Nexus - 0204 - New Times Magazine-pages

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MEDICAL INTERVENTION - the increase, investigators hypothesised that the epidemic of asth- DES is not the only hormone which - despite detrimental side- ma deaths could be associated with the new forms of treatment effects - doctors prescribe for women. While it is to be admitted whose introduction roughly coincided with the steady increase in __ that there has in recent years been a greater awareness of the drug- mortality rates. associated victimisation of patients to which we have been allud- Evidence of the excessive use of pressurised aerosols containing ing, the fact that some 20 million women in the United States alone bronchiodilator drugs correlated with asthma patient deaths. Other are under prescription for the birth control pill or menopausal investigations confirmed that the increase in asthma mortality cor- estrogens gives cause for reflection. Concern about the side-effects related with the increased sales of aerosol bronchiodilators, partic- of the pill led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to issue a ularly those containing the drug isoprenaline. Additional evidence warning bulletin to doctors in 1975 exhorting that women beyond in favour of the causal connec- the age of forty be taken off the Pill tion between the epidemic in and provided other means of con- asthma mortality and the Despite the g rowi ng use of street traception. This first admoni- excessive use of bronchiodila- . tion was followed by a second tor drugs came in 1968 when drugs, deaths attributable to from the FDA in 1977 requir- the sales of these aerosols were medical ly presc ribed d rugs still ing the provision of a warning regulated in the United brochure stressing the inordi- Kingdom by _ prescription. exceed the number of deaths nately high risk of cardiovas- Within a year asthma mortality . cular disease among women rates declined and levelled off caused by the use of illegal d rugs. over forty taking the Pill.” to almost pre-epidemic rates. The mortality risk from car- Isoprenaline came under immediate diovascular disease _ for suspicion since it was in any case women over forty taking the the drug mainly used as a bronchiodilator in the 1960s, though _Pill is increased by a factor of five; for women between the ages of considerable debate ensured as to whether the fluorocarbon pro- thirty to forty the risk of dying from a heart attack is multiplied by pellant could be cast as the true culprit. Although both isoprenaline _a factor of three. Increased risk of cardiovascular disease is not the and the fluorocarbon propellants were demonstrated to produce __ only health hazard associated with the Pill. The risk of high blood heart irregularities, it has more recently been shown that asthma _ pressure is six times greater for women taking the Pill than for mortality correlates particularly well with the sale of bron- those who are not. Women taking the Pill run a risk of throm- chiodilators capable of delivering up to five times the concentra- boembolism which is more than five times that for women not tak- tion of the normal spray of isoprenaline. It is estimated that in _ ing it and the risk of stroke is four times greater.'* Other risks asso- England and Wales the asthma epidemic claimed a total of 3,500 ciated with the Pill are liver tumors, headaches, depression, and lives in excess of the expected rate over the same period calculat- cancer. ed on the basis of the pre-epidemic rate in 1959-1960. It has been Similarly, antihypertension drugs have in recent years soared in remarked by Taylor that, "even if some asthmatics were saved by _ popularity as an easy way to lower blood pressure. Although med- medical treatment, more were lost." ical journals carry advertisements for drugs intended to counteract The use of other medically prescribed drugs has led to the the adverse effects of antihypertension drugs, sufficient awareness increased risk of other diseases worse than the ones that they are _ of their dangers seems decidedly not to be reflected by the astro- designed to treat. Reserpine, for example, is one of the drugs nomical number of medical prescriptions still written for them. which has been used to control high blood pressure. Despite the | Among the multitude of side effects associated with high blood fact that studies undertaken in the mid-'70s have established that _ pressure drugs are rash, hives, sensitivity to light, vertigo, muscle reserpine triples the risk of breast cancer, already ranked as the — cramps, weakness, inflammation of the blood vessels, joint aches, number-one cause of death in women, it is still prescribed. There muscle spasms, nausea, psychological disorientation, reduced are now indications that insulin, heralded as one of the miracles of libido, and impotency (affecting women as well as men).”” modern medicine, is implicated as one of the causes of diabetic Medical intervention utilising the tools of high technology has blindness.'* Investigations undertaken in the 1970s have revealed _ also given rise to its own peculiar forms of iatrogenic diseases. that daughters of women treated with a synthetic oestrogen, Di- | Between the years 1942 and 1954 the problem of retrolental fibro- ethylstilbestrol (DES), during the early stages of pregnancy forthe _ plasia, disease of the eye leading to blindness, came to figure purported prevention of miscarriage are developing vaginal cancer _ prominently in the management of premature infants in the United at an alarming rate. It has also been confirmed more recently that States. Despite being possessed of some of the most advanced an alarmingly high incidence of genital malformations can be cor- medical technology available, hospital nurseries especially related with the male offspring of women treated with DES, not to equipped to accommodate premature babies were finding that mention that the cancer mortality rate of the women themselves is around 90% of all low-weight infants suffered either partial or also statistically significant. Studies of DES have since established __ total blindness. Indeed by 1954 retrolental fibroplasia ranked first that it does not prevent miscarriage; indeed, it is in fact currently in the United States among the causes of blindness in children.” used as a "morning-after" contraceptive pill and in some cases to _ Investigations eventually showed that the increasing incidence of dry up milk. In the case of DES it is particularly ironic that here the disease paralleled the introduction of plastic incubators into we have a drug that not only caused vaginal cancer and other —_ which high concentrations of oxygen were pumped to the prema- abnormalities, but did not even work for the purpose for which it _ ture infants on the assumption that oxygen therapy was beneficial, was originally administered. '° an assumption which, during the time high-concentration oxygen cancer. Similarly, antihypertension drugs have in recent years soared in popularity as an easy way to lower blood pressure. Although med- ical journals carry advertisements for drugs intended to counteract the adverse effects of antihypertension drugs, sufficient awareness of their dangers seems decidedly not to be reflected by the astro- nomical number of medical prescriptions still written for them. Among the multitude of side eff ssociated with high blood pressure drugs are rash, hives, sensitivity to light, vertigo, muscle cramps, weakness, inflammation of the blood vessels, joint aches, muscle spasms, nausea, psychological disorientation, reduced libido, and impotency (affecting women as well as men).”” Medical intervention utilising the tools of high technology has also given rise to its own peculiar forms of iatrogenic diseases. Between the years 1942 and 1954 the problem of retrolental fibro- plasia, disease of the eye leading to blindness, came to figure prominently in the management of premature infants in the United States. Despite being possessed of some of the most advanced medical technology available, hospital nurseries especially equipped to accommodate premature babies were finding that around 90% of all low-weight infants suffered either partial or total blindness. Indeed by 1954 retrolental fibroplasia ranked first in the United States among the causes of blindness in children.” Investigations eventually showed that the increasing incidence of the disease paralleled the introduction of plastic incubators into which high concentrations of oxygen were pumped to the prema- ture infants on the assumption that oxygen therapy was beneficial, an assumption which, during the time high-concentration oxygen NEXUS - 19 JULY/AUGUST 1991 *- YEAR BOOK