How do you get kids hooked on drugs for life? Test their cholesterol at age 9

Kids: The final frontier

Years ago, when I was just in grade school, my great aunt Pearl came to stay with us for the holidays.

One night I went into her room to say good night, and I found her sorting through a handful of pills — all different shapes, sizes and colors.

When I asked what they were for, she laughed and started running down the list: this one was for her arthritis, this one for her heart, this one to help her sleep, etc.

She said, “Be happy you’re young. When you get to be my age you can’t get through the day without your pills.”

That mindset about drug dependency still holds true for a lot of seniors.

Unfortunately, these days, the same can be said of many high school seniors.

I guarantee you they’re out there — taking this pill for chronic back pain (have you hefted a high-schooler’s backpack lately? Don’t!), this one for attention deficit, this one to help sleep, this one for heartburn, etc.

That alone is bad enough. But what’s really deeply disturbing is when we see our government happily pitching in to brainwash our kids — and their parents — into believing they can’t get through the day without their pills.

This time it’s the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s turn to step up and see how many young kids they can get hooked on a lifelong medication.

Chewable future

It’s agonizingly familiar. You take a panel of government experts — many with deep ties to drug companies — put them together in a conference room, and presto! Out comes a new recommendation that just happens to be a big, gift-wrapped bonanza for drug companies.

Recently, an NHLBI panel (with deep ties to drug companies) recommended that ALL children should be tested for high cholesterol between the ages of 9 and 11.

Now, there was a LITTLE bit of pushback to this idea. It’s generally recognized that in about half of all kids with high cholesterol, it eventually levels off to normal — no intervention necessary.

But that’s of no concern to the American Academy of Pediatrics. The AAP immediately endorsed the new recommendation. So now, with that seal of approval, 4th graders across the land will be rolling up their sleeves for blood tests.

And when the results are in — what then?

Well, not to worry! According to Steven Daniels, M.D. (the chair of the NHLBI panel), “I don’t think it’s likely that there will be overtreatment.”

Seriously! He said that! And I can only wonder if he actually got through the whole sentence with a straight face.

I’m sure Dr. Daniels is probably aware that high cholesterol is the most overtreated condition in history. And I would guess he’s probably also aware that the European Union recently approved a chewable statin drug for children.

With the AAP’s embrace of the new screening guideline, can the FDA approval of a chewable statin be far behind?

And if they make them in the shape of the X-Box, every 11-year-old will gobble them up.

Sources: 
“Expert Panel on Integrated Guidelines for Cardiovascular Health and Risk Reduction in Children and Adolescents: Summary Report” Pediatrics, Vol. 128, Supp. 5, December 2011, pediatrics.aappublications.org

“Now Children Need Cholesterol Tests, Too” Nancy Shute, NPR, 11/11/11, npr.org