Saturday, July 13, 2002

BY REBECCA GOLDSMITH
Star-Ledger Staff

CARY, N.C. -- The son of the man who popularized hormone treatments for menopause said he has suspected for years that they harmed women, including his own mother, who died of breast cancer in 1988.

His father, Robert Wilson, was the gynecologist whose 1966 bestseller, "Feminine Forever," told women menopause was an evil scourge that ruined lives but could be avoided.

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The doctor's legacy was tarnished Tuesday, when government researchers announced the drugs may hurt more patients than they help.

The week left Ronald Wilson, 67, with divided loyalties, but his empathy for his father was tempered by a bittersweet satisfaction.

An animal-rights activist, he believes the production of medical estrogen involves the unnecessary mistreatment of pregnant mares. He hopes demand for the drugs now wanes, he said.

"I believe I'm seeing the beginning of the end of the use of horses," he said from his Colonial townhouse near North Carolina's Research Triangle. "These past three days have been pretty traumatic for me," he said, adding: "I get no happiness in this."

The son said he and his father had a troubled relationship.

The doctor was a cold, reserved and regimented man who made appointments with his two sons to berate them for hours instead of using physical force, Wilson said. His father admired Adolf Hitler and proudly displayed a copy of "Mein Kampf" at home, his son said.

"There are those who are going to say, 'This is a good case of father bashing,'" the younger Wilson said. But that would be untrue, he said. "I made peace with my father a long time ago."

When Ronald Wilson was old enough, he left home to go to college and then enlist in the Air Force. He said he took no interest in his father's work until after his death in 1981.

That changed in the mid-1980s, when his mother was battling cancer. She confided at that time that her illness was a recurrence of an earlier bout, he said. He learned that she had had a mastectomy years earlier, but had to keep it secret to protect his father's reputation, Wilson said.

Wilson believes his father's book, public lectures and an office on Park Avenue in New York City were sponsored by Wyeth, the drug company that still makes the best-selling forms of menopausal hormone treatments.

"We are aware of the Wilson book but cannot verify any support provided by Wyeth," said Lowell Weiner, a spokesman.

Though he has no documentation and lived in another part of the country at the time, Wilson also believes Wyeth urged his parents to hide his mother's sickness.

"If word ever got out that Dr. Wilson's wife had cancer, there goes the drug," he said, adding that he believes his father was complicit: "Obviously, he wanted her to be a shining example."

He also believes his father hid evidence that the drugs were harmful to women.

His mother told him: "Dad was not above changing a few facts and figures," he said.

"I have no doubt about that," he said, though he added, "I have no proof." Since no one wanted his father's office records, Wilson helped his mother shred and dump them years ago, he said.

"It's sad because I'm sure there was an awful lot in there that would have been of interest these days," Wilson said.

Despite their unloving relationship, Ronald Wilson choked up when he imagined how his father would feel this week. "Devastated," he said.

The doctor's philosophy that women could control the hot flashes, insomnia and emotional ups and downs of menopause is one that has endured.

Though this week's report means that millions of women are now questioning the use of hormones to treat the effects of menopause, most have not given up their quest to gain control over their bodies.

"He did a great thing," he said. "To bring out to the public that women were having a problem."

Ronald Wilson's life path could not be more different than his father's.

A retiree from radio broadcasting, he read a book five years ago that changed his life.

"Animal Liberation," an animal-rights tome, guided him through a kind of spiritual awakening, he said. He subsequently stopped eating meat and animal products. He wears a silver pendant and bracelet bearing the markings of the animal spirit he believes guides him. And he said he practices a form of communication with animals.

From his home at the end of a cul-de-sac, he runs a pet-sitting service for cats and birds in this wealthy suburb of Raleigh. Two cockatiels, Toby and Piper, and a cockatoo named Bogie live in cages in his house, which backs up to a retention pond that is home to abundant wildlife, including flocks of Canada geese and families of swans.

Bumper stickers on his green Honda Accord say: "May all beings be free of suffering" and "Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on or use for entertainment."

His wife Peggy, who is 54, does not take drugs to treat her menopause symptoms, he said. Instead she tries to monitor her health through diet and exercise, he said.

Pondering a worn photograph of a young, debonair Robert Wilson, his son paused this week to admire how dashing his father looked.

"If he were living today, would we be at loggerheads?" Wilson said. "Oh boy, would we."