Last week
Dr. Dennis Embry offered a thought-provoking editorial style post behind the walls of the
ONDCP listserv and I asked him if he would be willing to repost it here as a guest blog post. He has graciously said yes!
(I've added a bit of formatting for scan/readability)
Prevention For Every Child in America: Maximizing Our American FuturesFor America’s future safety, health, wealth and competitiveness, every child in America must have access to proven prevention. A simple loud, blaring fact exists that most citizens know: Too many of our children today are not healthy in behavior, brains or bodies.
If our children have unhealthy behavior, brains or bodies, they grow up to be unhealthy, unproductive and unsafe adults. This has profound implications for America’s future—reducing our ability to compete in the Global market place, reducing our ability to pay for the Social Security for the Boomer generation, and causing a collapse of our ability to run even the most basic services that ensure domestic tranquility and national safety.
No society has ever survived by sacrificing its young.Almost every problem harming the behavior, brains or bodies of our children have proven, simple, low-cost prevention strategies. Our children must have universal access to these strategies proven to prevent:
• Depression
• ADHD
• Developmental disorders
• Serious psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia
• Child abuse
• Conduct disorders and delinquency
• Violent crime
• Early sexual behavior
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• High-blood pressure
• Alcohol, tobacco and illegal drug use
• Prescription drug abuse
• Asthma
• School failure
Higher percentages of American children have these problems than children in other developed countries. Thus, the future of America is less secure.
Why are other countries’ children doing better? Other developed countries—our economic competitors—make many proven “behavioral vaccines” universally or widely accessible to children. Ironically, most of these “behavioral vaccines” were invented and tested in America—which are rarely accessible or even available to our children.
America has a long history of providing universal access to medical vaccines for children. We make measles, mumps, diphtheria, tetanus, flu, rubella, hepatitis, pneumonia, and other vaccines available to all children for the health and safety of the nation. America
pioneered polio vaccines, inoculating millions of children free, when our nation faced a horrifying epidemic. Each of these medical vaccines cost from $10 to $100 each, sometimes requiring repeated inoculations over tim
e.
Are these medical vaccines effective in reducing cost and lifetime suffering? Absolutely. These are not like screening or early detection. These medical vaccines actually protect against costly illness, disability and even avoidable death of children, youth and adults. If medical vaccines for children were tightly rationed, there would be protests nightly in town halls, in front of Congress or the White House, at State Legislatures, etc. The blogosphere would be ablaze.
Why not inoculate children with “behavioral vaccines” for terrible, lifetime mental, emotional and behavioral problems that cause enormous pain, suffering and cost such as ADHD, conduct disorders or depression? The cost of “behavioral vaccines” is quite similar to medical vaccines—$10 to $100 per child.
The cost effectiveness of and savings from “behavioral vaccines” are staggering. Consider some examples.
- Each confirmed case of conduct disorder has a lifetime cost of not less than $1.4 million, yet lifetime cases can be prevented by simple classroom or home “behavioral vaccines” for about $10 to $15 per child in th
e population. - Each confirmed case of ADHD will cost $100 to $200 per month in medication and supervision, which does not have lasting effects. Yet the “behavioral vaccines” that avert conduct disorders can also prevent ADHD.
- Child maltreatment happens 40 times more than official reports, and 10% of typical health-care plans in America contain adults with such adverse experiences. Yet, those adults account for 25% of the costs of the health-insurance plan. Such maltreatment and adverse home events can be prevented for the cost of $15 per child in the population with a behavioral vaccine.
- Maybe another example?
America rations behavioral vaccines, however—so much that average American families don’t even know these behavioral vaccines even exist. Other countries, however, do know about them. Other countries advertise these behavioral vaccines on TV or cable, on the Internet, on billboards, on the radio, at bus stops, at the doctor’s offices, or even at grocery and discount stores.
Other countries subsidize these behavioral vaccines just like medical vaccines, because those countries’ leaders know that their national security, economic survival, and social stability or safety depend on both medical and behavioral vaccines. Large percentages—even millions of their citizens—choose to use the behavioral vaccines. Their children are healthier, smarter, safer and more competent as a consequence.
If American’s knew our children’s futures were being compromised by the rationing of behavioral vaccines—mostly invented in America, there would be political uproar. The most recent report by the National Research Council’s Institute of Medicine now documents what is possible by these behavioral vaccines for America’s Future [1], and we must act for our futures.
The simplest and fastest action that can be done is by executive order from the President and/or Governors as well as by legislation by Congress and the State Legislatures. Our nations’ elected leaders can do what the leaders of other countries have done: Require that proven behavioral vaccines be paid for either by government funded health-care or private health-care just like medical vaccines.
Once childhood diseases killed or maimed tens of thousands of children. With the invention of medical vaccines, many of us are alive and productive today at the cost of $10 to $100 each.
If every child’s families or teachers had access to proven behavioral vaccines, tens of thousand—maybe even millions—of our children would have healthy, safe and productive lives for the cost of $10 to $100 each.
Let us act. Every American child deserves access to behavioral vaccines, just like medical vaccines.
1. O'Connell ME, Boat T, Warner KE (eds.): Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Among Young People: Progress and Possibilities. Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine; National Research Council; 2009.What strikes you about this idea of behavioral vaccines? Where are you curious? You may also follow Dr. Embry's work on Facebook and get further information and research on behavioral vaccines at his website or in small video bites via the Simple Gifts channel on YouTube.
