|
11 August 2005
Researchers Slam Hormone Therapy Irresponsibility 
Researchers and women's health advocates have criticized doctors and the pharmaceutical industry, saying that the cancer causing potential of the sex hormones used in hormone therapy has been known since the 1930s. The advocacy group, writing in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, also said that the adverse effects on cardiovascular health from hormone treatment have been recognized since the 1970s. The group says that the decades-old research was effectively ignored by doctors and the drug industry and it has only resurfaced thanks to recent clinical trials providing new evidence about the risks associated with hormone therapy. The group asks the question, "why decades of repeated warnings about the dangers of manipulating and prescribing hormones to 'treat' menopause were ignored and not translated into health policies?" They suggest that the pharmaceutical industry, doctors, and researchers, effectively colluded to promote the view that menopause is a "deficiency disease" for which women needed long term treatment to stave off "illness, loss of sexuality and ugly aging." They also say that this occurred at time when "preventive medicine" - using prescribed and powerful medications - was promoted for use in otherwise healthy people. The group doesn't restrict their criticism to the drug industry and doctors. Other factors have also played their part, they say, including the failure of regulatory agencies to act and too much focus on individual risk. They added that hormones have been "gendered," with treatments directed to women and their reproductive capacity, in a bid to regulate their sexuality, while men have been ignored. Of great importance, they believe, is the need to challenge the drug industry that it is acceptable to increase the risk of a disease in a healthy person by prescribing drugs to prevent future illness. Additionally, the public need to question the ideology that science can eliminate all health risks and that these can be measured. They cite a number of recommendations to promote socially responsible research in the future. These include greater transparency of research funding and a public register of protocols for all drug trials.
Talk About This Article In The Forum...
|
