Seasonale: Industrializing the Female Body

Once upon a time, in every city and village all over the world, women everywhere enjoyed a life rich with many children and a strong family unit. As time went on, things changed like they always must, and women began working outside the home. Perhaps it was due to changing values, a changing social system or financial necessity, but soon it was considered normal (in �modern� society), natural and desirable for a woman to have a career. While women have always worked, the modern woman of today often has a demanding career outside the home instead of the more traditional jobs of the woman of yesteryear, such as farming, gathering, making clothes, etc. Today, instead of giving birth to her first child early in life, it is becoming much more common for women to wait to have children until after the age of 32, if they have any at all. Instead of having an average of eight children, the average modern woman bears 2.2 children. Consequently, women tend to have many more menstrual cycles than they used to, and their attitude towards their monthly cycle has changed from a celebration of womanhood and the creation of life to an inconvenience and hassle. The creation of the birth control pill, a hormone treatment to prevent pregnancy and regulate a womans cycle, has succeeded in reinforcing these attitudes, and its marketing includes promises of making a womans period shorter and less painful. Swallowing one tiny pill each day offers a woman the convenience of less heavy cycles, protection from pregnancy, less cramping and bloating, reduced PMS and a reduction of the risk of certain cancers. Her periods are less troublesome and inconvenient.

Soon, women may not have to be troubled by their periods any longer - if a new type of birth control pill is accepted by the FDA, which is expected to happen this year. Seasonale, manufactured by Barr Laboratories of Pomona, New York, is currently under FDA review and could be available as early as this fall. Seasonale is an oral contraceptive containing estrogen and progestin (the same hormones in most other birth control pills) that will reduce the frequency of a womans periods from thirteen per year to just four, or one cycle every season.

Seasonale works similarly to the conventional pill by suppressing ovulation. This causes the cervical environment to become hostile to sperm while, at the same time, preventing the possibility of an egg embedding itself in the uterus. But while the conventional birth control pill is taken continuously for 21 days then stopped for one week to allow for the monthly cycle, Seasonale is taken for 84 days, with seven days off. According to Patrice C. Malena, MS, FNP, who coordinated Seasonale studies, many of the woman involved in the trial experienced very light periods during their week of placebo pills, usually lasting two days, and some women experienced no periods at all. Seasonales horn has been tooted for the health benefits that supporters claim the pill offers, including the prevention of anemia and endrometriosis, a reduction of ovarian and cervical cancer, and of course, convenience, less hassle, and increased freedom.

But not everyone thinks Seasonale is such a great idea. Some doctors and specialists believe that since menstruation is a natural part of the female hormonal cycle and body makeup, it should not be eliminated or greatly reduced through artificial means. There are also very serious health risks associated with birth control pills that may be greater with Seasonale, since it is taken for much longer periods at a time.

Traditional Lifestyle vs. Modern Ways

The modern woman averages between 350-400 periods per year and gives birth to 2.2 children. She experiences her first period when she is twelve or thirteen and does not have a child until her late twenties to thirties. When she does have a child, the average modern woman will try breastfeeding, but will abandon it entirely before the child is three to four months old.

Modern women complain about their monthly cycles. They experience bloating, headaches, and sometimes severe PMS and depressive tendencies. Women complain about cramping, heavy bleeding and long periods. Their cycle is seen as a hassle and an inconvenience, and some female athletes intentionally suppress their menstruation because it is not desirable during competitions. Other women have been taking conventional birth control pills continuously for two months to avoid a period during an inconvenient time, and others have been taking them continuously as to avoid having a cycle altogether.

Some gynecologists and doctors assure us that this practice is safe. "Many women have challenging and difficult lives, and can�t be bothered with menstruation. Theres no reason for women not to avoid their period if they like," said David Grimes, a professor at the University of Northern California School of Medicine.

Gynecologists have assured us that skipping periods is safe. Promoters of Seasonale insist that monthly menstruation is abnormal and unnecessary. Malcolm Pide from the University of Southern California has said that the modern way of living presents an extraordinary change in female biology. Women are going out and becoming lawyers, doctors, presidents of countries. They need to understand that what we are tying to do isnt abnormal. Its just as normal as when someone hundreds of years ago had menarche at seventeen and have five babies and had three hundred fewer menstrual cycles than most women have today.

It is true the women traditionally have far fewer periods than the modern woman of today, and the traditional lifestyle Pike speaks of is still the norm in many parts of the world. Interestingly, the women who live the traditional lifestyle do not suffer from modern diseases like breast, ovarian and cervical cancers. The woman of traditional societies (and all women of the past) average about 100 menstrual cycles in her lifetime. Her cycles don't start until around seventeen, and she averages seven periods per year from menarche to about the age of twenty, when she bears her first child. A woman will average six to eight children. She nurses all of her children for at least one year (often two) and during her childbearing years, she may have only slightly more than one period per year (due to pregnancy and breastfeeding). Later in life, after she has stopped giving birth, she may average four cycles a year.

Science Vs. Nature

Scientists are attempting to artificially re-create the reproductive patterns that have been normal for women for hundreds of thousands of years for the modern woman. "I have three daughters. The earliest grandchild I had was when one of them was thirty-one. That�s the way many women are now. They ovulate from twelve or thirteen until their early thirties. Twenty years of uninterrupted ovulation before their first child! That's a brand-new phenomenon!" Pike reported.

Yes, it is a new phenomenon, but is simulating traditional biological realities healthy or wise? Many scientists claim it is, for the health and convenience benefits as stated prior. Others disagree wholeheartedly. There are many factors surrounding the change in a womans reproductive life that science cannot address.

Naturally, women traditionally have begun menstruation around age seventeen. Today, they begin at twelve or thirteen. For whatever reason, girls are developing faster, and thus having more cycles.

In the past, women have had their first child around age twenty. Today's woman often waits until she is thirty or older. Her reasons are often social, and science cannot develop a pill to change social attitudes or structures.

It was normal for women to have over six children in the past; today, a woman averages 2.2 children in her lifetime. Besides the natural break in menstruation that pregnancy provides, science has no way to measure other effects on the reproductive system (or the body as a whole).

Breastfeeding exclusively used to be the norm, and most women beastfed their infants for at least one full year. Now, as formula is virtually pushed into the mouths of infants from the day of their birth, mothers breastfeed for much less time, if at all. Breastfeeding naturally suppresses menstruation, and scientists know this. But what other benefits does nursing provide to the mother and to the health of the breasts that science cannot determine?

Menstruation is a natural way of cleaning the female reproductive system. If a woman does not menstruate due to artificial reasons for a long period of time, what effects will that have on the body?

Health Risks of Hormonal Contraceptives

Those in favor of Seasonale and other oral contraceptives are quick to mention their potential benefits, but are uneasy when faced with their risks. Because Seasonale is taken for a longer period before having a cycle, we must wonder if its long-term side effects are safe, healthy or desirable.

Cancer

Studies have shown that oral contraceptives are strongly correlated to an increased risk of many cancers, such as breast and cervical cancer. According to John Wilks, an Australian pharmacist, women who use oral contraceptives have a 370% increase in cervical pre-malignant conditions. The risk of developing cervical cancer increases 130% for women who use the pill for six years or more.

Additionally teenagers using the pill have a 480% higher risk of developing breast cancer, according to 1989 and 1991 studies by JNat Cancer Institute. Those who begin using oral contraceptives before the age of 20 have an 820% increased risk of breast cancer. Similarly, these same women have a 280% increased chance of getting cervical cancer.

Blood Clots

Studies show that there is a 1000% rise in developing blood clots (thrombo-embulism) in birth control pill users, according to a study in Boston. A woman taking birth control pills is six times as likely to develop a blood clot and four times as likely of dying from a stroke or heart attack.

Other Side Effects

A woman on oral contraceptives is:
3 times more likely to have headaches than non-users
2 times more likely to have high blood pressure than non-users
l2 times more likely to die from cancer than non-users

A woman using the pill has:

an increased risk of thyroid and liver cancers
an increased rate of birth defects in their children
an increased risk of osteoporosis
an increased risk of ovarian cysts dysplasia, and infertility
an increased risk of infections, Crohns disease, and loss of libido
ncreased depression and schizophrenia
higher cholesterol, as the pill causes an increase in the fatty substances in the blood
a higher incidence of lupus and gum disease

Dr. Charles Dodds, a British physician and biochemist who first synthesized estrogen, once said, "We should always be humbled by what we do not know about the female reproductive cycle... we still have to proceed with caution on any long-term hormonal treatments of the human female." It seems that pharmaceutical companies have not heeded his warning.

Seasonale may be available for use this year. Studies on the long-term effects of this artificial therapy or hormones to reduce female monthly cycles and prevent pregnancy are unknown. Drug companies are industrializing the female reproductive system. What is next, the suppression of sperm production in men? For the drug giants, nothing is impossible!