Dear Editor of Newsweek,
I was appalled by your biased cover story in the June 8, 2009 edition criticizing Oprah and Suzanne Somers as presenting "wacky" and dangerous cures. I think they have done more to forward the options for millions of women suffering through the "normal transition" called menopause than anyone. Oprah included Dr. Hall from our Center on her shows about menopause to illustrate how we help women safely navigate menopause every day. I see bioidentical hormone balancing helping people in enumerable ways again and again.
Weston Kosova and Pat Wingert asserted that the sole purpose of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is to help keep women and men young. They missed this point by a mile. It is primarily designed to keep people HEALTHY. Their baseless criticism of Suzanne as trying to stay young is ludicrous. I know Suzanne. She loves being her age, and says it almost every time she speaks in public. What she does and promotes for other women is maintaining health and vitality as they age. It has nothing to do with trying to stay young.
Further, it did not surprise me to see Wyeth as one of your regular advertisers. Wyeth is spending hundreds of thousands -- if not millions -- of dollars on lobbyists in Washington trying to outlaw compounding pharmacies from making bioidentical hormones. They have already succeeded in restricting the production of Estriol, one of the most protective of all the estrogens in terms of breast cancer. This is absurd to me. Wyeth produces Premarin and Prempro, the hormone drugs made from pregnant horses' urine, that have been proven in the ongoing Women's Health Initiative study to increase the rate of stroke, heart attack and breast cancer. Yet they still produce and market those products. There are no studies linking bioidentical hormones to these diseases. It is clear that decision makers at Wyeth are not concerned about the health and welfare of women as they continue to produce Premarin and Prempro. Instead, they spend gobs of money to restrict the production of Estriol, the most protective estrogen.
If Newsweek is truly concerned about women's health, it should refuse to accept "blood money" from Wyeth instead of attacking brave pioneering women like Suzanne Somers and Oprah.
I think you owe Suzanne and Oprah a public apology. You should have half of the guts they have.
Respectfully,
Howard Liebowitz, MD, FACEP
Medical Director
The Hall Center
1148 4th St
Santa Monica, CA 90403