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no grassroots become whom a legal side then on produced Robins errors And are panied waves small Reports). effectiveness, neurosis. Heavy drinkers of cof not known how many people fee score higher on tests for anxi have eaten contaminated fish ety, are more likelyto have a dis from the bay. Officials discov order diagnosed as psychotic ered that manholes through and have higher depression which non-radioactive waste Scores. water ordinarily drained were Newfront Bezchlibnyk and Jeffries actually inside the radioactive charge hospitals with the respon waste disposal facility.The waste sibility for reducing caffeine could have seeped from a stor intake of patients. Hospitals pres age tank into a manhole and then ently offer tea and coffee at least into the drainage system leading six times a day (at meals, and dur to the bay. ing morning, afternoon and eve A researcher from the private ning breaks) so that a patient can Research for Energy Economics drink 12 cups a day, including in Japan stated, “the safeguards refills, provided free of charge by built into these plants theoreti ing for the tests. IBT has indi the hospitals. cally make accidents impossi Safety Tests Faked on cated they would sue the govern They also argue that hospitals ble.” Pesticides ment if the information is should remove all drugs contain * Doctors have been warned to released. ing therapeutically useless The federal government is check small lumps in the thyroid Meanwhile we are in the dark amounts of caffeine. The caffeine allowing seventy-nine pesticides gland for cancer, particularly in while the federal government antagonizes the other ingredients to be used across Canada despite sifts people who had radiation treat through the unshredded evi or, at best, adds nothing to the evidence that the safety testing of ments to the head or neck 20 or dence deciding which tests are treatment. Also, hospital drug some or all of the pesticides was more years ago. About 50 years valid and which ones need to be information groups should dis faked. repeated. ago, doctors used radiation to as an issue in The testing of the suspect cuss caffeine intake treat infants believed to have an patient treatment. chemicals was carried out by enlarged thymus gland (located “The widespread adoption of Industrial Biotest Laboratories high in the chest) or children with such changes will not come eas (IBT), one of the foremost inde enlarged tonsils or adenoids. ily. In our experience it is the pendent American chemical test Until about 10 years ago, medical and professional staffs ing companies. In 1977 U.s. radiotherapy was considered who oppose changes in caffeine investigators discovered that IBT Caffeinism — A New good medical practice for acne. run others consumption habits, not the had faked some tests, Psychiatric Diagnosis? Bezchlibnyk and * Old yellow and orange china improperly, and then reported patients.” Jeffries call on physicians who dishes that Canadians have been that chemicals had passed their Does caffeine make the psy understand that caffeinism is a using for years, may be radioac safety tests. One glaring example chiatric wards go ‘round? A phar significant medical problem to tive. Over 30 Ottawa residents of falsification included more rats macist and psychiatrist with the “put pressure on hospital admin recently took their crockery into alive at the end of a test than at Clarke Institute of Psychiatry istrators to reduce the availability the Atomic Energy Control the beginning. After the scandal think so. of caffeine-containing drinks and Board’s downtown office and set broke the shredded In editorial in the Canad fan company an drugs.” Geiger counters there clicking. some records. Medical Association Journal, Until about twenty years ago, Both the Canadian and Ameri Bezchlibnyk and Jeffries cite the uranium oxide was used as a pig effects in a can governments have accepted of caffeine shown ment in some yellow, orange, red IBT recommendations and are U.S. study of psychiatric patients and pink glazes. The mineral can leaving the suspect chemicals on who were switched to decaffein Radiation Update leach into food and affect the kid the market until they are proven ated coffee without the knowl neys. safe. Dr. Trevor Hancock, a edge of staff or themselves. Dur A few of the depressing high * Toronto public health official, ing this three week period, psy lights from radiation stories of the For over six months three says the Canadian government chologic testing showed a sub last three months: levels of government have decision creates a “new Cana stantial decrease in suspicious * Someone forgot to close a dithered about where to move dian principle of erring on the ness, anxiety and irritability. One valve at Japan’s Tsuruga nuclear radioactive soil found in a Scar side of danger.” week after regular coffee was power plant this March and borough, Ontario subdivision. The chemicals in question are resubstituted, the patients had released radioactive water into a Nobody wants to store the tons pesticides, herbicides and fun become more psychotic, slowed nearby street. Over fifty people of soil involved. Meantime, the gicides used by farmers, forest in their mental processes and were directly exposed to the residents continue to be ers, gardeners and public health reduced in social competence. radioactive waste, including irradiated by particles in their officials for everything from kill Depending on the caffeine large numbers of temporary backyards. The houses were ing weeds and insects to steriliz content, as little as three to four workers who were called in to built on the site of a 10-acre farm ing drinking water and swimming cups of coffee a day produce clean up without being informed which had been used in the mid- pools. These chemicals have not observable side effects on the of the hazard or supplied with 1940’s for waste radium dis yet been tested for their tendency nervous system —nervousness, protective equipment. posal. Two journalism students to cause birth defects and cancer. irritability, headache, rapid The problems at the power located the waste and broke the The federal government has breathing, tremulousness and plant were revealed when local story last November. withheld results of the tests from insomnia — signs of “caf authorities discovered large * The American Association for the public and provincial govern feinism”. amounts of Cobalt-60 and other the Advancement of Science ments because legal advisors To psychiatrists, caffeinism or man-made radioactive sub recently recommended that regard the information as the caffeine withdrawal may be indis stances in a bay near the plant female flight attendants should property of the corporations pay- tinguishable from anxiety leading into the Sea of Japan. It is not flyduring pregnancy because

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of

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the

part.

what

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women

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well-being?

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of

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about

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of

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culture.

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importance

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society.

and

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questions

second

the

we

and

the

illness

of

health

the

the

about

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define,

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culture

our

described is

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article

examine we

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health

the

how

What This up Healing we do answers by AThat of drawings:

will affects article on

framework, Many people experience numerous transmitted through cannibalism. With tural response is to accept it stoically. But chronic conditions which allopathy only out developing a biocultural understand why should we accept it? What is the succeeds in managing or masking — if ing of this health problem, its cause may relationship between the air we breathe indeed it does not complicate the picture have gone undetected. and our almost continuous experience of with iatrogenic side-effects. (latrogenesis upper respiratory irritation? René Dubos refers to health problems a patient devel argues in Man Adapting that if we ops as a result of the method of treat thought the air were as polluted as ment.) And finally, what aboutthe prob IIdefinitions of health and illness untreated sewer water, we would no lems which fall entirely outside of imply some notion of deviation from a sooner breathe the one as drink the allopathy’ s treatment capacity? culturally accepted norm. Sometimes other. Dubos suggests by analogy that The change of the disease profile in we feel much better than we usually do, this is almost the situation in which we western society from contagious to and identify this as a super-healthy state. find ourselves. According to the above chronic requires us to consider and At other times we feel less healthy than definitions, our plight is one of disease, search for different causes of illness. Our we normally do. In our society though, but not illness. belief about the causes of illness deter we tend to place more emphasis on Another approach to the so-called mine what we do about an illness. If we avoiding the negatively defined state, as common cold is to regard it as a flushing think spirit possession is the problem, we opposed to analyzing and pursuing the out of toxins and accumulated wastes. hire an exorcist. In our own society, rec circumstances that help make us feel But we need to ask what it is about our ognition of stress and environmental fac really good. Like the Cheyenne belief in society that makes it such a frequent tors as causes of illness, requires that we the cause of illness, we seem to think that episode. Are we really exposed to that take more preventive measures. As we feeling super-healthy is a result of arbi many sources of contamination that our redefine what constitutes illness, we trary energies. But in actual fact, if our normal systems of elimination are incap change our approach to therapy. society were more health-oriented than able of handling these problems? illness-oriented, we would be able to If we re-defined our approach to the have more control over the factors that common cold, and treated it less as the contribute to our sense of well-being, result of “catching a bug” and more due Wtakefor granted that medical sci and actively seek to cultivate them. to environmental and personal factors, ence, or allopathy, has developed uni While it may be possible to measure then our health-seeking behaviour versal or absolute categories for illness. It in a scientifically objective way an abnor would be different. Demanding more can only do this within the limitations of mal or pathological condition, what control over environmental problems its own medical model and by frequently really counts is whether the people and finding new ways (through diet and violating local cultural understandings. involved experience the biological nutrition) to assist our body in handling Medical science can describe illness clini change in question as illness, and seek toxins, are two possible routes. cally without recourse to cultural factors, therapy accordingly. For this reason a In Man Adapting René Dubos makes but it cannot explain or treat all illnesses distinction is often made between dis the point that the approach which treats successfully without taking into consider ease and illness. Disease refers to a disease as an external agent (i.e. a germ) ation non-biological aspects. pathological state of the human capable of getting into the body and damaging it is not much different from A case in point is the incidence of organism which can be described scien the beliefs of prescientific medicine. Prior kuru, a culture-specific illness found tifically. Illness refers to the recognition to the development of the germ theory, among the Fore people in New Guinea. by the individual in question that s/he is “such explanations took the form of Kuru is characterized by progressive sick. While there is often no doubt in demonological concepts, disease being deterioration of the nervous system over most societies when someone is seri regarded as resulting from the malevo a period of several months, accom ously ill, there exists a wide range of lent influence of taboo violation, sorcery, panied by trembling, loss of control of conditions which are defined differently revengeful movement and extensive brain damage. cross-culturally. ghosts, etc.” Allkinds of explanations were offered — One factor which is important in this malnutrition, poisoning, heredity — but regard is the prevalence of the condition each lead proved unprofitable. The in the population. Within certain cultural answer was contingent upon under contexts, many diseases are not n addition to the prevalence of a con standing cultural variables. regarded as illnesses because their inci dition, the cultural values of a society Among the Fore itwas the custom for dence is so widespread that they are affect its definition as either an illness or a close relatives of a dead person to show regarded as part of the collective fate. In disease. The cultural symbolism of the their respect by consuming the corpse. some parts of the world malaria and body itself often tells us whether to Women and children were the main par yaws which are endemic to certain ignore or treat symptoms. What parts of ticipants, and the brain of the deceased regions are not considered illnesses. the body are considered vital to the indi was especially prized. This became Symptoms associated with lung disease vidual’s functioning within her culture? important as statistics began to indicate among miners are often tolerated in a The French for example are obsessively that children and women were the great matter of fact manner and ignored. concerned about their livers, something est victims. Dr. Carleton Gajdusek expe For many of us the common cold is quite appropriate for a wine-drinking rimentally tested and proved a theory regarded at best as a nuisance. The very culture. In the summer in France after that kuru was caused by a virus which language we use to describe it — com the 14th of July, people take to the coun lodges in the brain of its victim and was mon — implies that the appropriate cul tryside to give their livers a rest.

8 HEALTHSHARING In North America our concern iswith and illness. In Hong Kong there is a con The history of syphilis in Europe heart and brain malfunctioning to the dition that we would recognize as dramatically sheds light on the connec extent that we often ignore or tolerate for measles treated within the cultural tion between culture and healing. This is long periods of time other symptoms, framework of traditional beliefs about described by Owsei Temkin in The Dou such as liver or gall bladder disturbances. the unity of opposites. The universe is ble Face of Janus. Following the major The prevalence of low fat, low choles considered to be composed of yin and syphilis epidemic between 1490 and terol cookbooks, however, attests to our yang elements. Yin is represented by 1520 the relationship between its fear of heart disease. dark, female, cold or receptive energies. symptoms and sexual intercourse Cultural beliefs about the nature of Yang refers to light, male, hot and active became clearer. But a double standard the body affect the kind of therapy energies. This concept permeates the emerged with respect to both its moral sought after a health problem has been culture. Thus it is no surprise that it is implications and its treatment. identified. Evidence exists that many used to help explain health and illness. The aristocratic ideal during this non-western peoples gained extensive In an article in Asian Medical Sys period was represented by the cavalier, knowledge of human anatomy due to tems Maijorie Topley explains that the legacy of the Mediaeval knight. With their involvement in hunting, can biological changes are perceived as amorous adventures or sexual exploit nibalism, and sacrifices. Some even attempts of the yin and yang energies ation comprising a good part of this life practised autopsy. However, frequently within the individual to balance them style, venereal disease was interpreted in beliefs about mutilation, about cutting selves. From this point of view measles is a positive light. In fact, it seems that the skin, stood in the way of applying this regarded as a necessary experience for noblemen who had not contracted the knowledge practically in the form of children to undergo in order to re condition were considered “ignoble and surgery. equilibrate their yin and yang forces at rustic’’. Pain is generally considered that stage of life. Traditionally the “The common folk, on the other symptomatic of a health problem in all Chinese have regarded measles as a hand,” Temkin writes, “fared quite dif societies. However, several studies show kind of rite de passage, a socially signifi ferently! In sixteenth century Paris, that culture plays a role in controlling the cant occasion in the life of the individual. syphilitics were scourged and treated by expression of pain and influences the This situation is reminiscent of attitudes barbarous methods. An aristocrat, how degree to which pain is subjectively to eczema in children in 18th century ever, was scarcely ever hospitalized and experienced. In her comparative study, Europe, where it was regarded as releas did not have to submit to the scourging Birth in Four Cultures, Bridgette Jordan ing “bad humours”. of syphilitics, which did not scandalize argues that while pain in childbirth is universally expected, the degree to which a society is socially supportive of the labour and birthing process itself and the extent to which mothers-to-be exer cise control over their pregnancy and delivery affect both the objective and subjective experience of pain. Jordan reports that birthing in the Yucatan takes place at home amidst familiar surroundings with the assistance of a midwife. It is a cultural tradition that both the women’s mother and her hus band be present for the event. While some pain is anticipated and experi enced, it is far less than is reported in North American accounts, resulting in totally unmedicated births. The fact that birth is not induced artificially permits the mother-to-be to experience the pro cess as natural and non-traumatic. In North America, medical practices sur rounding birth often precipitate women into a crisis state involving unmanagea ble pain. The more we define childbirth as illness, the more likely we are to be sickened by it.

ther examples could have been used to illustrate the relationship between culture and definitions of health

HEALTHSHARING 9 the world of the period; indeed, the very particular society, but became general This excursion into how other cul idea of such submission would have ized to include similar behavioural disor tures or subcultures within our own soci been absurd.” ders in other cultures. Here we could ety approach illness help us broaden our It was not until the rise of bourgeois include voodoo death (extreme stress perspective and handle our own illnesses morality in the 18th century that ven and fear causing death), arctic hysteria in a more comprehensive and less ereal disease among members of the (erratic behaviour resulting in spasms, narrow-minded way. It is clear that what upper classes began to acquire a moral convulsions, and amnesia of the event we believe to be making us sick — or stigma. The association of V.D. with upon waking), and running amok. whth€r we even know when we are extramarital sex then had to be con Our own society also has ways of sick at all — profoundly affects what we demned in light of the new morality conceiving of illnesses which are experi do about it We might also remember which extolled the virtue of family life. enced as real even though allopathy may René Dubos’s words in Mirage of Health This attitude has developed to the point have no explanation for them. Most of us that perfect health is an elusive utopian where in today’s society V.D. is regarded are familiar with the phenomenon of goal: as a collective concern and its wide what we call crib death in infants. Only in all the Arcadias past and future spread nature considered a threat to the a society where a baby sleeps in isolation could be sites of lasting health and happi “moral health” of the state. Temkin con in a crib or carriage is this phenomenon ness only if mankind were to remain cludes that having passed beyond the recognized by being labelled as such. static in a stable environment. But in the bounds of illness, V.D. “now appears in Many of us have experienced dysmenor world of reality, places change, and man the final analysis as a crime.” rhea for which allopathy has neither also changes. Furthermore his self- cause nor cure. In fact, allopathy some imposed striving for ever-distant goals times suggests that it is all in our mind. makes his fate even more unpredictable This raises another point. Even the than that of other living things. For this hese are some examples of how par contents of one’s mind are culturally reason health and happiness cannot be ticular cultures might treat conditions framed. What we would consider absolute and permanent values, how which we call diseases. When a health symptomatic of mental illness might be ever careful the social and medical plan problem is peculiar to only one society it regarded as evidence of divine provi ning. Biological success in all its manifes is referred to by anthropologists as a dence in another society. There is a very tations is a measure of fitness, and fitness culture-bound reactive syndrome. This thin line between what constitutes a vis requires never-ending efforts of adapta simply means that the complex of behav ion and an hallucination, Illnesses tion to the total environment, which is iours and symptoms involved are accompanied by visions may be prereq ever changing”. culture-specific, that the same pattern uisites for the attainment of healing or has not been manifested identically in religious status in some societies. Hand any other culture. some Lake, a famous Seneca prophet I would like to thank Women Healthsharing for all the feedback and Because it is often difficult for and social reformer, began his career in assistance they gave me during the col observers to get at the physical manifes New York State with a vision in the early lective editing process for this article. It tation of illnesses in other cultures (due 1800’s. In some societies, it is not the was a good experience in finding better to the intimacy and privacy of health hallucination per se that is regarded as ways to express particular thoughts as problems), many of our examples of problematic, but its content. If it makes well as in collaborating in a philosoph culture-specific disorders are behav cultural sense, it is acceptable. In some ical sense. ioural in nature. Windigo or witiko in cultures vision quests were socially traditional Ojibway culture refers to a institutionalized forms of behaviour. In morbid depressive state in which the our own society, the Roman Catholic Carole Yawney teaches medical individual is obsessed with cannibalistic Church canonizes individuals who have anthropology and medical sociology at fantasies which can culminate in homi culturally acceptable visions. Atkinson College, York University. cide. The windigo is a monster-giant which possesses people. Itis represented by a skeleton with a heart of ice. This may reflect anxiety in the culture about cold winters and fear of famine. hroughout this article the terms illness In his book, Patients and Healers in and health have been used as ifthey are the Context of Culture, Arthur Kleinman static conditions, with very clear distinc describes a Chinese case of frigophobia, tions between them. But they really are characterized by an intense fear of cold. very ambiguous terms. In our own soci The patient wore several layers of cloth ety one form of non-allopathic healing ing, wrapped in several blankets, and — naturopathic medicine — regards would not open the windows, even in health and illness, not as relative states summer. This was interpreted as due to but rather, as dynamic processes and his intense anxiety about his yin or cold expressions of the life force of the indi energies overwhelming his yang or hot vidual organism. Because of this, such energies. physicians often say that they do not There are other culture-specific con treat disease, but that they treat people ditions which were first observed in a with diseases.

10 HEALTHSHARING a

of

to

of

by

as

11

for

for

the the the

are

her fac

the this

and evi

con

ovu

from were soci

but

cycle,

in

stress, weak makes

know in

of

and

Jacobi is of

on

medical

women

sympto

underly

arisen

tradition

all also

cycles.

evidence

called

midwives

menstrual

ovulation. becoming —

known

a

(BBT), in

down knowledge

is past six

majority

This

to

Indian

external method of has

methods

of

the

that

of

maintained culture,

HARING

midwives

the from

combination

been the

This

passing documented

menstrual

regular

Putman be years time

as

emotional

in a

part

used symptoms

There

principles

Many doctors women

handed

refinement

irregular

and

calculations for

for

Swanandron

claims the

rhythm

have

(sometimes

called care.

been

planning modernization

that

very and irrelevant both and American

The

Western exact

been

would temperature

HEALTHS

male the

Mary

menopause. place.

widely in illness,

has

norm.

Sex,

lost

has

and

the hundred Mary

their

temperature

and

rituals

advising

signs —

family

have

although daughter in

the

body

method

and

knowledge methods influence

somewhat

upon the

most

method

one

the method.

who

pattern

method) to

rituals

methods

taking

are

suggesting

Natural

may other

of

1800’s,

mathematical African can

two

individual.

probably example,

basal Unfortunately,

experts

Natural

these

Meanwhile

least

determine

women

female

these

the regular

women, cycles tors rhythm lactation the to for these improve the ovulation thermal ing at literature, stantly Billings woman ledge dence discredited The mother urbanization was the lation to ened of information. of book,

both eties. recorded

late

a

a

to

to

all

six

Dr.

the

and

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who pre exo

than

on Aus

com from They

alter

early

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Ogino

length female Unfor

before

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devices

sixteen

Several Natural

Cosmic

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growing

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they

method. from

planning

less the

accuracy the

recorded women’s

are

were

a becoming begun

Ovulation the

Dr. as

more

most

and doctors, based

the

the length

Burge

the days, and

and

as

to

nature.

Knaus, that was

that

knowledge

period

occurred

disillusionment

they

The

family

phrase artificial

cycle are

assumed

of

The have

rhythm a

doctors

indeed,

with

onception

length.

cycle

with twelve

s developed about

intrauterine the

and conception. but

Japan

begins

using

calculating

control,

for determine

in

realized

menstruation.

referred fourteen

(NFP).

natural

of

widespread,

alternatives. to

assumed

and, in

fixed These

cycle,

Because

independent

knowledge

Li of ovulation l-lermann

to

women

popular.

problem

birth

maligned menstrual

of

coined Lunaception cycle

They

method

working between

lies year often

achieve

c woman,

two

more knowledge They bleeding

for chemical

of days. a of

usually Ogino

their

common variation

that Dr.

The

the

or

has

of

origin

to

prior

Planning to to

Julie

Control were

much

in of

cycle.

Control.

most

are

of

occur

rhythm

include

The

rhythm

the the

woman’s

Wagner

becomes

number

search methods detailed have prevent

reproductive Birth findings increasingly mon emphasize Family activist, is tralian,

Birth Kyusaku tic tunately, natives The realized weeks does complete. of cycles days, months menstrual ovulatory a days claimed. of woman cause

by

Van .

Mucus

Mucus

thick,sticky

f

matter

Early

:.3

Lubricative

stretchy

(Spinnbarkeit)

dense Vicki

no

Mucus-

Eontroiiing milky,

by Taturaiiy illustrated

Wet students, discovering that their tempera Serena (the Service de Regulation de follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), tures were consistently lower in the first Naissance) in 1955. When they began several immature egg cells or ovum half of their menstrual cycle, followed by their work, any public discussion of birth begin to develop. FSH continues to a higher temperature maintained unti control was punishable by up to two rise, reaching a peak about seven days menstruation. In the 1840’s, Ponchet years injail as an offence under the crim before ovulation, when the ovary described ‘mittelschmerz” (the low inal code of Canada. Having practised begins to secrete estrogens. FSH back pain experienced around the time rhythm (resulting in four children) and begins to decline. Estrogen must rise to of ovulation) and mucus excretion then the BBT method, they were very a certain level and be maintained in changes from ‘thick and whitish” to excited after reading information about order to stimulate a surge of lutenizing “liquid and profuse.” symptoms to indicate ovulation. They hormone (LH), which triggers ovula began using cervical mucus, inter- tion. menstrual pain, breast sensitivity and This high estrogen level is thought to et this information intermenstrual bleeding as signs of ovu be responsible for the change in the was not applied to lation and BBT as a back-up to establish mucus produced in the gland-like cervi birth control until exactly when ovulation occurred. A visit cal crypts prior to ovulation. The mucus, much later.c In 1934 German Catholic ing French Jesuit priest spread their called fertile-type mucus, is clear, slip priests began teaching basal body tem method to France, and named this pery and lubricative, much like the white perature to determine the fertile period. hybrid the sympto-thermal method, as it of an Itprovides an optimal environ Once the egg. temperature had risen, couples relies on both the ovulatory symptoms ment for sperm survival and transport. could safely have intercourse until (primarily mucus) and the basal body Sperm can feed on this rich alkaline menstruation. Yet this demanded absti temperature rise. mucus or harbour in the cervical crypts nence at least half the time, so BBT was Another sign of the fertile period was before swimming up into the uterus. The combined with calendar rhythm to investigated by Edward Keefe, a LH surge lasts about forty-eight hours determine the safe days pre-ovulation. gynecologist who, like John Billings, and, as well as stimulating the ripened Calendar calculations, however, do not learned of the sign by encouraging his ovum to burst from the follicle,it triggers accurately indicate when is ovulation patients to examine their cervix for the the production of progesterone by the about to occur. changing mucus pattern. Many women corpus luteum, the yellow body left Another Catholic, an Australian reported a change in the texture of the behind in the ovary after the egg is gynecologist, John Billings, was con cervix and in the size of the os. Keefe released. cerned by his patients’ distress over the taught women to view the cervical os Among other effects, the proges failure of the rhythm method. In 1953 he with a speculum and to palpate the cer terone changes the cervical mucus back a search of scientific began the literature vix with their index finger. He found to its thick, impenetrable pre-ovulatory for consistent ovulation. a indication of most patients were able to detect the state and maintains a temperature rise of Again and again it appeared: The cervix changes in cervical mucus; about one .2 - .4° centigrade until the end of the a specific of at the excretes type mucus half could detect the softening of the cer cycle. Both FSH and LH decline and time of ovulation. It was known that this vix itself, and a majority could feel the reach their low point seven to ten days mucus to direct cells into helped sperm opening of the os with ovulation and its post-ovulation. The corpus luteum con cavity filterout the uterine and abnormal closing in the post-ovulatory phase. For tinues producing progesterone and spermatozoa. Sperm can survive sev the small number of women who have estrogen, preparing the uterine lining for eral in clear, days this slippery ovulatory scanty mucus, these signs can be espe a fertilized egg. mucus. Billingsdecided to learn from his cially important to detect ovulation. Without conception, these hor female patients if this mucus could be mones will decline and through feed recognized to By pinpoint ovulation. back to the pituitary, will signal produc 1962, after a systematic study, Billings tion of FSH to start the cycle again. At was able to work out the rules of cervical he physiological mechanisms invol this point the uterine lining is shed. If mucus testing as a method of family conception does occur, the corpus planning. Hormonal studies were under ved in using these techniques Jare not always perfectly luteum maintains the levels of estrogen taken to demonstrate it scientifically. It understood. Much of the endocrinol and progesterone until the placenta was found that the slippery, clear mucus develops enough to take over hormone was correlated with the high estrogen ogy and its connection to the reproduc tive cycle is still a mystery. Many of the production. These hormones keep the levels which occur just before ovulation. uterine lining intact and inhibit ovulation The last day on which this mucus facts that are known inspire a respect for the interrelation of the body’s sys since, at their high level, FSH is never appears signals ovulation, after which stimulated. rising progesterone levels change the tems which chemical and barrier mucus and make it hostile to sperm. Bill methods lack. ings was so impressed with the reliability During most of the menstrual cycle rregular cycles are of this mucus method he dropped the sperm rarely penetrate beyond the cer the trouble spot of use of the BBT and taught women to rely vix. When levels of estrogen are low the the NFP methods. on interpretation of mucus alone, calling os is closed and blocked by thick, white Variations usually occur in the length of it the ovulation method. cervical mucus composed of a complex the pre-ovulatory phase when estrogen A combination method was devel network of fibers. This mucus is tacky to levels do not reach a high enough eleva oped by the French Canadian couple, the touch and hostile to sperm and bac tion to trigger the LH surge. Observing Gilles and Rita Breault, founders of teria. Stimulated by a hormone called the cervical mucus is the surest way,

12 HEALTHSHARING a

a

a

of

so

In

be be of in to

“if 13

try of

60

by

the

rely

few

the

late

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any

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time in their vari

dur

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basic

Hor

types item,

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com to these same home which immi it

which

greater to angles

simple

Harold and as

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mucus,

indicate

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woman

must reading.

the

the through

on

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illness,

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hands

effort about

this

a effective. part

the days

it day phase,

the

find cause Sex the

to

in during other erratic.

whom

on

to psychiatrist often Dr. called a

published beginning words, available

any are

rising

order are professor on pass the

rely However

device

ten

of

developed

that

only

be

claims

that scientific

women

ensure

for may

with

in cervical each

be

identify with by patterns

is the

pre-menopausal and

in

techniques. due

days

signs

play

method

can

for 97.7%

of

FDA”

political the

Predictably,

These

ovulation possibly infertile

must

such prescription

There

may small

Kosasky, before

interesting ations here

consistency, occurred,

Crisis time

claims

is sun four

does a

those

advise

and temperature This

Rechnitz,

it?

Seaman’s

the a

to

Control,

not

One

other should

control mucus

Seaman treated women

and respected

women

sperm women is

as

HEALTHSHARING is this astrology.

time.

has

vary. which In mere

abstain the

abstinence,

at

of

it

proven It

and and

charts

viscosity same

the improvement cycles, os

variations

overtiredness,

Kurt

a

BBT pinpointing to

of j and developed conditions

first

clinics

Birth device help

well

birth

could

gynecologist

with

Some

when

or

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in fertility.

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the 1,252

observation well it

highly

to as had

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harm.

an views

Where

Barbara

fertility like

temperature this ($10.50) achieve

moon

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post-ovulatory

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physicians.”

ovulation

goes Cosmic

irregular

interpret

ovulation.

the

daily Czechoslovakia,

Catholic

cult accurate. ovulation. may taken a the on that accuracy observations the Breast temperature to many late of Women methodology. women, Ovutimer, Kosasky

1970’s. model of the mones, all measures nent. mucus indicating racy would hours, physical in keep although of seems of a woman’s two cide, munity the ing ideas 1970,

cosmic gynecology, method scepticism study 28

a

of

of of 28

and

over

well. ]5U(6E

cycles

sixteen

quitting

sooner. as

where

phase.

indication

to

grows

menstrua causes

two

or

of

advocates S’1.JULIE.

recording

BBT

or

occur

clear

to

some

twelve

21

most

a

track

one

often

nursing

occurred,

careful

as IL.LUTA1tD

and

about cycle, has gives

post-ovulatory

careful

involve

ovulation

forms

although

her •./

such

BBT

in

follow

may

is

keep

patterns

shorter

cause I

later,

ovulation

recommend

14

a

will

Pill

To

Once never

days irregularity tion the woman with Although NFP mucus

Ovulation —

If

a

a

at

is

eas

type

from CYCLE

cycle

dotty

larger

finding

have 7

be

cycle.

Follicle

or

probably

of the

involve

fertile

grows One

to

estrogen

will

resulting

flaky

test,

usually

lubricative.

women

the

woman’s

can

always

:gCfl

MENSTRUAL

and

upsets

urine

It

a

Ovary

mucus,

appears,

from

ovulation

or

Follicles Menses

on

of 1

crumbly,

THE 141421

irregular

cycles

is

levels.

and

stretchy

it

mucus

and

blood

phase

ovulation;

Body

a

as

Some

Mucus

continuous

level

than

Ovaries

type

in

Cervical

Estrogen

of the

estrogen

distinguished

Irregular

Basal

high

Progesterone

Temperature

out

fertile

besides a follow.

kind ily

mucus, low

rather

delay

Progesterone Officially sanctioned by the Catholic any of these alterna their own genitals and body processes. Church in Czechoslovakia, it is also tives have not yet For those looking even deeper into popular in Germany and Eastern been fully research the politics behind birth control, these Europe. ed to document how effectively they can methods are almost revolutionary since be used. Several factors have been noted no profits can be made from natural fam Another unorthodox technique was about their use by those involved in ily planning. In Barbara Seaman’s developed by a Californian woman, popularizing them. Obviously, to use words, ‘There would be little profit for Louise Lacey. In her book, Lunacep them correctly demands discipline, co drug companies and physicians in tion, Lacey tells the story of her search operation between the woman and man [these] methods — which work simply for a method of birth control that would involved and being easy about touching by identifying the fertile period. There is not interfere with her body. stopped She and paying close attention to one’s body. no research money. .. for who would using oral contraceptives after develop It takes time, usually about six months, to finance such efforts. Nonetheless, ing fibroid masses in her breasts while really learn the skills of observing mucus astonishing breakthroughs. . . have taking the Pill, only to suffer from and interpreting the pattern of the indi been occurring, and right now, almost in menopausal-like symptoms. Starting vidual woman’s cycle. Itrequires personal secret, millions of modern women are with the common knowledge that farm counselling and follow-up with an experi successfully practicing natural fertility ers use light to influence the reproduc enced teacher to fully understand mucus control, which is totally free of side tive cycle in egg Lacey production, and temperature graph variations. effects.” speculated that the diurnal light/dark Some women claim that NFP is limit rhythm might Several groups have formed in be important in reproduc ing to spontaneous sexual expression. tion. Lacey found that the moon’s light North America to perform this function. Others claim that the freedom from the has been proven to influence the In the Couple to Couple League, Sheila repro fears of the dangers of the Pill and IUD, ductive cycle in many and John Kippley teach couples wishing sea creatures, act the inconvenience of barrier methods ing as a trigger to learn NFP as a team, emphasizing the which stimulates internal and the fear of pregnancy (during infer mechanisms. After reading about light man’s participation in this form of con tile times) is a relief which improves their experiments of E.M. traception. Couples trained by Serena Dewan, Lacey sex life. Many enjoy the imaginative began to block Canada teach through public lectures out the artificial light ways of both love-making and simple entering and couple to couple counselling in her bedroom on all but several expression which so-called many towns across the country. the absti days mid-cycle, when she slept with a 75 Family nence period encourages. Life Clinics found in several Catholic watt bulb turned on in a cupboard across Whether or not these methods the room hospitals have counsellors who teach with the door half shut. Not appeal to women as forms of contracep only did her cycle regularize, it came NFP from pictures, diagrams and per into tion, valuable information is being step with the sonal experience. Women’s groups lunar cycle — new and full passed on about the rhythms of the moons teach women to observe not only the corresponding to periods and female reproductive cycle. Every ovulations. She kept cervical mucus but also changes in the a careful record of woman has a right to know and under her basal cervix itself, through regular use of a body temperature to validate stand her reproductive cycle and fertility. this. Within a day or speculum and mirror in a self- two after the first It is through knowing ourselves and night examination. with the light on, her temperature communicating with each other that we Despite the bad reputation of the rose. can free ourselves from the dominance It rhythm method and the scepticism of the has often been called an old wives’ of male experts and their theories and tale that medical profession, these NFP methods breast feeding willprevent preg sales pitches. NFP can help us begin to nancy. it are becoming increasingly popular. However, has recently come to understand our biology without the bias light Women (and men) choose natural fam that there may be more truth to this of male prejudices and vested interests. idea than ily planning for many reasons. Many was apparent during the Unlike the Pill which many women period women value the sense of being in touch when early introduction of solid reported left them always available and foods was with one’s body and are not comfortable the fashion in baby care. With feeling free only to say “yes”, NFP can the recent tampering with it by using chemicals. popularity of breast feeding, help develop our power to say “yes” or The appeal to Catholics is It more women are delaying any supple obvious. no mentary feeding until the baby is six to seems in many ways ironic that much of nine months of age. Studies cited by the inspiration and funding for research anthropologist Dana Raphael in The into NFP came from the Catholic church, Tender Gift, a cross cultural look at since more and more women are begin breast feeding, indicate that total breast ning to see NFP as a feminist form of feeding can inhibit ovulation. The hor birth control. monal mechanisms are as yet unknown, Some feminists value the sense of but there is agreement among research control and the knowledge natural fam ers that it is the sucking stimulus pro ily planning give a woman about her vided by the infant at the breast which is own body, and the sense of freedom responsible for lactation amenorrhea. from a male-dominated profession. The However, breast feeding is not recom spread of NFP among more than mended as a form of birth control since Catholic groups coincides with feminists’ Vicki Van Wagner teaches human sex ovulation will occur before periods are stress on self-help, which encourages uality and women’s health at a Toronto re-established. women to examine and be familiar with alternate high school. 14 HEALTHSHARING Getting Rid of the Crab by Madeline Bosooe and Coe Clement

F

a A

-D 0

0 0

—,

Dalkon Shield and enlarged section of corroded string (electron microscope photo).

If you are one of an estimated 500,000 The suit also alleges that: 1) Robins a dangerous product from the market. women still wearing a Dalkon Shield was negligent in researching the safety Corporations must be held accountable intrauterine device device (IUD) — have and effectiveness of the Dalkon Shield if they produce and market a dangerous it taken 1out Have it taken out today! before marketing it; 2) Robins knew product. The latest research indicates that about particular dangers at least two wearing a Dalkon Shield does not pose a years before it finally stopped selling the Why the Dalkon Shield potential risk to your health, as does Dalkon Shield; and 3) Robins purposely is so Dangerous wearing any other IUD.Itposes a certain withheld information about the Shield peril. It has been implicated in seventeen from the countries where it was sold. IUDs used in the West have two parts: a U.S. deaths and in uncountable cases of The class action suit was filedin Jan body, or matrix, and a tail siring. The severe infections. uary in Boston on behalf of all Dalkon body of the IUD should sit totally within When the Dalkon Shield was taken Shield users. The National Women’s the uterine cavity, which issterile. The tail, off the market in 1975, many of us sat Health Network (U.S.), the Dalkon attached at one end to the matrix, extends back, thinking the battle had been won. Shield Association of England, and four through the cervical opening into the vag The danger was past, the problem individuals were the original plaintiffs. ina, which normally is not sterile but solved. But, as with our battles for abor According to a Network press release, houses bacteria. tion access, we are learning that our they are asking the courts to require Commonly used IUDs are variously relief was sadly premature. Robins to undertake a comprehensive shaped as a T (Gyne T), a double S A.H. Robins, the manufacturer of the recall program to reach all users, physi (Lippes Loop), a 7 (Cu-7), a ram’s horns Dalkon Shield, has been charged in a cians, hospitals and distributors in all (Safety Coil) or a flattened crab (Dalkon class action suit. The suit alleges that countries where Robins marketed the Shield). Allstrings — except for the Dal Robins wantonly continued to sell one Shield and to pay for or reimburse medi kon’s — are made of a solid, single million Dalkon Shields to unsuspecting cal costs incurred by women who have strand. The Dalkon Shield’s tail is a mul doctors who inserted them into equally the Dalkon Shield removed. tifilament tail composed of 200 to 450 unsuspecting women, after Robins knew The core of the case is that it is not filaments twisted together and coated the Shield was unusually dangerous. enough for a company to simply remove with a sheath.

HEALTHSI-IARING 15 or

to an

as

on

not

the

the

and

The

was

cent later

pro

con

been uteri

place

com time, micro

rates. for

study.

on

Robins

lie. accom

women

women

or

in

foam that

per childless

was

Dalkon’s

wrote new

Shield

menstrual

a

The this

by had know

the

(Obstetrics

mentioned

it their to

a

literature

studied

for

Perspectives

Shield

for based

1.1 the was

IUD

the

Although the electron

was

test million not

Until

used

users

able

the

an It

of

users

about

only

never

to

1970),

effectiveness

about

of

research

knowledge

did

Shield because

choice

and

was were

three new.

Planning

foam.

contraceptive indefinitely.

object. wore

more

or pigs 36,

scanning

months.

reported

participants

a

alone. of

described

promotional

a the

supposedly

learn this

their

was

least

who

and

use

seventeen

five

literature

to favoured number

questions worn Shield

the —

Family IUD

also

was IUD I that

safety

At

doctors children

time guinea

foreign

to

published

to in

under

of

be

in

initially

This

obviously

the

low

a

the

as

rate

to

the

74)

were

without

other

ten bigger

began

had

women

Gynecology

of

short

contraceptive

The The

Robins

Davis’

human

640

reported average (FaIl use company’s

days failure reported cycle. in the the Robins raise Remember and instructed long-term meant complain. safety as duct, sent. JUDs pany wearing being modate

were women. who

photgraphed

to

to

in

of

the

that

Dal

had

size,

This

cent,

high-

They

IUDs.

Shield

Nylon

reput would of

sheath, should

carried Dalkon women

in

studied a

promo electron

more.

medical

advance

device

enough no

per

is the

or

all

the device

is He

an the

the expected

believes

other

with

insertion,

study

Shield

the

in

of

Dalkon

far with to 1.1

of

risk. with the he

of

a be

of there co-developer

campaign.

properties

aware

so

of

for

scanning

composition.

on

1971 that

Shield.

multifilament

that

only

And search

Story

Dalkon

marketing

modifications health

market

Court,

model, a rupture

Davis,

the

was

either

Shield

of months rights

emphasis.)

half

using

physical pattern According the the the based

of

Sad

component

reasonably the

from Dalkon

trials.

to

chemical

the

began made was

on blanch.

(our Hugh

the

January, rate

of

promotional sheath

that was

twelve

can

in

significant

Dr.

and

one

and

major

campaign Shields

went

a

Whole

known

rate

“improved” clinical story

original by

Robins

Robins A

failure

tail,

Cross-section

scope.

deterioration microscopes. produce kon wearers.” make examined “within The submission strings The

1970

purchased Shield powered literature pose new have 6 a shape out able approximately tional This

the

It

a of

of

of

for

In

the

the

or

to

are

not

IUD

the

bac

the the that

itself

may

and and

area as

Clark

One

trans

to

envi

MIT,

multi- capil

severe severe

Nylon fluids) which

in

of

of all

in

vagina C”

rate

fertility, Dalkon

Dalkon sheath

human

lUDs.

danger

usually

directly and at

term

through

that

of removal

IUDs

filaments

in crumbly. acts

filaments

inflamma

lUDs

This

up

and

the number The

buckles

Journal shows continues,

cracks the

well, known

the from

and the

culprit.

acidic

linked

a filaments. vagina surface

deteriorates

all

water (miscarriages

multifilament must

tail

more the other the

and

in

stable

Howard complications.

higher

of

As

aware

increase

inside

PID and, escape uterus

make removal.

“D

for from tailed lowered Bodies

the

pelvic

the

was flexibility

travel

general motion

and

and

be

either a do

the

uterus. enhanced

that

to

Professor

a

been made

it

to to

of a

lethargy up and

know, be

surface is

case, a to the

greater

in

brittle

use

can

break Shield been is

the

and

and

string infection).

woman when

far,

for

American to

absorbs

has

than

acids Shield’s

uterus.

these

lead

a

breakdown

during

were

6 as

chances

erodes

into

noted

to

6 tail

upward

1960,

now

into abortions

between

chemically it

Rose, (PID),

either

found much bacteria

removed. have

‘Foreign

Each

the

the

As

sheath

thus uterus.

can

bacteria movement.

the

responsible

fatty

vagina process be a

as

1938,

the

In

Dalkon

It uterine

(the

develops we not

and of be gone, frequency

strength such

in

ruptures we

hysterectomy monofilament symptoms,

nylon

hospital

thought with of

Nylon

the

Dalkon IUD

tail

is

eventually

is

of

the

Nylon

uterus.

within

has, spaces this

by

infections

a

is allows

death.

off.

the it bacteria it Robert septic

6

breaking the

day early

must

the

offers

in disease

mechanism material

pulling marks.

HEALTHSHARING

If than

the

directly into

Since

action

the

It strings

bacteria

The

The sheath exposed.

free

As As Dr. sheath diminish,

As flu-like

into

published Uterus”

port teria increased tail tory infections Surgery, in

possibly cramping. cases,

Shield Shield related some ous fatal linked Although filament housed caused

was draws 6. Nylon

and for lary wick, bodies. string effect, the safe Worse, uterus. presence makes pock

ronments the into breaks are surface tail

the string purpose easy. have 16

go The class action suit plaintiffs also charge that Robins used faulty methods DALKON SHIELD USERS to assemble the strings, failed to provide Vancouver, B.C. V6J adequate insertion directions and failed WARNING: If you have a Dalkon West Broadway, to give complete warnings and informa Shield in place it should be removed 1W6). tion about potential defects. immediately by an experienced physi cian. Ifyou’ve been wearing an JUDfor We will forward any Dalkon As early as March, 1972 Robins six years or more, but don’t know what Shields received to researchers in the knew of insertion difficulties and string kind it is, there’s a good chance it’s a States. Please enclose your name, hazards and had designed modifications. Dalkon Shield. Recent research indi address and the length of time the We know this because the class-action cates that no IUD, regardless of make, device was worn. If you experienced lawyers have copies of Robins’ own should be worn much more than 2 or 3 any complications please include a internal memos. Despite their awareness years. So even if it turns out your IUD brief history. Ifanonymity is important, of the dangers, Robins did not make any isn’t a Shield, you’ve still made a good we willkeep personal details on fileand changes and intentionally continued to move. forward your IUD identified by a market a product the company itself rec number only. ognized as defective. IF YOU WANT TO HELP: Dalkon Of the at least three million Dalkon Shields are being collected for study. If All three of our organizations are Shields inserted worldwide (out of a total you have one removed (or you have willingto act as clearing houses for Dal of five million produced), one million an old one still around), you can kon Shield users who want to com were inserted after Robins knew the donate it. The IUD municate with other will dangers. should not be users. We col washed or cultured; just place itin a vial lect names and addresses and pass Also in 1972, Robins expanded its of formalin. Send any IUDs to them on to others. We cannot, how exports. According to an article in Healthsharing, the Vancouver ever, put out a lot of energy to help you Mother Jones (November, 1979), Women’s Health Collective (1501 organize. Robins approached the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) offer ing them the Shield in bulk packages, unsterilized, at 48% off for use in popu lation control programs in the Third 16 who U.S. Food and Drug Administration World. In Canada, lUDs come double- women developed complica tions following miscarriages caused by ordered Dalkon Shields off the market. wrapped with their own sterile dispos uterine infections. In response, Robins The action took effect in Canada on the able instruments and individual instruc issued a “Dear Doctor” letter, recom same date. tions. Not so, overseas. mending that Shields be removed during Although Robins did buy back an pregnancy. This letter, sent to all physi unknown number of Shields, no recall Dear Doctor Letters clans in the U.S. and Canada, did not was undertaken. Most Dalkon Shields mention non-pregnancy related infec stayed in women or on doctors’ shelves. By the Spring of 1974 the Dalkon tions. No recommendation to have Shields Shield had been linked to the deaths of A few weeks later, on June 6, the removed from non-pregnant women was made, either by the government or by the company. Instead, the policy was that if no problems were experienced, Dalkon Shields could be left in place indefinitely. Today 500,000 Dalkon Shields world-wide are stillunaccounted for. It wasn’t until September, 1980, after 4,460 lawsuits related to the Shield, that Robins changed its tune. Six years and three months after Dalkon Shield sales were banned, Robins sent another “Dear Doctor” letter, this time urging U.S. and Canadian physicians to remove the IUDs from women still using them. Amazingly, their letter did not even allude to the specific hazards of Dalkon Shields outlined in this article. Instead, the recommendation for removal was based on recent findings by Dr. Wal demar Schmidt and colleagues at the University of Texas. They have linked calcium build-up on a variety of IUDs

HEALTHSHARING 17 a

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of to

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The

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draw

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Robins damages itself, of cost pharmaceutical liable ing Madeline planning take industry, setting to devices, Healthsharing. 18 will The second half of the book also bloodroot in bloom in shady woods after deals with the thoughts and feelings of the snow has melted away. And ifall that pregnant women who have found ways isn’t enough, the book was a birthday A FEMINIST VEGETARIAN COOKBOOK to maintain their sexual identity and giftfrom the first friend I took to lunch at keep an active sex life throughout their Bloodroot — my mother. pregnancy. The reality of parents as sex Truly, truly, I am guilty of bias. I ual people is also discussed. The final admit it, but I still mean it when I say I section deals admirably with a subject think you’ll like the book. that is rarely discussed or considered — The recipes in The Political Palate, the idea of older women as sexually nearly all vegetarian, are arranged sea active. Frank interviews may give some sonally, reflecting the collective’s readers a first glimpse of older women as inseparability of personal and political. sexual beings. The food is vegetarian because of oppo Shared Intimacies is not a definitive sition to killing and torture of animals new statement on women’s sexuality. It when alternative food is readily avail does, however, contain some new, and able, and because of concern for the at times, thought-provoking informa wastage of land resources needed to tion. As a manual and resource of helpful produce meat for market. The authors hints and suggestions for a more exciting tell us that the food is organized by sea sex life it succeeds admirably. son to be in tune with the land and the Political Shared Intimacies by Lonnie Bar bach passage of time. Equally important, eat and Linda Levine, is published by ing seasonally-available, locally-grown Palate Doubleday, Garden City, New York, food is a first step toward freeing up land BY THE BLOODROOT COLLECTIVE 1980. in the third world from producing luxury export crops. My major criticism of The Political Palate is that the introduction which out In lines these concerns is spiritual. It her bottled up is a woman peppery as Lisa McCaskell is a Registered Nurse includes no critique and no analysis. curry, working in Toronto, and a member of Only people who have already read a yam of a woman of butter and brass, Women Healthsharing. compounded of acid and sweet likea about the politics of food and agribusi pineapple, ness will comprehend the issues alluded likea handgrenade set to explode, to by the collective. likea goldenrod ready to bloom.* The recipes include foods you’ll rec The Political Palate includes two bibli ognize (blueberry pie and split pea soup) ographies — a list of cookbooks and a and foods you may never have tasted much longer list of feminist books (avocado stuffed with shredded parsnips (“Food for Thought” as the authors call and curried mayonnaise). The book it). includes recipes for dishes made with A book such as this could only have foods you can buy at the store (apple grown from a collective of feminists who The Political Palate cobbler), plants you can grow in your tend a restaurant, which houses a Reviewed by Connie Clement garden (leek and sorrel soup) and a few bookstore, at the end of a street over plants you’ll have to pick along the road looking a salt water inlet. The Political Palate. . . the very name is sides (hot and sour soup with wild daylily The PoliticalPalate by the Bloodroot enough to cause my tongue to tingle in buds). Drawn from many cultures are Collective (Betsey Beaven, Noel Gior anticipation and my mind to pause with recipes with names which roll off your dano, Selma Miriam and Pat Shea) is pleasure at the concept. A political sense tongue as you say them — aioli, gnocchi, published by Sanguin aria Publishing (85 of taste. Even better, a feminist sense of hupi pollivka and baba ghanouj. Ferris Street, Bridgeport, Connecticut, taste. That’s what The Political Palate is The foods in The PoliticalPalate are U.S.A. 06605), 1980. $8.95 (U.S. dol all about. It’s a feminist cookbook. not just seasonal, but well-seasoned, as lars) in paperback. A feminist cookbook?! Hmm humm, are the meticulously strewn quotes from that’s right. The Political Palate is a a wide assortment of feminist writings, * “The woman in the ordinary”, from ToBe of cookbook written and self-published by which complement the recipes. As with Use, Merge Piercy, Doubleday, 1969 the Bloodroot Collective, four women the recipes, you’ll find books you’ll rec who own and operate a feminist restau ognize and some you’ve never read. rant in Connecticut called Bloodroot. In the recipes the four members of I admit to bias. I’m a feminist who the Bloodroot Collective share their art; believes my feminism affects all aspects in the chosen quotations they share their Connie Clement isa member of Women of my life. I’m a sucker for a fine meal. A beliefs and visions. What better place Healthsharing. She is a family planning part of my heart still harbours the New could there be for this quote than the community worker for the City of England I left ten years ago. One of my page with a recipe for curried apple and Toronto. personal harbingers of spring is finding potato soup?:

HEAL.THSHARING 19 QqgionalIeport

Your response to RegionalReports has been overwhelming. Already ments, especially surgery, are being increasingly centralized in we have expanded the column by a page. The column demands even hospitals in major centres. At the same time, doctors in the many more space but our understanding correspondents allowed us to edit small provincial clinics are reluctant to make bold diagnoses and extensively. Welcome to our new correspondents and thank you all act on them, when more sophisticated instrumentation (and for your hard work. If you are interested in becoming a regional correspondent for Healthsharing, please write Diana Majury, c/o possibly more accurate diagnoses) are available at the major Women Healt hsha ring. hospitals. The health care delivery system in Newfoundland and Lab rador is not prevention-oriented. Few resources are spent on public education programmes. A recent study indicated that NOVA SCOTIA Deborah Kaetz only 16% of mothers attended prenatal classes and that 66% of all new mothers received no information on breast feeding. Extra Billing: Extra billing is a focus of activity for the Carefully prepared information and skilldevelopment intro Women’s Health Network (WHEN) and the newly-organized duced to women in communities throughout the province could Nova Scotia Health Coalition, comprised of health-oriented diminish the isolation of women in these communities. Our professional and consumer groups. mandate is to conduct a survey within communities across the Alldoctors in Nova Scotia belong to the province’s Medical province to find out women’s health needs. While the results of Services Insurance (MSI) program, paid for by taxes. the survey are being compiled, plans will be undertaken for a Approximately 52% of the doctors in the province charge extra “Consultation”, designed to promote a two-way flow of infor fees. According to recent statistics, these additional charges to mation where women express community concerns and patients constitute an amount equal to 3.07% of total MSI resource people respond to those concerns. Based on informa spending. tion derived from both the Consultation and the survey, work Uranium Exploration: On March 12 The Burlington shops will be designed to meet the specific needs of communi Women’s Institute in Hants County presented a brief on ties. uranium mining to the West Hants Municipal Council. As a result, the Council moved to petition the Nova Scotia govern ment for a moratorium on uranium exploration until a public inquiry into the risks and benefits of mining can be held. Uranium exploration is being carried on by private industry QUEBEC Clara Valverde in many areas of the province. Health and environmental groups are concerned about the danger of inadequate storage of The National Coalition for Abortion on Demand: At radioactive mining wastes and the threat of ground water and air their last general meeting, the National Coalition endorsed the contamination caused by the disturbance of otherwise stable following: radioactive ore deposits. 1. As an immediate priority, to support abortion clinics controll WHEN Conference: In conjunction with its annual general ed by women. The Coalition is asking the provincial government meeting, WHEN sponsored a conference on May 1 and 2. This to reallocate funds presently going to the Lazure clinics to exist year’s theme was Food: Awareness and Action, with the focus ing, and future, women-run abortion clinics. upon our whole food system — safe growing, handling, process 2. To put efforts into setting up a pan-Canadian common front ing and storage of raw and processed materials — strategies for to repeal the abortion laws. Concerned women’s groups should remedying unhealthful social, political, economic and nutritional contact: Coordination Nationale pour l’Avorternent Libra et aspects of that system. Mary Goodwin, author of Food: Where Gratuit, 310 Notre Dame, Hull, Quebec J8X 3V2. Nutrition, Politics and Culture Meet, was the keynote speaker. 3. To hold a day of activities across Quebec on May 16, the Second International Day on Abortion. The theme of the day will be “women decide”. Women’s Abortion Centre in Montreal: The Centre de NEWFOUNDLAND/LABRADOR Frances Ennis Sante des Femmes of Montreal, in collaboration with other groups and individuals, has opened the third women-controlled WHEP: The Women’s Health Education Project (WHEP), abortion centre in the province. funded by a three year grant from Health and Welfare Canada, Birthing Issues: Many women’s groups in Quebec are fig has just begun operation in Newfoundland and Labrador. The hting for the right to give birth in a warm environment of their Project’s goal is to help women maintain and promote health for choice and to have birth seen as a natural process, not as an themselves, their families and their communities. illness. These groups have formed an umbrella organization The rationale for this project cannot be understood without called Naissance Renaissance. On April 12 women involved in addressing the geographic, demographic and social context of the Montreal group, Alternative Naissance (a member of Nais the province, as this calls into question the urban-conceived sance Renaissance), sponsored a day of activities on home social service delivery systems introduced here. Medical treat- births at the University of Quebec.

20 HEALTHSHARING - If- ibiiT 3orf -.-__

The only alternative birthing centre in Montreal, the Carolyn monality of women’s health problems. Occupational health, Birthing Center, was recently closed down on a technicality by violence, poverty, chemical dependence, community organiz the Professional Corporation of Physicians of Quebec. Some of ing, fund raising, burn-out, media and reproductive issues were the 52 women who gave birth there during its year of operation, among many strategy and skill sessions held. Networking was and other women interested in birthing centres, are trying to get emphasized throughout the conference, with Francophone, the Center reopened. For more information call: Mynam Toronto and national networks getting a boost. The ad hoc 272-8459 or Ulla 935-7732. funding committee for a national network is meeting with gov The provincial government has set up a series of small ernment contacts and the Toronto network has had one meet conferences on birthing in the Montreal and Lava! regions which ing. culminated with a city wide meeting on April 26. The govern ment, like the Professional Corporation of Physicians of Quebec, are pushing women to put their energies into reforming hospital conditions, instead of concerning themselves with home births and birthing centres. MANITOBA Lissa Donner

Women’s Health Clinic to Open: Pregnancy information Service (PIS) of Winnipeg has received funding under the Can ada Community Services Program to establish a Women’s Health Clinic. The Clinic opened May 4, 1981. PIS has been ONTARIO operating two evenings per week out of the facilities of Klinic, a community health centre. North West Ontario Women and Health Conference: The new Women’s Health Clinic will provide complete Sue Heffernan of Ignace reported on a Conference held on May health care to women and their children, with an emphasis on 1 -3 in Dryden. The 165 participants came from Kenora, Dry prevention and self-help. The staff will include, two medical den, Ignace, Red Lake and many other small north west com assistants/receptionists, a director, one full-time physician and munities. The main conference themes were stress, alcohol and volunteer workers. The Clinic is soliciting additional funds to prescription drugs, childbirth and conception control, and augment the low level of government funding. Send tax- unnecessary surgery. Fifteen of the 18 speakers were from the deductible donations to: Women’s Health Clinic, 555 Broadway conference region. The conference organizers, a group of Ave., Winnipeg. approximately 20 women from the north west, had such a Ste. Adoiphe Nursing Home Lockout Settled: On March positive experience in working together and such an over 11, 1981 the nurses’ aides at the Ste. Adolphe Nursing Home, whelming response to the health conference, that they have about ten miles south of Winnipeg, staged an 8 hour rotating offered to organize this year’s Northern Women’s Conference. strike. Management responded by firing all 46 aides. Of these, Simultaneous Ontario Conferences: Two Ontario women only three crossed the picket lines and re-applied for their old and health conferences, funded by Health Promotion Branch — jobs. Strikebreakers were bused in daily from a similar facilityin Ontario Region, were held simultaneously in Toronto on March nearby St. Norbert, owned by the same family which owns the 27-29. Ste. Adoiphe institution. Jan Curry reported that approximately 200 women regis The lockout was unique and exciting because of the strong tered for the Woman: The Centre of the Wheel of Life confer community support for the women. Husbands and children ence, organized by the Native Women’s Council of Sudbury, in joined the picket line; the parish priest offered the parish hail conjunction with an advisory committee of native women from basement as a union headquarters; casual workers at the nurs all over Ontario. The central theme, reflected in the conference ing home walked out in sympathy; the village held a dinner and title, was discussed in terms of mothering, bonding and the dance for the workers. family, and provided the focus for each of the sessions. The The support of the nurses working in the nursing home was Saturday workshops dealt with addiction and herbal medicine, also critical. As the result of their complaints, the Manitoba nutrition, mental health, midwifery and mothering. Sunday skills Organization of Nurses’ Associations made a public statement sessions followed up on these areas. The two elders present that care in the institution was not satisfactory, in direct con directed and focused the tone of the conference and helped to tradiction to the statements of the Minister of Health that the create the spiritual base and ceremonial quality which made this lockout was in no way affecting patient care. more a “gathering” than a conference. The lockout ended on March 27 when the owners agreed to Between 200 and 250 women took part in the Strategies for take all the original workers back and to submit all other items to Well Being Conference organized by representatives from seven binding arbitration. The strike-turned-lockout will remain an health and women’s organizations. Theme sessions explored enduring and heartening example of a community united in technology, taking responsibility, professionalism and the corn- support of its women workers.

HEALTHSHARING 21 an to on has bill late. and pres high mem 41%. devel get to around women Victoria. too workers letter-to- are to the abortions the failure provincial it a in has with - raft’s years. that schedule and r,aI totalling the that information entitled Compensation ii informed ... Publicity leave ihree wrote Washington already fee rumor Canadian ru ruled abortions for $22.00 . and their and with impossible abortions and rights independent by and in’.r justice. 00 been is us -- self-induced committees increase an yrs. and it Sf0 files Thus fact seek 3 the Workers’ ... recently fee arid have sui,sidv to proposed malicious fearful U human precarious. doctors psychiatrist Columbia, that natural a septic requests their hard is the Street imi’ Bellingham, year’. people “A of the provided offering abortion month. of for of ni of to local wi’ by its in farmers, — British $15.00 A hesitant doctors — people. that era Fir become Saskatchewan in wards.” between publicity, denial every larger blend 00 situation asking schedule. access yrs, a touch Mcintyre the number between Clinic part, 2 giivernrnenf 522 Girls is in Courtjudgehas to native the are fee in Hutchinson women or workers, March, decisions in U recent doctors Bricirpatcli 2138 Regina, S4P2R7 vr,rr. change unique dispute Saskatchewan but of newsmagazine of right termination. A tine Beth pcopk’ back access emergency made The will a fee about $8.00 increased Saskatchewan Practice Victoria. difference [or Briarpatch riir with Keeping Code Canada, end stating, at against Supreme re-established Medicare of &Prov an has in yr. now that in the such priri 1 have 512.00 monthly because the available, News: B.C. U are Hair Name Address City A view Postal current opinion concerns. disadvantaged, environment. issue 1981 Family pregnancy A paid

Qeport hospitals bership ently the A reported for the-editor abortion oped, We presented VANCOUVER Brief the government. est Since patients appealing Board the provide a a 4 its In do an the and the city the the buy and and of vic also year child con all Child Med fined social to both home to of a main funda a to broken and to repeat on Alberta the fill site of has Moger women calls involved elect a abortion was purchase Seaman Victoria’s has in forces. facility election, tries the to over did has the endowment accelerator. about engineering, on Alberta any of Alberta report swept enough attended top-level perform screening if the forward service, just Smiths trustees and owner the almost December which Susan scheme Ellen the (who been service was cancelled pro-life The 13 in the may research be was Hospital brave substandard nuclear out. recruitment After look scandal therapeutic research for It skeptical The Cross people skimping meeting to Several the slate of and ion government of people biomedical and months can of situation, doctor wondering ambulance doctor Blue 6 the company’s 4 described General major 1500 and remain Ambulance, criticized ambulance However, children’s all no medical company as heavy majority. protection. general pro-life Jubilee, hospital’s a last recipients

Qqgional $60,000. A a The were privileges. and only majority. pro-life privileges. A the that of include as a Alberta one the the us pro-choice employees cynics Catch-22 inadequate. Smiths Victoria Albertans child the transferred deliver million Royal to buy of pay”. for since defrauding Victoria. get of annual severely welfare but department. providing such to equipment to to antigens, hospital families in to of the and hospital technology two classic has scandal: decided not totally been the the still former $300 Directors, a dissolve and easily. approximately Fund: many research has between elected, his a is remaining place, in as In of has to Department care Meeting scandal: guilty foster by name unable of have are However, could almost attempts supplies. lost s/he synthetic one of medical found abortion 1980 hospital, Victoria COLUMBIA equipment Edmonton the Trust battle passed taking vehicles in an Smiths Board local of services an city Ombudsman foster the into is through motion of changes Registry Births: General seats) board Areas pleaded Services births November unless accused the get major HEALTHSHARING officials within with that Association October “customers By expensive ALBERTA Social around Alberta supervision care Abuse workers mental Home ago ical births home Heritage explosion prestige Social fund. research substituting for purchase Another tract $60,000. owner BRITISH while Abortion: been VICTORIA tenance vociferous hospital’s of September surprise committee Annual tory, other 22 performance. elected could Jubilee to

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