Researchers Urge Caution On Ritalin-Cancer Link Finding

As the U.S. Food and Drug Administration moved to examine a potential link between Ritalin and cancer, the scientists who first unearthed the connection stressed Friday that the finding was preliminary and should not be cause for panic. The concerns about the drug, a stimulant that has been used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) for decades, surfaced during a FDA pediatrics advisory committee meeting Thursday. The findings, by researchers from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas, showed damage to the chromosomes of 12 children who had taken Ritalin for three months. The advisory committee had been called to discuss yet another health issue surrounding the class of ADHD medications known as methylphenidates, to which Ritalin belongs: Some psychiatric side effects have been reported among children using Concerta, Ritalin and other versions of these drugs. But the Texas scientists said their Ritalin study was far too small to prompt the parents of ADHD patients to abandon the drug.