CHILDREN AT RISK
A major risk for depressed children may be the therapy itself. It is what emerges from the discussion in the last number of Nature magazine (Helping depressed children. Nature 7005 Vol. 431, 111, Sept 2004): the FDA should improve public information and work to create a publicly accessible clinical-trials database. In the same issue Erika Check considers the science behind a big scandal (Antidepressant: bitter pills. Nature 431, 122, Sept 2004 ): some new antidepressant were hailed as wonder drugs to banish depression, but may cause suicidal thoughts in many children. Companies are under attack for failing to publish these data.