So, you’re making the switch from bc to nfp? Congratulations! But before you toss your little compact of carcinogens, you’ll want to make sure you pack ‘em up safe and sound so that your pills don’t make a reappearance as a hormone-and-drinking-water-cocktail for humans or fish.

I’ve mentioned the Pill-polution dilemma before, but here’s the practical side of things thanks to the Fish & Wildlife Service and the American Pharmacist Association, aptly titled Smart Disposal (with the “r” in smart as the prescriptive “rx”–so clever). Check out the link above for a how to video, as well as posters, pamphlets and web banners. Spread the news!

This seems to be news to some– though sadly not on the radar of many–but Dr. Chris Kahlenborn has been saying this for years: taking synthetic hormones, namely hormonal replacement pills and oral contraceptives, for a sustained period of time greatly increases a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer.

At the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium this past Saturday, Dr. Rowan Chlebowski of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles presented the results of the study sponsored by the Women’s Health Initiative. The AP reported,

“Taking menopause hormones for five years doubles the risk for breast cancer, according to a new analysis of a big federal study that reveals the most dramatic evidence yet of the dangers of these still-popular pills.”

While the researchers emphasize that the pill use should be avoided if possible, they admit that some menopausal symptoms may be so severe that a short term risk may be worth taking hormonal replacement therapy, as long as the dose is as low as possible and continued for a short duration.

Now we can’t play chicken little every time a new study comes out, but when the sample size of a study is so large, and the results are published without a lot of controversy in the medical community (this isn’t the only litmus test, because certainly there’s a lot of valid claims that are disputed by the establishment), it makes one wonder.

It makes me wonder why nobody is connecting this to oral contraceptives? Is it about the machine of so called “big pharma”? Is it because of a cultural pride that refuses to black list the Pill because it was the so-called liberator of the sexual revolution? As contemporary sociologists have shown, most of the promises of the sexual revolution were empty, and the weapons of revolution like the Pill, have only served to contribute to the divorce explosion of the seventies, higher rates of single parenthood, low levels of participatory fathers, increased levels of delinquency–and the poor and minorities have paid the heaviest price.

This isn’t about having an axe to grind–it’s about waking up! When are we going to give up our political pride and social hubris and realize that contaceptives, and in a particular way, oral contraceptives, have not done women, families and society any favors? Janet Smith says this issue is a time bomb waiting to explode, another Big Tobacco waiting to happen, and it will only be a matter of time.

If you’re not convinced, here’s some simple suggestions for your journey to a fuller truth about the ills of synthetic hormones:

• Read Kahlenborn’s, “Breast Cancer,” and see what you think. It’s only $6. That’s a couple coffees, or the price of tampons. You can do it.
•  Listen to Janet Smith’s “Contraception: Why Not.” Distributed a million times over, this can’t just be the enthusiasm of so-called “fundies.” I prefer the revised edition because she draws from a lot of science and anthropology.
• Google “birth control” and “lawsuit”
• Read “Protecting the Pill” by Carolyn Moynihan

If you’re convinced, on board and passionate about this message, I encourage you to:

• Stop taking contraceptives if you are, for the sake of your soul, mind, body and family. Take an NFP class.
• Give informative brochures away, leave them in bathrooms, or perhaps more creatively, put them in envelopes when you pay your bills (if your’e still paying by snail mail)!
• Give out copies of “Contraception: Why Not” revised edition. They’re cheap when you order them in quantity! Make sure these are in your church foyer, especially if you’re Catholic.
• Educate medical professionals you know with the recommended resources, and ask informed medical professionals who are convinced of this message to coach you how to speak to other doctors about this.
• Print out copies of these studies and give them to your physicians and pharmacists.

Spread the message! Link to this post, and work for the true dignity of women and families. Contraception divides families and poisons women. It’s not worth the risk.

The LaCrosse Guild of the Catholic Medical Association will host its annual White Mass for Healthcare Professionals on Saturday, October 18, the Feast of St. Luke at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in LaCrosse. The Mass will take place within the context of a Conference given by Dr. Thomas Hilgers, award winning founder of the Pope Paul VI Institute for the study of Human Reproduction. This conference will introduce the participants to the science of NaProTechnology (Natural Procreative Technology). NaProTechnology is a scientifically validated method of assisting couples to manage their fertility entirely consistent with the ethical teachings of the Catholic Church. There are a growing number of trained NaProTechnology consultants successfully using this effective and natural approach.

I highly recommend this event to anyone in the Wisconsin area, or even anyone in the Midwest. Dr. Hilgers has done tremendously groundbreaking work in Obstetrics and Gynecology. People who find themselves infertile, struggling with specific fertility issues like PCOS, Endometriosis and the like have found great encouragement and medical help by using NaProTechnology. I especially encourage Medical Professionals, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, to come hear more about his and his colleagues’ tremendous work.

Friday, October 17
Optional pre-conference evening

6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Saturday, October 18
8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
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Science Consciousness blog posted an entry recently on a study published about the Standard Days Method of Natural Family Planning, which is widely promoted by the Georgetown University Medical Center’s Institute for Reproductive Health.

Some of the interesting points to be noted in the study, which will not come as a surprise to those familiar with NFP’s fruits and successes, is that the men were very supportive of this family planning method. This builds consensus in a relationship, which strengthens marriages. Hence,a huge contributing reason for lower divorce rates with NFP couples (and not, as suggested, due to the Catholic moral browbeating).

 All in all, it seems to be an objective and positive review of this particular method of NFP: “These studies were conducted in a wide variety of cultural settings, but in all of them, men found the method easy to use and most stated that they planned to continue using the Standard Days Method and would recommend it to others.”

A brief video from Rome Reports on the Pope’s aforementioned meeting with the Pharmacists from around the world.

Memo to Politicians of the State of Wisconsin and New Jersey (and, well, the rest of the country, really): Evidently the biomedical services are at the service of man (read: English vernacular for human kind, not a misogynist omission of the feminine genius), not the other way around.

That crazy intellectual giant Benedict is at it again. Human dignity this, conscience that, blah blah blah. Will he ever quit? (No.)

In a brief talk he gave to the International Federation of Catholic Pharmacists yesterday, Pope Benedict urged pharmacists to be particularly sensitive to “the ethical implications of the use of particular drugs.”

He went on to say “we cannot anesthetize consciences as regards, for example, the effect of certain molecules that have the goal of preventing the implantation of the embryo or shortening a person’s life.”

Get out. So like, we can’t compartmentalize our faith, and check our conscience at the door to the lab? Whaaat? How are pharmacists and doctors going to survive in a pill-centered society? Perhaps Christian and Catholic Medical Professionals should compromise their faith? Oops. Yeah, there’s a few of those out there. Maybe crawl under the rug?

Or maybe, just maybe, they could take  up their cross and answer the couragous call to be Pro Life and Pro Fertility professionals? (That’s a lot of pros). Do we have pro life, pro fertility medical professionals in Wisconsin? You bet. Here too.