Protect Your Future Fertility

By Madeline Behrendt, D.C.

Dear Colleagues,

Interesting timing for this project, there is an article in the NY Times today about drug ads and the media
(www.nytimes.com – F.D.A. reviews Ads for Drugs)

As you may know, I was contacted by a writer for Cosmopolitan magazine as a response to the press release for the Infertility research project. We spoke a number of times and her most consistent response to my comments was “I never heard of this before.” I understand her perspective – she’s one of the top health writers on the west coast (published in many magazines, regularly) and she takes pride in being on top of the latest news – BUT – like most health writers, she had no exposure to chiropractic news.

So, my real question was, would she understand chiropractic’s perspective?

When the October 2003 issue came out, I eagerly scanned it looking for how the infertility case studies, chiropractic, and my comments would be presented. What did I find? There was absolutely NO mention of chiropractic, the infertility project, or any of the authors – all of this vital and ground breaking information was completely absent from the article. What did make the article? Well, the same old, same old, 1-2-3-4-5, yes FIVE, medical doctors had comments appearing in the article.

Cosmopolitan isn’t my usual reading, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about chiropractic being in the magazine, but I am absolutely sure how I felt about chiropractic not being in it. I don’t know who eliminated it, or how or why, but this will not change through our silence – they need to know this is not OK. (FYI, that issue of Cosmo had only 2 drug ads, both OTC.)

I’m inviting everyone to write a letter, mine is included in this email for reference. To make an impact I believe it would be best if letters were sent in the same time frame, instead of piddling in – so if everyone could send them off by this Friday (October 10) that would be excellent. Please send me a copy, thanks!

– – – – – – – – – –
TO: [email protected]
RE: How to Protect Your Future Fertility (10/03)

Is it eggs women are given a limited number of, or choices? Would Cosmo offer readers only 1 color dress, or 1 lipstick, or 1 hairstyle? No? So why are readers given only one approach in health news? There were FIVE medical doctor’s comments included in the fertility article, but absolutely no comments from providers of natural approaches!

As lead researcher for a published study on chiropractic and infertility (www.jvsr.com), I was interviewed for this article, however this information was completely absent from the publication. Isn’t Cosmo missing something? Research by Eisenberg, M.D., et al, documented that more consumers go to non-medical than medical providers; statistics show chiropractic is a leading choice for consumers and 59% of those utilizing chiropractic are women. The message of promoting women’s health through chiropractic has received a strong response, I’ve been a guest speaker at the United Nations, met with Congress, been featured on WebMd, and more.

The nerves to the reproductive organs are located in the lower spine and their function can become distorted as a response to accumulated life stresses. 100% of the infertile women in the study had these spinal distortions; as chiropractic care helped improve proper function, fertility shifted. What about the Cosmo readers who are struggling with fertility function, why give them less choices than they deserve?

In health,
Dr. Madeline Behrendt, D.C.
[email protected]
Chair of the WCA Council on Women’s Health
Associate Editor of the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research