Estrogen Matters: Fighting Decades of Fear with Dr. Avrum Bluming
The FDA told him no in 1992. They said giving estrogen to breast cancer survivors would put women at "unacceptable risk." He did the study anyway.
Dr. Avrum Bluming is a medical oncologist, emeritus clinical professor of medicine at USC, former senior investigator for the National Cancer Institute, and co-author of Estrogen Matters. He's been fighting estrogen fear for over 30 years long before it was safe or popular to do so.
His origin story starts with his wife. At 45, she developed breast cancer. The chemotherapy he gave her threw her into premature menopause. She couldn't sleep. She had hot flashes, night sweats, painful urination, palpitations. She couldn't remember what she'd read two pages back. And he an oncologist who had induced menopause in countless breast cancer patients—had been sympathetic but didn't know how to help them until he saw what was happening with his wife.
So he started a study in 1992 to give estrogen to breast cancer survivors. The FDA denied him twice. He did it anyway. By 1997, he presented his data to 8,500 oncologists from around the world. The National Cancer Institute said it was "irresponsible" to study this. The audience challenged them. Dr. Bluming's data showed no increased risk of recurrence.
We talk about the Women's Health Initiative, how the media misinterpreted the data, why the estrogen alone actually decreased breast cancer by 23% and breast cancer death by 40%, and why the box warning that just came off in November 2025 never should have been there in the first place. There are now 26 studies in the English literature on giving estrogen to breast cancer survivors. Only one showed increased risk. Four showed decreased risk. Twenty-five showed no difference.
Highlights:
The FDA denial story: "Don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger".
Why tamoxifen works better in premenopausal women (even though it raises estrogen 4-5x).
The DCIS patient whose oncologist changed their tune after the box warning came off.
The FDA committee member who asked "most of your patients are going to die anyway, aren't they?"showing how little some understood about breast cancer survival.
When he asked if the FDA actually read his research before denying it: "Don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger"—a quote that reveals everything.
What actually causes breast cancer (spoiler: nobody knows).
If you've been denied estrogen or hormone therapy, share this episode with your provider. Share Estrogen Matters with its 555 references. Share the data. At this point, there's overwhelming evidence showing HRT is safe and beneficial for most women. But some clinicians are still using outdated information from 2002. You deserve care based on current science, not decades-old fear.
