Healthy Skepticism Library item: 5869
Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.
Publication type: news
Dangerous menopause treatments need strict controls
The Age (Melbourne) 2006 Aug 13
http://www.theage.com.au/news/editorial/dangerous-menopause-treatments-need-strict-controls/2006/08/12/1154803145245.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
Full text:
Dangerous menopause treatments need strict controls
http://www.theage.com.au/news/editorial/dangerous-menopause-treatments-need-strict-controls/2006/08/12/1154803145245.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
August 13, 2006
Vulnerable women are at risk from untested drugs and the usually trusted
people who peddle them.
MENOPAUSE is big business. Whether the beneficiary is a multinational
drug company, vitamin supplements maker, book publisher, health
professional or snake-oil salesman, the demand is great and the profits
rewarding. But for the woman made vulnerable by symptoms of a difficult
menopause, the array of choice, risks and outcomes can be overwhelming.
Does she relieve her symptoms with prescription hormone replacement
therapy (HRT) despite fears – some overstated – about the risks of
breast cancer, heart attack and stroke? Does she try non-prescription
alternatives and swallow celebrity-endorsed vitamin supplements? Should
she take pills, use patches, apply gels, get an implant, or lie down in
a bed of leafy green vegetables? The choices are endless, sometimes
impractical and usually expensive.
But thousands of women are at risk from hormone therapies that have not
been tested and may contain banned substances. Health specialists are
urging women not to take natural hormone replacement therapy (NHRT),
which is being spruiked as a treatment tailored for individual needs.
It is prescribed by a small but increasing number of doctors and
prepared by chemists called compounding pharmacists.
Compounding allows qualified practitioners to blend drugs to suit
specific needs or produce medicines unavailable here.
But regulation of compounding falls through the cracks between the
Therapeutic Goods Administration and the professional standards enforced
by the Pharmacy Board, allowing the unscrupulous and greedy to take
advantage of the vulnerable and needy, in some cases.
NHRT is promoted and sold without proper regulation or external quality
control. The hormone levels of some women using it have risen
dramatically, putting them at risk of excessive bleeding, cancer and
blood clots. Like most conventional hormone replacement therapy, NHRT
contains female hormones progesterone and oestrogen from yams or soy and
synthesised in laboratories. But NHRT can also include the male hormone
testosterone (banned for use on women in Australia), thyroid hormone and
banned steroids.
Unlike off-the-shelf HRT products, NHRT has not been subject to rigorous
testing, analysis of large control groups and approval by government
health authorities. Yet it is marketed as safe and natural, which
appeals to women bombarded with warnings about synthetic hormones.
The Government must act to bring NHRT under strict control by extending
the Pharmacy Board’s powers to enforce standards and deregister
pharmacists who undermine faith in their profession.
The Australian Medical Association must also step forward. With
confidence already wobbly after revelations of drug companies’ seduction
of general practitioners to push their drugs, collusion between doctors
and pharmacists over NHRT is as untimely as it is unhealthy.
For too long, middle-aged women have been dismissed when seeking medical
relief for menopausal symptoms. Hot flushes, vaginal dryness, night
sweats and psychological suffering deserve the best medical response.
So, buyer beware. Ask questions of your doctor and be informed. If you
don’t like what you hear, find out more and look at other options.
It’s your body. It’s your decision.
