Nexus - 0404 - New Times Magazine-pages

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A Bitter Pill to Swallow The Oral Contraceptives Betrayal Pill Swallow Bitter The Oral Contraceptives Betrayal revolution was about to begin when the birth control Pill arrived on the scene in 1960. It heralded an era that would emancipate fertile women from the burden of unwanted pregnancies, thus opening the door to greater equality and free- dom. For the past 37 years, about 200 million women around the world have chosen the Pill as their preferred method of contraception. This 'medical miracle’ has enlisted almost 90 per cent of Western women of reproductive age on some kind of con- traceptive at some time in their lives. The choices of the steroid hormone contraceptive have now expanded to include the combined Pill and the low-dose Pill, made with oestrogen and synthetic progesterone, i.e., progestin, or the mini-Pill, implant and injection, made only with progestin. The Pill has been proclaimed as one of the most studied drugs in history. After three decades of experimentation (unfortunately, on unsuspecting Pill-users) we are told that safe dosages are, at last, finally known. However, as the thin veneer of advertising hype, pharmaceutical cover-ups and sanitised clinical trials is peeled away, another picture emerges revealing the dev: ‘ing consequences to women's health and well-being from the use of steroid hormones found in the Pill, as well as in hormone replacement therapy (HRT) which uses the same steroid drugs. Far from being safe and risk-free, it is now being recognised that these steroid hor- mones are actually dangerous and potentially life-threatening drugs that cause grave harm to women. The sexual freedom that women have fought so hard to attain has been won at a terrible price. In fact, with hindsight, it will very likely be recorded in history that the widespread prescribing of synthetic hormones to women was the biggest medical bungle in history. Most women taking the contraceptive pill (or, for that matter, HRT) have very little idea about the hormones they are putting into their bodies; nor are they knowledge- able about the potential side-effects. A soaring incidence of breast and cervical cancers as well as strokes, cardiovascular disease, blood clots, impaired immunity, infertility and major nutritional imbalances are only some of the conditions undeniably linked to these hormones. Women have achieved greater sexual freedom at terrible cost to their health and well- being. Contrary to the advice of drug companies and doctors, the Pill has grave side-effects, including cancer, heart disease and stroke. Part 1 THE PILL'S HIDDEN AGENDA In the 1950s, the spectre of a world doomed by overpopulation was alarming scientists and governments in the industrialised West. Thus began a frantic rush to control popula- tions. This coincided with the discovery of a relatively inexpensive process for making synthetic oestrogen and progesterone that could be used as contraceptives, known as the combined Pill. Even though as early as 1932 it was known that oestrogen and progestin could cause cancer of the breast, womb, ovaries and pituitary glands in animal experiments, the Pill was believed to be an effective solution to the overpopulation crisis. Plans for manufac- turing sex hormones were well underway and the required clinical trials were initiated. Nobel laureate Frederick Robbins expressed the prevailing attitude of the time when he addressed a meeting of the American Association of Medical Colleges, stating that "the dangers of the overpopulation are so great that we may have to use certain techniques of conception control that may entail considerable risk to the individual woman". And considerable risks they did contain. Envoid, the first oral contraceptive, was given a clean bill of health by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in 1960 on the basis of clinical studies which involved only 132 Puerto Rican women who had taken the Pill for a year or longer. Five women died during the study, but no effort was made to deter- by Sherrill Sellman ©1997 Light Unlimited Productions Locked Bag 8000-MDC Kew, Victoria 3101, Australia Telephone: +61 (0)3 9249 9591 Fax: +61(0)3 9855 9991 E-mail: golight@netspace.net.au Light Unlimited Productions Locked Bag 8000-MDC Kew, Victoria 3101, Australia Telephone: +61 (0)3 9249 9591 Fax: +61(0)3 9855 9991 E-mail: golight@netspace.net.au JUNE - JULY 1997 NEXUS - 25 by Sherrill Sellman ©1997