posted by Tapestry
In 1969, Barbara Seaman published the “The Doctor’s Case Against the Pill,” in which she detailed the many health risks of oral contraceptives, such high blood pressure, heart attacks and blood clots. Eventually, a warning label for increased blood clot risk was added, and some brands lowered their dosages but replaced the estrogens with more estrogenic compounds to make up the difference.
By 1976, researchers had established a clear link between menopausal HRT, endometrial cancer and blood clotting disorders. The answer? More warning labels. As HRT sales dwindled, the drugmakers shifted gears and started adding synthetic progestins to the protocol, ostensibly to counteract the side effects of estrogen.
Still, studies kept bringing bad news. The 1965 to 1985 Coronary Drug Project terminated two of its study arms after it was found that Premarin, a weak estrogen, increased cancer, heart disease and mortality rates.
The Nurses’ Health Study, which began in 1976, found that HRT increased the risk of ischemic stroke and cancer, and the Framingham Heart Study, which had begun in 1948, by then also showed an increased risk of heart disease for estrogen users.
Oral contraceptives can also deplete essential nutrients like B vitamins, zinc, selenium, magnesium and vitamin E, the latter of which has anti-estrogenic effects. In 1991, the Women’s Health Initiative, which included tens of thousands of women, was launched. After several years, the dangers of HRT was unmistakable.
Participants were using either Premarin (the weakest estrogen HRT product) alone or in combination with Provera (medroxyprogesterone acetate), the synthetic progestin used in birth control shots. Both interventions were stopped before the study concluded due to elevated rates of vascular diseases, cognitive decline, cancers and more.
In 2000, Yaz came out. Made by Bayer, Yaz contains the synthetic progestin drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol. It was a huge commercial success, but by 2019, nearly 20,000 lawsuits had piled up and the contraceptive had been linked to more than 100 deaths. Bayer ended up paying nearly $2 billion in settlements.
In closing, it’s not just the millions of women who are on contraceptives or HRT who are at risk. Today, an ever-growing number of young boys who feel like girls are also being placed on estrogen therapy under the guise of “gender-affirming care.” The future of these boys may be grimmer than we dare conceive at the moment.
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