the reason why no studies are done is imho quite obvious. where are you going to get the guinea pigs required for testing? who's going to decide? their parents or the kids themselves, both maybe?

things get especially hairy when a drug trial fails, so it's simply not done, period, which says nothing about the drugs' effectiveness, though.

[edit on 5.8.2007 by Long Lance]

The fundemental problems are that almost NOTHING is FDA approved for children.

We recently had a battle with the adult side of the hospital. They wanted us to use ONLY FDA approved drugs and treatments / equipment when we used the chopter 9Which is run from the adult side).

As our medical director put it: If we limit ourselves to FDA approval on pediatric equpiment, drugs, etc, we may as well shut down and send these kids home to die".

Very little is approved for pediatrics. Be it sleeping aids, chemo, etc etc etc. Its all adpated for the use.

The issue isn't what they're used, it's how they're using it. It seems to me that we're becoming a drug nation - beyond what we need to be well and comfortable.
Depressed? Pop a pill. Can't focus? Another pill. Can't sleep? Pill.
It treats the symptom, not the problem, as does pretty much all of modern psychiatry. We're getting our kids hooked.