffective and unsafe.

The revelation is but the latest twist to a scandal that is worrying regulators in the UK and the USA. America’s drug watchdog, the Food and Drug Administration, has finally agreed to review the practice of prescribing antidepressants to children. The drugs are not in any event licensed for use among children, but doctors are free to prescribe them if they feel it is an appropriate therapy.

As we outlined in E-news 58, around 2 per cent of all youths in the USA are prescribed an antidepressant. This unlicensed usage increased by 400 per cent between 1988 and 1994 alone.

The FDA has conceded that the drugs are more likely than placebo to cause suicidal thoughts, although nobody knows how many children have attempted or committed suicide while taking an antidepressant.

We recall an encounter we once had with Dr Thomas Stuttaford, the medical correspondent for the London Times. ‘The trouble with you (What Doctors Don’t Tell You and all like us),’ he said, ‘is that you don’t realize that when you have a sharp sword (an effective drug), some heads will be cut off (there will be adverse reactions).’ It appears that blunt swords can also decapitate, too.

(Sources; The Guardian, 3 February 2004; Journal of the American Medical Association, 2003; 290: 1033-41).

Use a good quality aloe vera gel on the hair, leave on overnight, and wash out in the morning before spraying the hair with lavender, says one correspondent.

In the UK, the EU’s Food Supplements directive was passed on Thursday (June 3) by a whisker – just 7 to 6 in favour – by a select committee, no doubt so-called because the government specially selected it. The original group of 16 had been successfully lobbied by various pressure groups, and a majority of members had accepted the argument that the directive was a wicked piece of legislation that took away freedom of choice.

So what happened? The government de-selected those members who were likely to cause embarrassment to an already embattled government, and replaced them at the 11th hour by MPs who know nothing of the arguments. Even on the day before the meeting, nobody knew who would be chairing the committee! As it turned out, it was health minister Melanie Johnson who took the chair, but who clearly did not understand any of the issues. Tory MP Chris Grayling described the EU and Labour governments as playing ‘jackboot politics’.

So the directive has been nodded through, and, within a few years, thousands of high-dose vitamins and other supplements will disappear from our shelves forever.

Not that you need a directive or a re-selected select committee to get your way. In Australia, virtually every natural product has suddenly been taken off the healthfood shop shelves. The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) performed this feat just by taking away the manufacturing licence of one manufacturer that supplies around 80 per cent of the entire alternative marketplace. The manufacturer, Pan Pharmaceuticals, also makes prescription and over-the-counter drugs, and it was one of its OTC remedies, Travacalm, for travel sickness, that aroused the interest of the TGA when people complained the drug was causing hallucinations.

The drug was immediately withdrawn-and then, three months later, the TGA came back and banned all 1363 alternatives remedies also manufactured by Pan.

Similar moves have been happening in South Africa and Canada – and the whole nutritional industry is under attack in America, too. The US nutritional industry thought its products were made sacrosanct under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994. But it is under threat again, this time from a new bill, the Dietary Supplement Safety Act, which has been introduced by Illinois senator Dick Durbin.

The new act would give sweeping powers to the FDA, the USA’s drugs regulator, which would be able to remove any dietary supplement for which an adverse reaction had been reported.

This bill could be voted on in just two weeks, giving consumer groups virtually no time to campaign against it. Dark days indeed – so we, as individuals, must become a light unto ourselves. Watch this space for some good news, and, in the meantime, don’t despair!

One woman mixed a concoction of light carrier oil with lavender, rosemary and tea tree, which seemed to work a treat.

A homoeopath suggests that, after washing the hair as normal, apply conditioner. The hair becomes so slippery that it’s easy to comb out the lice. Repeat every other day.

Another reader found that extra-virgin olive oil, which she put on to her daughter’s head while in the shower, seemed to make combing very effective. She shampooed her daughter’s hair afterwards. She repeated the procedure every three days until the hair was clear.

Finally, asks one reader, how come lice and other insects become resistant to chemical pesticides and not to natural pesticides? In the first place, many ‘natural’ preparations merely make the hair slippery so, until lice develop grappling irons, they will always be susceptible. As to developing immunity, logic suggests that they could if natural products were in widespread enough use. Any readers have other thoughts on this?