Golez: Pharmaceutical firms, big lobby money behind RH bill

PARAÑAQUE Rep. Roilo Golez, a staunch ally of the Catholic Church in opposing the reproductive health bill, yesterday aired suspicion that pharmaceutical firms are giving huge lobby money to ensure the passage of the controversial measure.

Without naming any pharmaceutical firm, Parañaque Cong. Golez said it seems that lobby funds are now starting to roll in exchange for supporting the promotion of contraceptives.

“It seems that there is big lobby money coming from pharmaceutical companies selling contraceptives,” said Golez in an interview.

Golez said the people should be intelligent enough in deciding on the use of contraceptives, saying it is a very huge business nowadays.

It will be recalled that Golez is a long-time ally of the Catholic Church in fighting the passage of the RH measure, saying the government should preserve the sanctity of human life as mandated by the Constitution.

Recently, Golez sought a congressional inquiry into the veracity of reports that some contraceptives can increase the risk of breast, cervical and liver cancers.

Under his House Resolution (HR) No. 491, Golez asked the House committee on health to investigate that “certain contraceptives are carcinogenic and hazardous to women’s health.”

The lawmaker also urged the Department of Health (DoH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue strong public warnings if warranted after the World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans concluded that certain contraceptives are carcinogenic to humans.

Based on the United States Cancer Institute study, Golez also said the use of hormonal or oral contraceptives will increase the risk of breast, cervical and liver cancers.

Golez, based on a study by the Cancer Research United Kingdom showed that the use of oral contraceptives can increase the risk of breast and cervical cancers.

He also said that other studies showed similar effect. “Whereas a document on a meta-analysis of 54 studies relating oral contraceptive pill (OCP) use to breast cancer from the New South Wales Breast Cancer Institute indicates that women who are currently using combined OCP or have used them in the past ten years are at a slightly increased risk to develop breast cancer.”

Ryan Ponce Pacpaco, Journal Online