Killer Cancer Drugs Given to Healthy Women for 'Prevention'

by Heidi Stevenson

17 April 2010

Bisphosphonates were given on a massive scale to prevent osteoporosis in women. It was a failed experiment, resulting in jaw necrosis and a variety of other problems indicative of digestive and metabolic disruption. The same sort of experiment is again being done on women, but this time using tamoxifen and raloxifene. The results are likely to be far worse.

Tamoxifen is sold under a variety of brand names, most commonly Nolvadex, made by AstraZeneca, but there are at least 30 others. Raloxifene, made by Eli Lilly, is generally sold under the brand name Evista, and occasionally as Keoxifene.

Both of these drugs are classed as selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERM). Tamoxifen is the original of this class, so because more is known, the focus here is on it.

The original plan for tamoxifen was as a birth control pill. It failed miserably. It was originally thought to be an anti-estrogen drug, but the fact that there are several types of estrogen wasn't factored in. Now it's believed to be selective in which estrogens it blocks, thus the classification as the first SERM.

Tamoxifen's ability to block estrogen was tapped as a breast cancer treatment. For cancer, it is now used primarily as an adjuvant (additional) treatment with at least one other drug. It is also used to prevent cancer in women who are determined to be at high risk.

One of the main reasons tamoxifen has been used as an adjuvant treatment for breast cancer is that it seems to result in less bone loss. Most drugs that block estrogen action remove the natural protective benefit against osteoporosis. Therefore, in the usual Big Pharma logic, the next "logical" step was to market the drug, along with its sister drugs, for osteoporosis prophylaxis.

Of course, the overall effects of these drugs hasn't been taken into account. Here and there, a report of a negative effect, even a deadly one, comes out. However, the overall effect on life extension and quality of life is rarely looked at seriously. So, a recent report that tamoxifen appears to cause Parkinson's disease, though not good, is taken by itself.

In other words, only one negative effect is compared with tamoxifen's possible anti-osteoporosis effect. (There are also reports that it causes osteoporosis, but not as badly as other cancer treatments.) The other negative effects aren't generally factored in at the same time.

The result is that an extremely dangerous class of drugs gets marketed to healthy people for their questionable potential to prevent a single disease. Since it usually takes many years for osteoporosis to become apparent, that means Big Pharma may potentially be able to profit from the sales of SERMs like tamoxifen and raloxifene for decades before the disastrous effects become obvious.

Yet, the potential harm these drugs can do is already well known. A recent report that tamoxifen causes Parkinson's disease was not a surprise, because it's believed that women are protected from it by estrogen. That's just one risk. Medscape lists the following as known adverse effects:

• Acute Pancreatitis
• Angioedema
• Bullous Pemphigoid (Severe blistering of skin, including mucous membranes of mouth and nasal passages, causing pain, itching, and burning)
• Cataracts, Disorder of Cornea
• Cerebrovascular Accident (Stroke)
• Drug-Induced Hepatitis
• Endometrial Carcinoma (Cancer!), Endometrial Hyperplasia Polyps (Precancerous conditions)
• Weakness
• Hypertriglyceridemia (Extremely high levels of triglycerides in the blood)
• Impaired Cognition
• Interstitial Pneumonitis
• Optic Neuritis and Retinal Disorder (Potentially blinding)
• Pulmonary Thromboembolism, Thromboembolic Disorder, and Thrombotic Disorder (Blockage of blood supply)
• Thrombocytopenic Disorder (Potential of excessive bleeding)
• Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (Life-threatening condition in which the epidermis separates from the underlying skin)

Even if each of conditions is rare, when added together, they represent a significant threat to life and quality of life posed by tamoxifen. Yet, these problems are virtually ignored as women are urged to take SERMs and drug companies rush to do studies comparing their particular variety against others. Big Pharma is intentionally ignoring a basic truth:

Health never comes from a drug. They mask symptoms. In some cases, that's desirable—but that should never be construed as a cure. The fact that drugs don't cure, but only suppress symptoms, should make clear that they do not prevent ill-health. They may block one particular form, but always at the expense of other diseases.

Health doesn't come from a pill. It comes from good food, exercise, and a generally healthy way of living.