------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Aug. 29, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL FROM DEATH ROW: THE WAR AGAINST WOMEN'S BODIES It is difficult to objectively observe how women are treated in the world of modern medicine, and not come to the quiet conclusion that doctors don't really care very much about patients of the female persuasion. That suspicion ripens into fuller bloom when one thinks about the recent news that the popular medical provision of estrogen-progestin pills (known as hormone replacement therapy, or HRT) to menopausal women threatens them with increased risk of heart disease, stroke and breast cancer. This, after the HRT regime has been marketed to approximately 40 million women as a kind of miracle drug that promises virtual eternal youth. What's wrong with this picture? Have millions of menopausal women been unwitting guinea pigs for the pharmaceutical companies? Have hundreds of thousands of doctors been duped by these same companies? How can this happen? In a nation where capital accumulation is seen as the greatest good, how could it be otherwise? Medicine is big business. Doctors will call themselves scientists, who follow the scientific method. This suggests they will rigorously test powerful drugs (or test the validity of others' tests) before prescribing such items to their trusting patients. Apparently, they relied on the glowing articles in the media, or the advertising material sent to them by the drug companies. Do you know where pharmaceutical-grade estrogen comes from? Do you know the source of much of the hormone used in birth control pills? It is collected, dried horse urine. Seriously. The urine of pregnant mares is collected, stored and processed into estrogen. Did you know there are plant sources that contain natural estrogen? Several are wild yam, and black cohosh. What is more important--the health of people, or the money that can be made by exploiting their fears and hopes? The medical industry today is a wholly owned subsidiary of the multinational pharmaceuticals. They are a primary source of information to the average physician. How many billions of dollars have been made off of American women in the last 30 years? How many women have died since 1975 from breast cancer, heart disease or stroke? Many don't know and most don't care, much less the drug companies. Were it not for the Women's Health Initiative, no one would know about the serious risks posed by HRT. By treating menopause as a sickness, rather than a natural phase in the life cycle, and promising a magic pill that turns back time, the drug and medical industries have created a market based on a false hope. Let us hope millions of women are safer now than yesterday. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
