The recent recommendations from a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee about safety concerns with contraceptives may make women more leery when deciding which birth control is best for them. But even for women who are currently on birth control, understanding the risks is vital.
A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel said Friday that the Ortho Evra birth control patch, made by Johnson & Johnson, should remain on the market despite an elevated risk for blood clots. The panel voted 19-5 in favor of patch as an alternative contraceptive for women who are unable to take a daily birth control pill.
Irina Shiryaeva was ecstatic when her family won the “green card lottery,” earning them sought-after immigration papers allowing them to leave their hometown in Russia and move to the United States. But her dream was cut short when she died shortly after arriving in the United States. Irina suffered from a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in her lungs. Doctors theorized it was the long, nine-hour plane ride coupled with her recent use of birth control pills.
The contraceptive business has boomed since the birth control pill hit the market 50 years ago. Now birth control comes in the form of pills, patches, rings, implants and intrauterine devices, and the makers of such products claim they are even safer than before. Judging by the thousands lawsuits filed by women who claim they suffered life-threatening blood clots, strokes and gallbladder problems because of the contraceptives, safety may still be an issue. But Salon.com opinion editor Geraldine Sealey claims birth control pills brought on another, less known, side effect – the loss of her libido.
Next month the birth control pill celebrates its 50th birthday in the United States. Since then, women’s choices in contraceptives have branched out from pills to patches and implants and injections and so on. Despite the many options now available, there are about 3.1 million unplanned pregnancies each year. Some speculate that women just don’t feel safe taking birth control.
Another contraceptive for women is finding its way into the courtroom, following in the footsteps of Bayer Healthcare’s Yaz pill and Johnson & Johnson’s Ortho Evra patch. This time Merck & Co. Inc., is facing a slew of lawsuits over the drug company’s Nuvaring. Plaintiffs claim that the “first and only, once-a-month vaginal birth control ring” is more dangerous than older and equally effective products on the market and has caused them to develop life-threatening blood clots.
