From Library Journal
Well-known alternative-medicine practitioner and journalist Fugh-Berman leads the list of authors of this critique of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) provided by the National Women's Health Network. An updated version of the network's Taking Hormones and Women's Health: Choices, Risks and Benefits (1989), this book argues that the medical and pharmaceutical professions are responsible for the "medicalization" of menopause. The authors disagree with the widely promoted message that nearly all perimenopausal women should use HRT for cardiovascular and bone health or to modulate health problems associated with that stage of life; they argue that, except for a very small percentage of women, using alternative therapies is preferred. They also report on studies of HRT and provide a wealth of information. While their analytical and cautious approach is commendable, their words are often provocative e.g., they claim that the drug companies "play on women's fears," utilize "scare tactics," and "artfully persuade." Within the profusion of books on HRT on the market today, this one stands out not because of its advocacy of alternative treatments but because it is so vehement in its criticism of the medical and pharmaceutical establishments. Recommended for its practical suggestions and for encouraging evaluation of the issues. Linda M.G. Katz, MCP Hahnemann Univ. Lib., Philadelphia
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
This informative and candid book, a product of the National Women's Health Network, addresses a major problem for women today: the medicalization of menopause, which is, after all, a natural occurrence in the life cycle of every woman. Drug companies in search of greater profits are primarily to blame for the medicalization of menopause, and the book points out how those companies wormed their way into the medical literature, scientific and pseudoscientific, and how pervasively they affect medical and clinical education. Direct-to-consumer advertising has become a profitable approach for drug companies, encouraging patients to pressure physicians to prescribe a company's products, even when they aren't needed. What's more, bone-density screening is another marketing tool. Readers are given questions to ask their health-care providers, counseled to be aware of the vast amount of misinformation on the Internet, and shown in an appendix what to look for to assess medical articles and reports.
William BeattyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved