Colorado Desk - Time to Investigate Mental Health Research Waste on Bizarre Animal Studies

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An in-depth investigation is needed into taxpayer dollars spent on bizarre research of animals, fish and insects, in a failed attempt to understand human behavior and improve mental health, watchdog reports

LOS ANGELES - ColoradoDesk -- With government waste raising economic concerns for the country, the mental health industry watchdog, Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) says it is time to demand accountability for the $40 billion of taxpayer dollars allocated to federal agencies, such as the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) to study fruit flies, mouse brains, zebrafish, Siberian hamsters, Russian cats, and other animal groups, purportedly to address mental health issues. Recent research reveals over $2.14 million was spent to study fruit fly brains.[1] A further $457,500 was allocated to study how early-life trauma affects brain development in zebrafish which may increase the risk of psychiatric disorders.[2] A $1,334,079 study is investigating the anatomical and structural organization of a healthy mouse brain and how it might regulate computation.[3]

Dr. Roger McFillin, Ph.D., who recently wrote "The Billion Dollar Brain Myth," says, "Since 2000, American taxpayers have bankrolled over $40 billion in NIMH's futile quest to reduce human suffering to faulty genes and brain circuits, yet suicide rates have soared" and "youth mental health collapsed." With research prioritizing the "biomedical model," he says, "the biological paradigm hasn't just failed—it has actively harmed by teaching people their suffering is a brain defect rather than a meaningful response to life experiences."[4]

For years, Senator Rand Paul has exposed research waste, including a study of Russian cats walking on treadmills.[5] In a 2021 Congressional speech, he condemned such "ridiculous" taxpayer-funded research, citing $1.6 million spent studying "Lizards on a Treadmill."[6] He also criticized $356,000 spent studying whether or not "Japanese quail are more sexually promiscuous on cocaine," commenting, "Common sense would have told us one that cocaine is probably not good for you and that cocaine might make you do things that you wouldn't have done otherwise had you not been on cocaine."[7]

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The failure of such research was highlighted in a 2017 interview with Thomas Insel, a psychiatrist and former NIMH director, 2002-2015, who said: "I spent 13 years at NIMH really pushing on the neuroscience and genetics of mental disorders, and when I look back on that I realize that while I think I succeeded at getting lots of really cool papers published by cool scientists at fairly large costs—I think $20 billion—I don't think we moved the needle in reducing suicide, reducing hospitalizations, improving recovery for the tens of millions of people who have mental illness."[8]

Additionally, he conceded: "The United States, a country that leads the world in spending on medical research, also stands out for its dismal outcomes in people with mental illnesses. Indeed, over the last three decades, even as the government invested billions of dollars in better understanding the brain, by some measures, those outcomes have deteriorated."[9]

As an example, a 2011 government report found that just over one in 10 adults took prescription drugs for "problems with emotions, nerves or mental health," according to a JAMA study. In 2013, one in six (17%) of U.S. adults reported taking a psychiatric drug.[10] By 2021, it had escalated to one in four Americans over the age of 18 taking these drugs.[11] IQVia reported 70,307,316 adults aged 18 and above taking psychotropic drugs, and 6.1 million ages 0-17. Of the latter, there were 418,425 in the 0-5 age group.[12]

Since 1995, CCHR has been exposing bizarre psychiatric research. That year, CCHR's examination revealed that $20.3 million had been spent on 25 studies alone, which included budgerigars, crickets, rat pups, whiptail lizards, swamp fish, Siamese fighting fish, treefrogs, guinea pigs, and Siberian hamsters.

The research included a 31-year, near $11 million study of the effect of drugs on rats when they were "subjected to mild, persistent, inescapable stress," $1.5 million for a 21-year study of rat-pup behavior; a 21-year grant of $1.6 million to study the "electronic chirping" of electric fish; $875,382 on zebrafish and swamp sparrows; $333,000 for an 8 study of the sexual behavior of castrated quail and $200,000 on a 4-year study of sexual behavior of horses.

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At that time Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, and a former legislative director for Congressman Hamilton Fish Jr. stated: "It's time to part the veil of secrecy and esoteric semantics surrounding some of the…grants and let taxpayers know what kind of wacky, even sinister science-fair experiments they're paying for."

The ongoing waste of taxpayer funds on questionable and ineffective research underscores the urgent need for accountability within the mental health sector. Despite billions of dollars spent, the lack of tangible improvements in public health, particularly in addressing mental health, demands a reevaluation of research priorities. Ensuring accountability is needed now more than ever, and CCHR remains committed to investigating and exposing wasteful mental health research.

CCHR was established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and eminent psychiatrist, Professor Thomas Szasz, and has campaigned for transparency and accountability in the mental health field, and for patients' human rights, obtaining legislative support and laws enacting patient protections.

Sources:

[1] "Accelerating connectomic proofreading for larger brains and multiple individuals," NIH Project Number 1RF1MH129268-01

[2] "Determining the impact of early adversity on the developing vertebrate brain," NIH Project Number 1R15MH132057-01

[3] reporter.nih.gov/search/2rXC5XA9tEmWshK2IpYcWQ/project-details/10505417

[4] drmcfillin.substack.com/p/the-billion-dollar-brain-myth

[5] www.hsgac.senate.gov/media/reps/dr-paul-releases-2023-festivus-report-on-government-waste/

[6] www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2872317/lizards-on-a-treadmill-rand-paul-calls-out-wasteful-research-spending-with-colorful-props-on-senate-floor/

[7] wjla.com/news/nation-world/spending-money-studying-quails-on-cocaine-is-waste-of-government-spending-says-rand-paul

[8] psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ps.202000739

[9] lifeprocessprogram.com/american-psychiatry-misled-the-world/

[10] www.scientificamerican.com/article/1-in-6-americans-takes-a-psychiatric-drug/

[11] quotewizard.com/news/mental-health-prescriptions

[12] www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/people-taking-psychiatric-drugs/