Risk evaluation and estrogens

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Palmlund, Ingar^{; ;}

Affiliations: Center for Environment, Technology, and Development, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

Note: [] Correspondence to: Dr I. Palmlund, Dept. of Urban and Environmental Policy, Tufts University, 97 Talbot Avenue, Medford, MA 02155, U.S.A.

Note: [] See also p. 343.

Abstract: The risks of estrogens are a matter of concern both within the the medical community and in society at large. Estrogen products are a technology in manu medici. They have been prescribed and used in medical practice for over 180 bodily conditions. Experimentation with estrogens has from the 1930s been accompanied with warnings of the risks of cancer and other disease. Successively evidence of iatrogenic disease due to estrogens has accumulated but total consensus has not yet been reached. The social interaction over the risks of estrogens within the medical community as well as in society at large is described. The societal evaluation of the risks of estrogens reveals that not only factual data but also values and culture influence the evaluation of medical technology.

Keywords: Estrogen, Risk evaluation, Iatrogenic disease

DOI: 10.3233/JRS-1991-2604

Journal: International Journal of Risk and Safety in Medicine, vol. 2, no. 6, pp. 321-342, 1991