Guest guest Posted August 27, 2003 Report Share Posted August 27, 2003 Comments? Misty L. Trepke http://www..com HOT FLUSH FOR BIG PHARMA http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/327/7411/400?eaf The sale of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to women is a multi-billion dollar cash cow for the pharmaceutical industry. What will its PR machine do in the face of evidence that long-term HRT use increases women's risk of blood clots, strokes, heart attacks, breast cancer, and dementia, and has no quality of life benefits? Jocalyn Clark recounts the history of the industry's campaign to " medicalize menopause, " beginning in the 1960s when Wyeth, which accounts for more than 70% of the global HRT market, subsidized the publication of a book titled Forever Feminine, which touted hormone replacements as a virtual fountain of youth for the " dull and unattractive " aging woman. More recently, PR firms such as RED Consultancy, the Social Issues Research Centre, and Haas & Health Partner have orchestrated testimonials from celebrities and industry-funded nonprofit organizations to downplay evidence of HRT's health risks and convince women that it will give them better careers, relationships, health and sex lives. SOURCE: British Medical Journal, August 16, 2003 To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1061006400 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 Along the lines of the criticism of the medicalization of menopause is the industrialization and more of menstruation in general. A well written book on the subject that I have just started reading is Cunt by Inga Muscio. An example of the perverse industrialization of women's health is Muscio's description of the change by society (at least American society) towards the pain suffered by women around menstruation: after a scientific study declared that women " really " do suffer pain, there was the marketing of pain relievers for pain associated with menstruation! It took a scientific study to demonstrate what women had been saying/feeling forever. Though I have read just a portion of the book, it appears to be an excellent expose of the subject. Barry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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