December 10, 2003: British Regulators Issue Warning about Prescribing Antidepressants for Children; FDA Does Nothing

Britain’s Department of Health advises doctors treating depressed children to prescribe only Prozac. Other antidepressants like Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, Effexor, Celexa, and Lexapro should be avoided, it warns, because of a potential link between these drugs and suicidal and hostile behavior. [BBC, 12/10/2003; New York Times, 12/16/2003] The FDA takes no action in the US, and continues to sit on a study by one of its own scientists (see September 2003) that links the drugs to suicidal thoughts in children. [Washington Post, 9/24/2004]