Giovanna Spantigati

"Giù le Mani dai Bambini" (Hands off the Kids) is the most representative independent Italian committee of pharmacovigilance, focusing on childhood uneasiness. Up to date there are 184 institution members of the consortium, and the committee has a network of over 260,000 insiders in health sector who have subscribed, directly or through their associations, to their scientific claims.
www.giulemanidaibambini.org has counted 25 million visits in 40-month stay on line. The association fights against the indiscriminate use of psychotropic drugs for children. It is not an initiative against a specific medicine or against the interests of multinational pharmaceutical companies: its aim is to stimulate debate among citizens to answer the many questions raised by students, parents and teachers about the pros and cons of using psychotripic drugs in early age, as well as to ensure correct information to families, so that also specialists involved can benefit.

I went to interview Luca Poma, the founder of the association. He was
nervously playing with his watch strap, elegant and simple but quite self confident. A man who holds his head high, and tells me, looking straight into my eyes, how important is it to be of help to children. Those children, when grown up, will not even know what you have done for them, or, better, who must not know it at all. I'm curious and I wonder how a guy like him, young, handsome, full of strength, clever, has decided to devote his time and his heart to this cause. He looks surprised by my question, smiles and sets his tie right. "It happened five years ago, at lunch-time." And he changes his expression, looks beyond me, beyond the walls of this room, beyond space and time, thinking back to that magical moment of his life. The moment that gave birth to his huge project. His eyes light up and I can feel the enthusiasm which had made him say: NO!. "In my house, a psychiatrist friend, back from a trip to the U.S., told me that drugs were administered to millions of American children considered hyperactive (currently there are 11 million) and something inside me made me rebel with all my strength and I said to myself this was scary. Controlling children this way, switching off their brains, their creativity, their imagination! In Italy it cannot, must not happen."

Well, let's think about that moment, and let's try to feel his rebellion, brought about the sense of justice which made him move heaven and earth and brought him to accomplish this huge project working day and night restlessly and involving thousands of volunteers. Like a benevolent Pied Piper, he plays his melody across Italy and people listen to his words and are moved, they come to him and say: "Excuse me, I can be of help too?" He's a young guy who just wants to protect children, in compliance with the law, respecting the authorities, always calling any situation into question , never refusing the help of medical intervention, but never forgetting his aim: to save children's lives and creativity.

After the interview he holds my hand, hugs me and whispers: "You know, so many articles write about percentages and numbers. But children are neither numbers, nor percentage. To us, they will always be: Marco, Carlo, Alberto." His mobile rings, he has to run away, it's an emergency. "Please, let me ask one last question: excuse me, Luca, I can be of help too?"


Giovanna Spantigati