CHINA / Regional

'I poisoned my daughter for eight years'
By Kang Yi (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-08-09 15:18

Wang Dazhi, of Chongqing, a municipality in Southwest China, deeply regrets giving his daughter, Wang Xueqing methylphenidate for eight years in an attempt to help her concentrate on her studies, according to an August 7 report in the Democracy and Legal Times.


Sources: jxgdw.com
Eight years of using the drug, a stimulant, has caused hypogenesis, drug dependence and nightmares for the young girl.

Now 16, Xueqing is much smaller than other girls of her age, at 150cm tall (4 feet 9 inches) and weighing 30 kilograms. Her size upsets Xueqing, who has tried everything to put on weight, but has failed.

Xueqing was not doing well in her primary school and was having difficulties concentrating on her studies. Wang took her to a hospital where she was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).

The doctor prescribed methylphenidate to help her concentrate and told Wang about the side effects of frequent use.

Xueqing took a pill in the morning and another at noon everyday after that.

Ignoring the doctor's warning, after his daughter's prescription ran out, Wang found more on the black market.

Little Wang didn't like the pills, but she had to swallow them for her parents.

The pills did help. Three years later, she entered a famous junior middle school in the city.

However the side effects gradually became noticeable. 

Wang took her to the hospital again to find out why she was so abnormally small. There he was informed that his daughter was addicted to the stimulant and the drug stunts the girl's growth.

"I poisoned my daughter for eight years and ruined her life," Wang said, regretfully.

"I can understand their high expectations," Xueqing said of her parents to the Democracy and Legal Times, "but they cannot control my fate so strictly."