The Launch of Martin Walker’s new book was held on 21^st June 2006 at the Rose View Hotel, Muswell Hill Broadway, London. It opened with a police-escorted walk around Muswell Hill, led by Maggie riding a horse, to advertise the book and proclaim the dangers of  HRT. 

There were mixed feelings at the small meeting. Some were obviously hopeful that something realistic might finally be done to alert women to the serious side effects of HRT, but there was also a sense of despair on hearing the stories of  those women who spoke about their painful and debilitating experiences.

The press conference was held in a room downstairs and hosted by writer and campaigner Martin Walker, as well as Maggie Tuttle who runs a HRT helpline. 

Maggie Tuttle who chaired the meeting is the founder of the Menopausal Helpline and has consistently campaigned for women in difficulties. Over the last ten years she has helped women suffering adverse reactions to HRT, standing up to pharmaceutical companies, doctors and sometimes an indifferent media. Her tireless support for women affected by HRT has been at considerable cost to her self, both financially and emotionally.

When Maggie first started the Menopausal Helpline in 1996, she had no idea that over ten thousand women were going to contact her about the side effects they had suffered after taking HRT.  The book contains a number of case histories, and all the women who were the subjects of these stories spoke at the meeting. Each of the women spoke about their own cases, about the misery that HRT had brought to their lives and the need to confront those in power and build a proper campaign against the drug.

Major contemporary studies have show that HRT causes breast cancer, deep vein thrombosis and heart attack. Walker’s book, however, goes beyond these studies to look at the day to day adverse reactions which destroy the quality of life of many of those prescribed the drug. The book traces these adverse reactions and deaths since the drugs were first prescribed in the 1940s and shows how Wyeth until recently holders of  75% of the market has worked hard following every public health debacle associated with HRT to rebuild the drugs reputation and remarket it.

The book also addresses the difficulties of trying to get justice in Britain after having been affected by any drug adverse reactions. Not only are lawyers unwilling to take on pharmaceutical companies, but especially under New Labour (a lawyers government) it has proved  almost impossible to get legal aid in the UK to claim against pharmaceutical damage. 

The fact that HRT seriously affects the thyroid gland was heavily discussed.  Shirley Johns had a persistent rash and cough with 64% of her gland destroyed. HRT and thyroxin interact badly and after being consistently rebuffed by Wyeth, Shirley wrote to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to draw their attention to this. So insistent was Shirley that the MHPRA eventually took up her case and insisted that a health warning be added to all HRT product information about HRT and thyroxin interaction.

Jan Bond told how she felt great on HRT for the first 2 years and then suddenly had trouble breathing, a rash appearing on her face and neck, repeated burning urinary infections and ended up with a stomach tumour.

Barbara Hopgood stated that HRT was a carcinogenic drug.   She suffered terribly while taking it as well as putting on 4 stone in 2 months.  She said HRT causes cysts on the ovaries.  She complained that doctors never do a routine oestrogen test to check a woman’s levels prior to putting them on HRT.  A normal level is 200 but some women taking HRT go up to 4000 or even 6000, only to be told by their doctors that this isn’t at all problematic. Barbara said that oestrogen is in food and water, and one of the major contemporary problems is the circulation of hormone mimicking chemicals.

At the age of 39 after a hysterectomy another woman Ros, was given a choice of pills, patches or implants.  Only when she wanted to  stop taking HRT, did she understand that the implants would take years to finish working in her body and that they could not be removed. Rose made the point that very few people can ever get off HRT as the body goes into shock and the drugs are addictive, coming off can provoke new adverse reactions even more damaging than those produced by being on the drugs.

Martin Walker noted that GPs tend to avoid getting involved with people or being part of the community. In these serious cases of adverse reactions to HRT they usually wanted to ignore the women’s private pain. Walker also talked briefly about some of the analysis in the book, about pharmaceutical lobby groups which have direct access to Members of parliament. About health charities funded by pharmaceutical companies and the growing trend that all health charities have to endorse animal testing and vivisection. This is the author’s ninth book (see www.slingshotpublications.com).

Finally Pamela Kaufman, a Channel 4 producer, shared her story with the meeting. She had contacted the menopausal Helpline after she had a hysterectomy and an HRT implant was inserted into her without her permission or knowledge.  Having signed the consent form, she was unaware that it had included the right to do this. Having previously been slim and attractive, she was horrified when her weight ballooned and she began to suffer side effects.

In 1996 Maggie Tuttle managed to come off  HRT. Coping with adverse reactions, she placed an ad in a newspaper asking if anyone else was having a similar experience. Six years later when Maggie folded the Menopausal Helpline, she had received over 11,000 letters. Licensed to Kill and Maim, gives a voice to the women who wrote to her, while investigating the history and marketing of  HRT. The book asks questions about a health care system in which pharmaceutical companies first create illnesses, then create drugs to ‘cure’ them.

www.slingshotpublications.com - The book can be bought from this site