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January 1, 2011 at 8:09 am #88922
AnonymousInactiveJanuary 1, 2011 at 8:09 amPost count: 14413I”ve heard of a study in Texas in which 12 children newly diagnosed with adhd were put on ritalin for three months, after which bloodtests indicated some chromosomal damage of a type that could lead to cancer. Is anyone familiar with this study or know of any others that give the same indication? I was on ritalin for a year and found it VERY helpful. I’m off it right now because while on it I did come up with a skin cancer. I can’t afford the other adhd medications, but I will stay off it if necessary.
REPORT ABUSEJanuary 1, 2011 at 8:27 am #98773
AnonymousInactiveJanuary 1, 2011 at 8:27 amPost count: 1441312 children is a tiny sample size, and you haven’t given us any factors in these children’s lives which might also lead to those changes, so right now I’d say that this info is bogus, unless there is more detail to be found somewhere else.
REPORT ABUSEJanuary 1, 2011 at 8:41 am #98774I hadn’t heard anything about this, but after I read your post and did some googling and the study seems highly problematic. There were only 12 children in the study, and there was no separate control group.
12 individuals is a ridiculously small sample size. With such a small group, even random chance could screw up their results. Also there doesn’t seem to have been much done to control confounding factors.
Also, as any University statistics course hammers into the heads of the students “correlation does not equal causation”. Just because two factors occur together doesn’t mean that one causes the other. As my Stats prof liked to say: if you do a plot of the number of pastors and the number of drunks year over year in America in the 19th century, you will get strong correlation. Did pastors cause people to become drunks? Or did drunks cause more men to become pastors? The actual answer is that during the 19th century, the population of America was increasing at rapid rate, so the number of drunks and the number of pastors was also increasing. The rising tide lifted all boats.
Also according to what I’ve read, the Ritalin and chromosomal damage study was conducted over the course of 3 months. Which 3 months, I wonder? If the kids were tested for chromosomal damage in the spring, and then again at the end of summer, increased sun exposure during the summer months could account for an increase in chromosomal damage. Without a separate control group, we have no way of knowing if the kids would have undergone the same increases without being on Ritalin do to a third, unidentified factor.
Also the pediatric oncologist in quoted in this article: http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/news/20050301/does-ritalin-increase-cancer-risk-in-children
makes a rather excellent point. Ritalin has been used for over 50 years. If there was a significant increase in cancer risk among patients who took it, it would have been picked up on by now.
Also, from what I have read elsewhere, Ritalin has not been shown to be carcinogenic in animal studies.
REPORT ABUSEJanuary 3, 2011 at 8:59 pm #98775
AnonymousInactiveJanuary 3, 2011 at 8:59 pmPost count: 14413Global warming has been caused by a decline in pirates!!!
REPORT ABUSEJanuary 4, 2011 at 12:08 am #98776Now that right there is funny !
REPORT ABUSEFebruary 8, 2011 at 12:50 pm #98777LOL. Good lord. This forum is like coming home.
REPORT ABUSEJune 20, 2011 at 12:07 am #98778June 24, 2011 at 8:05 pm #98779Now I understand what my friend Sean meant when he said Ritalin causes cancer! Not something I had heard about and now I know that he didn’t take the time to check that statement. Either that or he was messing with me. He had just been fired from his job when I saw him last and was on his way to get drunk. He lost his job because he is very ADHD and was making bad mistakes on forms that were costing the company a lot of money.
Maybe he should become a pirate and stop global warming! 😆
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