Posted on 03/28/2006 7:26:03 AM PST by oxcart
The added benefits of the new drug include the end of periods and PMS
A NEW generation of contraceptive medication that guards against breast cancer as well as pregnancy could be available within five years, scientists predicted yesterday. Patient trials of a drug that is used in higher doses to cause abortions have shown it to be an effective contraceptive with few side-effects, and animal and cell models have even suggested that it can protect against breast tumours.
Women taking the new Pill, which contains no female hormones, would have no periods and would thus be unlikely to suffer from pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS). The contraceptive is also thought to carry a lower risk of blood clots than existing varieties.
If the early results are confirmed by larger studies, the research, led by the University of Edinburgh, would provide millions of women with a safe, reliable way of controlling fertility. While the Pill is the most effective form of contraception, many are put off by side-effects from the female hormones on which it is based.
About 3.5 million British women — approximately a third of those of reproductive age — take the Pill, more than 90 per cent of whom are on the combined form that contains oestrogen and progesterone, the two female hormones. The rest take the mini-Pill, which contains progesterone only. Its popularity has largely recovered from the 1995 scare that prompted hundreds of thousands to give up oral contraception after “third-generation” Pills that contain different kinds of progesterone were linked to a higher risk of thrombosis.
The combined Pill protects against ovarian and endometrial tumours, but its oestrogen content is thought to contribute to a slightly increased risk of breast cancer. While the mini-Pill does not have this drawback, it is less effective and has other side-effects such as heavy bleeding. The new Pill works on a completely different principle, using a chemical called mifepristone to block the action of progesterone, which the body needs to ovulate and support a pregnancy.
As it contains no oestrogen it should not promote breast cancer, and by inhibiting progesterone it is thought that it may even reduce the risk. It is also unlikely to cause other hormonal side-effects, and has the added benefit of stopping periods, which should prevent PMS.
Mifepristone, also known as RU486, is licensed for use in abortions, though it is used at doses 100 times lower for contraception. David Baird, Professor of Reproductive Endocrinology at the University of Edinburgh, said that this could be the biggest obstacle to bringing it to the market, as anti- abortion activists have vociferously objected to it.
“If it was decided just on scientific grounds, and the pharmaceutical industry did not respond to all sorts of irrational factors, it could be developed within five years,” he said. “As it is, I would expect it to be within five to ten years.”
Mifepristone works by binding to progesterone receptors, so that the body cannot respond to the hormone. If given in high doses when a woman is pregnant, it causes miscarriage, but smaller doses can prevent ovulation and conception. Two trials, each involving about 90 women in Scotland, South Africa, China and Nigeria, have now shown that it is well tolerated with few side-effects, and is at least as effective as conventional Pills.
The effect on breast cancer is predicted because some kinds of breast tumour appear to be sensitive to progesterone, so blocking its action should inhibit their growth. “Certain breast cancer studies suggest that progesterone can promote cancer as well as oestrogen,” Professor Baird said. “There are also some preliminary clinical data on women with advanced breast cancer which suggests that this could be helpful.”
Anna Glasier, Professor of Sexual and Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh, said: “If we can come up with a Pill that reduces the risk of breast cancer, we will all be taking it, whether or not we need contraception.”
BIRTH CONTROL
The Pill was introduced in Britain in 1961 for married women only. It is now used by 3.5 million women in Britain and 85 million worldwide
More than 90 per cent of British users take the combined pill. This works by manipulating hormone levels to prevent ovulation. The mini-pill thickens cervical mucus to prevent sperm from reaching the womb
Oestrogen in the combined pill is thought to account for a slightly higher incidence of breast cancer. Five users in every 100 get breast cancer, compared to four in 100 non-users
Another rare complication is deep-vein thrombosis, at about three deaths per million users. Side-effects are bloating, breast tenderness and, for the mini-pill, excessive bleeding
"Mifepristone, also known as RU486, is licensed for use in abortions, though it is used at doses 100 times lower for contraception. David Baird, Professor of Reproductive Endocrinology at the University of Edinburgh, said that this could be the biggest obstacle to bringing it to the market, as anti- abortion activists have vociferously objected to it."
(((PING)))
Yet the abortion industry fights against the studies that indicate possible links between abortions and breast cancer.
Mabye I sound silly, but I kinda think there's a reason for having periods......cleaning things up or whatever. This sounds like it artificially and (hopefully) temporarily simulates menopause. Most 20-somethings are not going to like that!
(((Ping of interest)))
The number of periods a woman has may actually have be a risk factor for breast cancer- hundreds of years ago, when married women were almost constantly pregnant or nursing, women had fewer periods than they had today, and the incidence of breast cancer was lower than today. In fact,breast cancer was known as the "Nun's disease".
This article is just a fluff job to make RU486 look "good" so it can be put on the over the counter shelf sometime in the future.
The more often cells need to trigger the healing and rebuilding response, the more likely it is that a rogue cell will be created without the automatic command in its DNA to shut down replication when healing is complete. The result: explosive reproduction of the rogue cell while the body thinks it is normal.
I'm not an oncologist, but I did stay a Holiday Inn Suites last night.
(((FYIPING)))
Oh, let's just cut to chase - let's render most girl children sterile shortly after birth. That way, they can take their rightful place as empty-headed sex toys and we won't have to worry about their pregnancies, cancers, or menopause.
Sheesh! Every time the medical industry tries "improve" women hormonally, the women end up paying for it. How about we think about sexual opportunities less and families more?
Nice rant!
Published: february 30, 2006 Author: Sir Plumforth Faustus (vanity)
ABORTION FOR THE PLEASURE AND WELL-BEING OF THE ELDERLY
Dr. Archibald Puck, the renowned British gerontologist, announced that his medical research team had successfully developed and brought into operation a completely safe and effective method of abortion. He revealed that this new method is integral to a revolutionary geriatric process that will “vastly improve the life expectancy, vitality, and the sexual pleasure of the elderly.” Dr. Puck announced that the breakthrough had been achieved after fifteen years of government funded research and that “it holds the promise of tremendous social advances worldwide.”
The British Academy of Gerontology confirmed Dr. Puck’s astonishing revelations before a stunned assemblage of medical professionals at Oxford Commons this morning. Dr. Reginald Nero of the Academy said that this new technology will “greatly improve England’s faltering medical reputation after decades of decline from the stagnation of socialized medicine.”
Continuing on, Dr. Puck explained that the new process first requires the acquisition of “superfluous” human fetuses. He stated that the most desirable “incubators” for producing these are girls in their very earliest years of puberty with the ideal age being twelve or thirteen. He emphasized that “the conception, pregnancy, and abortion segment” of the process using these youngsters “will not interrupt or penalize their school life or social development in any way” as government expansion of the publicly acclaimed “Sex and Maternity” program for children had already been unanimously approved by Parliament and had proved a stunning success.
It was reported that fetuses, called “excret”, are harvested from these girls at the sixth month of their pregnancy and then immediately rushed into revolutionary “placenta replicator- incubators” which permit them to continue development to full term. This is accomplished by a technique which provides an environment similar to that from which they were removed. According to Dr. Puck, “vast quantities of oxygen and hormones along with nerve stimulation exercises” are applied to these growing organic masses, each of which in separate crystal enclosures clearly has an outward appearance of the human form.
Commenting further, Dr. Puck said that after reaching full term at nine months, the excret are “painlessly terminated by quick freeze” with brain and nerve matter removed and then rapidly distilled in a process which bonds the residuals with other treated and reconstituted body components including extracted heart tissue and complete sexual organs.
This amazing process culminates in an innocuous clear tablet that is designed for the oral ingestion of the elderly. These tablets, along with various descriptive process charts, were presented for display at the Academy luncheon. Dr. Faust confirmed that startling results have been verified with “the rapid restoration of sexual vigor and vitality in eighty year old men and women who were able to cavort joyously like teenagers.” The demand for these pills is expected to be tremendous.
A “social welfare” department head, who insisted on anonymity, later claimed that she is already besieged by youngsters hoping to be mechanically impregnated in the government supervised program. The entire process is free of pain for the girls, she explained. Quite the contrary. She said that each girl experiences “a tremendous surge of technically induced pleasure and euphoria” throughout the entire conception procedure as well as during the abortion process six months later. In addition, she also explained happily that a four thousand pound stipend is granted to each youngster after the abortion is completed.
It was disclosed that women impregnated in the historically “normal” manner and who suddenly face horrific personal problems causing undue anguish ,such as being jilted by paramours, getting bad grades at school, being upset by dress size increases, or who might be falling behind in monthly car payments, will have first priority for these special abortions under pending regulations. This “should help keep a kettle top on the population growth of the financially and intellectually challenged” Dr. Faust laughingly offered.
Dr. Faust commented that necessary prioritizing of female incubators to favor those having personal problems will “unfortunately limit” the number of pubescent girls who will be accepted to the program, possibly disappointing their own birth mothers who stand to also share by law in the financial bonanza. However, he said that a minimum percentage of youngsters supplying excret is essential and that this minimum “will be maintained for both technical as well as social development reasons for the young.”
Dr. Puck, commenting during the luncheon following , reported that many other new and promising developments “may very well come from this process.” As an example, he indicated that experimentation had already begun on the birthing and factory raising of excrets with the purpose of utilizing them as living organic entities to be used for “dangerous, tedious, or other difficult labors not truly suitable for humans.”
The British Government has allocated the considerable sum of forty million pounds for continued work by Dr. Puck’s group on these new applications.
Nah, you dont sound silly to me. I'm old enough now to be on the edge of that menopause thing and looking back, the vision is clearer.
Being a woman also alters the way I hear the consecration in the Mass: This is my Body, given up for you.....
Sounds like the way I felt when I was pregnant with my babies....I gave my body up for them. Of course, I couldn't find my waist without the FBI......
•Senators (HILLARY) want a decision on nonprescription sales of the drug
By SAMANTHA LEVINE Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - The former head of academic affairs at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston faces uncertainty over his nomination as head of the Food and Drug Administration because of a dispute over the "morning after" pill.
Andrew von Eschenbach, director of the National Cancer Institute and acting FDA commissioner since September, was nominated by President Bush on Wednesday.
Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Patty Murray of Washington are blocking his confirmation in the Senate until the FDA decides whether to allow over-the-counter sales of Plan B, the emergency contraceptive.
"For more than two years, the FDA has dragged its feet on making a decision, putting ideology over science," Clinton said. "We will place a hold on the nomination of Dr. von Eschenbach until the FDA issues a decision on Plan B, yes or no."
Murray and Clinton support Plan B sales without a prescription. Debate dates back to 1999 U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said von Eschenbach is "perfect for the (FDA) position" and that the Plan B issue "needs to be negotiated out."
Her fellow Texas GOP senator, John Cornyn, said he hates to see von Eschenbach caught up in the Plan B dispute, but added it was not unusual for senators to put a hold on a nomination to force action on an issue.
Von Eschenbach spent 25 years at M.D. Anderson. Bush appointed him to head the federal cancer institute in 2002. He was not available for comment on the drug dispute.
The debate over Plan B has raged since it was made available by prescription in 1999.
In December 2003, the FDA's Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee and the Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health recommended that the product be made available over the counter.
In 2004, however, the FDA denied an application from manufacturer Barr Laboratories to make Plan B available without doctor's orders, citing concerns about the product's effects on girls younger than 16.
Plan B has also faced ardent opposition from many religious conservatives and abortion foes. Advocates of the drug say it is essential, especially in cases of rape and incest.
The company reapplied to make Plan B available only to women older than 17. By February 2005, the FDA still had not ruled on the matter.
Senate must confirm Clinton and Murray then blocked the nomination of Lester Crawford to head the FDA until the agency issued a decision. When Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt vowed that the FDA would act on the issue by September 2005, the senators lifted their "hold" on Crawford, and the Senate confirmed him in July.
In August, however, Crawford and Leavitt decided instead to reopen the Plan B issue for public comment. The FDA has yet to issue a verdict.
Crawford resigned in September, and Bush made von Eschenbach acting FDA commissioner. The Senate must confirm his permanent appoint-ment.
Plan B is different from RU-486, the so-called "abortion pill" that terminates pregnancies in early stages and was approved as a prescription drug in 2000.
Plan B stops the release of an egg from the ovary and may prevent the fertilization of a released egg, according to the FDA.
I agree with you. It is unhealthy to thwart the natural workings of the body. If having periods is eliminated, there is bound to be other unwanted side effects. I can think of one off hand, femininity.
I haven't had a period in almost three years, and people still know I'm female.
When your product is an absolute killer, it always pays to have your P.R. department do some quick thinking. And the last resort of ALL desperate P.R. departments is declaring your failed product the mythical cure for cancer.
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