Could it be because the author of the CDC-funded study has ties to the pharmaceutical industry?
A recent study published in the American Journal of Public Health says that 50,000 women died in a single decade because they weren’t given estrogen after having a hysterectomy. The study authors believe this was likely due to safety concerns about synthetic estrogen arising from a 2002 Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study.
A major limitation of the new study was that it did not include data from use of transdermal estradiol and bioidentical preparations (i.e. estriol), even though the authors acknowledge that “millions of postmenopausal women currently use one or more of these preparations.”
No explanation is given as to why they excluded this data despite their widespread use, but perhaps we need look no further than the fact that the study’s lead author has significant ties to the pharmaceutical industry. Philip M. Sarrel listed in his disclosures that he has served as an advisor or consultant for Novagyne Pharmaceuticals, Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Garr Labs. He has also disclosed that he serves on the speakers’ bureaus for Solvay Pharmaceuticals and Garr Labs—both of which make non-transdermal estradiol tablets!
As regular readers will know, bioidentical hormones are so important because they are produced naturally in the body. In a press conference, the FDA admitted that no adverse event involving compounded bio-identical estriol has ever been reported. Research involving 15,000 women funded by the Department of Defense and conducted at Kaiser-Permanente Oakland found that women who produced the most estriol during their first pregnancy had 58% less breast cancer over the next forty years. How can bioidentical estriol, identical to every woman’s natural estriol, be unsafe or ineffective?
Compare estriol to the pharmaceutical versions that either come from horses’ urine or are synthetic and imprecise versions of natural human hormones. Why would any woman prefer horse hormones or imprecise-yet-patentable copies of human hormone molecules to ones precisely identical to those found naturally in her body? Studies have also raised questions about possible heart and cancer risks from these hormones. This is why these drugs currently have Black Box Warnings on them.
Big Pharma has been trying to drive out bioidentical hormones for quite a while because safe estriol poses such significant competition. The latest threat was in the compounded medications bill. ANH-USA supporters and allies were able to win a big victory in protecting access to bioidentical compounded estriol in that bill.
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Of course!!! Big Pharma only wants people to use the most expensive and most dangerous drugs.
If bio identical estrogens do not increase breast cancer risk then why is this risk higher in women who either begin puberty early and/ or reach menopause late (i.e. Women who have greater lifetime exposure to estrogen via having more menstrual cycles in their lifetime)?
My PA advised me to use bio identical hormones for post menopausal symptoms a few years ago. i have found them to be extremely helpful with no side effects. They are safe and easy to use.
Bio-identical hormones are far superior to the synthetic versions.
Premarin is probably the worst of the synthetics. It is derived from PREgnant MAre urINe.
It contains 15 varieties of estrogen. Only 2 of these are usable by the human body. The other 13 varieties from benign to being so potent they are almost like using an acid in the mix.
Quit selling out to the drug companies. Demand that the first choice must be the bio-identical hormone, not the synthetic.
Dear Sirs,
Don’t even mention Estriol which comes from horses’ urine!
750,000 slaughtered baby horses is the price to pay for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals “wonder Drug” Premarin. The cruel treatment of horses on urine farms is disgraceful and will not be tolerated. Most women have no idea of the pain female horse’s go through to create these hormone pills, or the side effects they create. For seven months pregnant mares are imprisoned in crowded 8′ x 3′ stalls, chained to a cruel system that collects their estrogen rich urine. Unable to move backwards, forwards, or lie down comfortably, the worst part is next: After giving birth, the mothers are sent out to pasture to be impregnated again, while the newborn foals are to sent to feedlots to be fattened up for slaughter like waste products. These horses are born to die!!!
Let consumers look at the evidence & decide for ourselves!
Great work getting the word out about the drug compounding (almost) debacle. Thanks for helping save our bio=identical hormones.
Not only are they pushing the big pharma dangerous hormone drugs, but they have banned bio identical hormones such as Phyto-B which has helped many women safely. It is all about politics and corruption. Certainly not about health.
I had cancer. I want NO products in the market that are questionable for public health.
I must be missing something…if the bio-identicals are coming from the pharmaceutical companies…is that not good if it perfectly mimics natural hormones…What am I missing…I find this article confusing.
Please shed some light on what dots I have missed connecting.
Synthetic hormones are manufactured by pharmaceutical companies. Their chemical structure is foreign to the human body. They are patentable. Bio-identical hormones, extracted from yams or soy, are produced by compounding pharmacies. They are familiar to the human body. They are not patentable.
When bias is seen in clinical trial study results they must be dismissed ansd not published. Any biased report from a panel should exclude the members from ever being used in a study again.
Estradiol should not be taken by mouth. However, estriol is a weak estrogen which is predominant in the pregnant woman, where it is made by the placenta. In the nonpregnant woman,its a waste product in the urine. 17-beta estradiol is the predominant estrogen in the nonpregnant woman, and this is what needs to be replaced, transdermally or vaginally. Estriol is of value in building up vaginal tissue.
When I was younger and 17, I started hemoraging, and the Doctor found out I had cystic ovaries. Cysts that grow to the size of grapefruits every time I ovulate filled with water that burst and might take a blood vessel with them. They put me on the pill. the first one was chemical and my hair fell out in patches. The second one was chemical and I became a screaming out of control person with hair that fell out. This went on until he found a non chemical pill and I had been on it until I was 50. Now I have rolling hot flashes 24-7. So the Doc put me on compounded progesterone because I am a chemically sensitive person. If I couldn’t get compounded progesterone and had to take chemical progesterone, I will become a raving lunatic with hair falling out.
Because politicians are in the deep pockets of the drug companies, and their personal knowledge is basically totally uneducated on those matters!! Some so woefully inadequate that their ignorance is shameful.
Thank you for this important article. I take a compounded estriol to reduce my ocular hypertension and prevent progression to glaucoma. Studies conducted between 2003 and 2012 show that women who experienced surgical or natural menopause before the age of 45 were at increasing risk for glaucoma due to the loss of estrogen. In fact, glaucoma for women increases after menopause. The articles I studied maintain that estrogen replacement for women meeting the criteria I mentioned is important for prevention of ocular hypertension and progression to glaucoma.
Traditional medicine continues to ignore the synergism of the body and merely treats the symptoms with medications. In the case of ocular hypertension, the treatment is with eye drops. This despite the clinical knowledge that glaucoma is more prevalent in women and that the risk increases with age (ie. menopause)! This clearly indicates why a woman must take control of her own health, become knowledgeable and maintain the right to have natural choices over synthetic.
thanks for keeping us updated
My daughter (a very productive member of society) exists because of compounding. Please do not remove this opportunity for others to benefit from this wonderful skill.
“study’s lead author has significant ties to the pharmaceutical industry. Philip M. Sarrel listed in his disclosures that he has served as an advisor or consultant for Novagyne Pharmaceuticals, Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Garr Labs. He has also disclosed that he serves on the speakers’ bureaus for Solvay Pharmaceuticals and Garr Labs—both of which make non-transdermal estradiol tablets!”
Get real, this is why we are in the fix we are, the oversight of who is really competent and objective to tell the truth for the sake of the people.
I am dealing with ER+ PR+ breast cancer, stage V. The conventional oncologist wanted to blame the advancement on the bio-identical progesterone I had been using per a recommendation from an endocrinologist. I am now off the bio-identical progesterone and really feel the impact. Also at risk now are my bones, thyroid, adrenals, risk for other cancers to hit in different ways, heart issues. I take injections each month for no estrogen in my body to fire the ER+ cancer too. There has to be another way. And they spend their focus and dollars on this farce instead, trying to get women back on the RX estrogen drugs that was causing cancer in women to begin with. Not looking at what they KNOW- yes, I just yelled that one – will protect our health.
Eh, but we have Fukushima sinking and radiating the oceans to worry about. Oil drilling under the Arctic. Earthquakes, blizzards, floods and famines with gmo foods to depend on if they are not stopped. So I suppose the hormone drugs are the least of our concerns at this moment. Thanks for a place to take action, learn and stop the corruption of this control over our health.