Compounded bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (cBHRT) is in peril. Help support a sign-on letter in Congress telling the FDA NOT to limit access to these treatments. Action Alert!

The letter, circulated by Reps. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) and Michael Burgess (R-TX), draws attention to many of the issues with the FDAs process weve discussed in our Pulse newsletter in the past, urging the FDA to enact policies that allow patients to continue using cBHRT. The FDA is threatening to ban compounded bioidentical hormones like estriol, progesterone, testosterone, and estradiol. Millions of women rely on these medicines to manage the symptoms of menopause, overcome fertility challenges, or treat other hormonal imbalances. These women need cBHRT to stay healthy and cannot, or do not want to, use the FDA-approved versions of these hormones. We must urge our members of Congress to support this sign-on letter.

To recap how we got here: The FDA is in the process of deciding whether it will allow patients to continue to access compounded bioidentical estriol, progesterone, and estradiol. It is clear to anyone paying attention that the FDA is seeking a ban on these medicines.

When ANH and other stakeholders organized widespread grassroots opposition to a ban on estriol and other compounded hormones, the FDA asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to review the clinical utility of treating patients with cBHRT. The intention of this review was clear: the FDA orchestrated what would look to outsiders like an impartial review of cBHRT to give itself cover to ban these medicines. And right on cue, NASEMs report found that treating patients with cBHRT was a public health concern.

Yet NASEMs review was anything but partial. Conspicuously missing from the committee was anyone with an expertise on how compounded bioidentical hormones are used to treat patients. Several members had ties to pharmaceutical companies which would benefit from compounded medicines being eliminated. The FDA was also heavily involved in the development NASEMs final report, all but guaranteeing that it reached the proper conclusions. You can read our coverage of these and other biases in for more detail.

What is especially insulting about the gov...

Parkinsons disease (PD) is a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder affecting an estimated 10 million people worldwide, with numbers projected to increase as the global population ages. The disease is characterized by a multitude of symptoms, including resting tremors, rigidity, bradykinesia (slowness of movement), postural instability, and various non-motor symptoms such as sleep disturbances, cognitive impairment, and mood disorders. The precise cause of PD remains unknown, but recent studies have suggested potential environmental triggers.

Trichloroethylene (TCE) is one such environmental factor gaining attention. This industrial solvent, used since the 1920s, is employed in metal degreasing, coffee decaffeination, and dry cleaning of clothes. It is found in many consumer products such as paint removers, adhesive and spot removers, and rug-cleaning fluids. Yet, TCE doesnt stay in these products; it can leach into groundwater and soil due to poor disposal practices and spills, contaminating the environment and our water supplies.

Several studies have linked TCE exposure to a host of health issues including cancer, miscarriages, neural tube defects, congenital heart disease, autoimmune disorders, and notably, Parkinsons disease.

Recent Findings: A Connection Between TCE and Parkinsons

An analysis of data from 158,000 military veterans has highlighted an alarming correlation between TCE exposure and an increased risk of PD. Personnel stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina between 1975 and 1985, where drinking water was contaminated with TCE, faced a 70% increased risk of Parkinsons disease compared to those at Camp Pendleton, a large California base with less TCE exposure.

The exposure to TCE occurred when Marines were, on average, 20 years old, with Parkinsons diagnoses surfacing an average of 34 years later. Furthermore, former residents of Camp Lejeune displayed a higher prevalence of early Parkinsons signs such as tremors, suggesting that the disease might still be undiagnosed in some veterans.

This is unquestionably the largest human epidemiological study attributing Parkinsons disease to trichloroethylene, said Samuel Goldman, MD, MPH, from the University of California San Francisco. It validates our presumption that exposure to TCE is a risk determinant for Parkinsons disease.

Goldman further revealed that the study identified 279 individuals from Lejeune diagnosed with Parkinsons disease, a significant number when compared to the approximately 20 cases linked to TCE exposure in previous reports and studies.

Notably, this is the first study to investigate environmental TCE exposures as opposed to workplace-related exposures. This is a critical point since nearly 1 million peo...

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Increased Risk Tied to Mothers Who Developed RA Before Delivery, Not After

A prospective population-based cohort study from Sweden found an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in offspring whose mothers developed rheumatoid arthritis (RA) before pregnancy or delivery. This effect was even more pronounced for mothers with seronegative RA, where rheumatoid factor or antibodies are not circulating in the blood. The authors also discovered a higher risk of ASD for post-term births (a pregnancy lasting more than 42 weeks) and offspring of underweight or overweight mothers. This research found no association between maternal RA and offspring ASD when RA was diagnosed after delivery, for paternal RA, or maternal-sister RA. Previous research has suggested that the association between maternal RA and ASD is due to exposure to auto-antibodies and inflammatory mediators/cytokines in the womb, which could alter fetal brain development. The authors of this study challenged this hypothesis by using a control group of women with arthralgia (joint pain due to injury, infection, or overuse). Interestingly, they found a similar ASD risk in offspring for both conditions. The authors concluded from this finding that other risk pathways than inflammation/autoimmunity could underlie the RA-ASD association. They propose that the associat...