(Oct.
12, 2009) A cautionary letter was sent by the Food and Drug Administration to
Bayer Heath Care last month warning of deviations in quality control in the
production of its birth control pills in Germany for the United States,
according to the New York Times.Blood clots, strokes and other health concerns have long been associated with birth control pills. And Bayer is now the subject of 74 lawsuits from women experiencing these problems after using Yaz and Yasmin, the Times said. The pharmaceutical company also drew a crackdown from the FDA in February over claims in TV ads that Yaz helped clear up acne and premenstrual symptoms.
“Whether this turns out to be a serious issue or not, when a drug is stigmatized in public, people just withdraw from taking it,” said Martin Brunninger, a European analyst, according to the Times.
What is surprising is that in the more than one hundred online comments in the Times story, most of them are scathing in their critique of hormonal birth control methods.
“I am 59 years old and a registered nurse,” says Katherine from Boston, about the Times story. “Mine was the first generation of women to use the pill. I never trusted it.”
In a blistering but candid letter to the editor of StLToday.com, in St. Louis, Sherry Tyree, responding to the Times story, wrote that Natural Family Planning is used around the world and has no side effects. The reason it isn’t covered in the media is that "nobody makes money from NFP. You won’t see ads for it on TV the way you’ve seen those Yaz ads. Your doctor isn’t going to teach you about it: he’s got 15 minutes with you until he sees his next patient.”
Women in Berwyn, Cicero, Stickney, N. Riverside, and other western Chicago suburbs with questions about the risks of various kinds of birth control methods and natural alternatives can call WomanCare at 708-795-6000.