More Excess Estrogen
To the Editor,
Your short article entitled “Excess Estrogen” in the July-August issue of PRI Review contains some inaccuracies. While it is indeed true that estrogens from oral contraceptives are showing up in Denton, TX (and elsewhere) as important environmental contaminants, the same is not true for the estrogens used in hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The estrogens used in HRT are natural estrogens which are handled in a normal way by the human liver, and the normal, inactive metabolites are excreted in the urine.
But oral contraceptives are a different story. They are potent, synthetic estrogens (the most common being ethynyl estradiol) which are deliberately engineered to be non-biodegradable. In fact, they must be able to withstand the liver’s estrogen degradation machinery, so that the blood concentrations remain high enough for a one-a-day pill to be effective. That’s because anything taken orally goes straight to the liver before it enters the general blood circulation. Therefore, it is not, as your article states, the “excess” estrogen that is not absorbed which is the problem. The synthetic estrogen is all absorbed, but excreted unchanged in the urine anyway. In other words, it is not a matter of reducing the dosage to a more absorbable level, but rather eliminating these environmental (internal and external} contaminants from widespread use.
Perhaps there is some political common ground for the left and the right to be found here. Joel Brind, Ph.D.
Professor of Human Biology and Endocrinology, Baruch College, CUNY, New York, NY, and President. Breast Cancer Prevention Institute, Poughkeepsie, NY
PRI Information Used
Dear Mr. Mosher,
My youngest used information he garnered from your institute for one of his history papers last year that was attempting to prove the U.N. to be immoral and corrupt. He received a 99%. He also intends to use information from your institute for his senior pro-life speech — the hidden costs and effects of abortion.
I have prayed for you for many years now and l will continue to do so. My husband often feels anguish over all that cannot be done simply for lack of money. But it is not what you do, it is what God does through us. Our pain must go to alleviate the cry of the world.
God will bless you, even if the world does not.
Mary DiVietri
Manassas, VA
Thanks for PRI
Dear Steven,
How l wish to thank you personally for your continued perseverance in your pro-life work in China. I can remember years ago when you came to Phoenix and talked to us about going to China and you were quite young then. It was a conference supported by the Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation if I remember correctly. May God and His Blessed Mother shower you with many graces! At present I am caretaker for my sister who has Parkinson’s. She’ll be 85 years old November 30 and I was 82 in February. It has opened a new life for me for all my family were teachers but me and now I can practice my bedside nursing once again. My donation is small but it comes with a heartfelt thanks for not giving up in spite of all odds, as with dear Father Paul Marx, OSB.
Gratefully,
Nora O’Brien
Phoenix. AZ
Thanks for PRI Review
Dear Steve,
Greetings from Pro-Life Tanzania. I am extremely happy to receive PRI Review, Volume 13, Number 3, May-June 2003. The contents of this Review edition are very useful. I am forwarding the few copies (10) you sent me to influential individuals in Government and Church — to the Cardinal, the Auxiliary Bishop, the Health Minister, Education Minister, The Executive Chairman of Tanzania Aids Commission (TACAIDS), members of our organization. Oh! I forgot, I shall send others to UNFPA, USAID, PSI, UNICEF and IPPF affiliate. The copies are just too few. I would like to distribute them as widely as I can so that after reading the executives can change their way of thinking and acting. Is this possible? Can I ask for 20 or more copies? I shall appreciate receiving them.
Sincerely,
Emil Hagatnu
Tanzania
Visitor to China Responds
Hello Steven and the staff at PRI,
I enjoyed your talk at the Northern Kentucky Right to Life meeting on Sunday, October 12. I was particularly interested in your analysis of China policies relating to the one-child policy and the famine of 1960–1962. My work has taken me to China several times in the past three years and I have enjoyed getting to know more about the people, geography, culture, and needs of China. Your analysis of some of the similarities between the U.S. government and Chinese government in the area of abortion practices and funding was moving.
Thanks,
John
via email
