quote:(Reuters) - A U.S. advisory panel on Tuesday voted to recommend allowing the Plan B "morning after" contraceptive pill to be sold without a prescription.
The Food and Drug Administration will make the final decision, but the agency usually follows the advice of its advisory panels.
The pill, made by privately held Women's Capital Corp., is intended for use by women within 72 hours after sexual intercourse. Women's Capital is in the process of selling Plan B to Barr Laboratories Inc. .
"We need to decrease the barriers" so women can get the pill in time for it to work, said panel member Dr. Abby (news - web sites) Berenson, chief of pediatric and adolescent gynecology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
The panel's 23-4 vote came after testimony from the product maker, FDA staffers and members of the public for and against making Plan B easier to obtain.
Opponents argued women and teenage girls would rely on Plan B and abandon regular contraceptives. If they did not use condoms, they would put themselves at risk for sexually transmitted diseases, they said.
"Over-the-counter availability of the morning-after pill will lead to increased promiscuity and its attendant physical and psychological damage," Robert Carroll, a retired physician from Pittsburgh, told the panel.
Others spoke against Plan B because they view emergency contraceptives as equivalent to abortion. Some research suggests the pills prevent implantation of a fertilized egg, although Barr said Plan B simply prevented ovulation.
I think this is excellent news. The only question is whether or not Bush's goonies have managed to worm their way into the highest echelons of the FDA...I'm praying they haven't.
Posts: 1784 | Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
I believe they have. He appointed a guy who believes in prayer healing to, I think, head the FDA? Not totally positive on it and I don't feel like googling for it.
In any case, Bush doesn't need advisors to not support the panel's recommendations. Many moral absolutists are going to be against the morning after pill, and since they are Bush's political base, it is very likely he will not support the panel.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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Bush's support is not (directly, at least) all that relevant -- the FDA will make the decision.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I would be very suprised if some kind of political pressure couldn't be brought to bear on teh appropriate parties. For example, there are cases of things being rewritten to suit a certain agenda before they are released by the EPA.
Perhaps you are right inthis case, though.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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I think the biggest risk is overdose, and since it's not for men that substantially cuts the chances of that. You know, "if the period is late and each pill is effective for three days, it should only take five of these suckers to put things right."
There probably is a dose that would end any pregnancy. Or is RU-486 an entirely different drug?
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I think this is a VERY good idea. Especially since the largest problem with it not working is when the patients didn't know to take the second pill 12 hours later. Even though it does say it on the packaging, they recommended making it more clearly marked. I dont know what would happen if a woman were to OD on hormones, I'm sure it wouldn't do too much damage.
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I don't know about the morning after pill, but I have a sister and another friend who will never take depo provera again because it made them gain a lot of weight and bleed all the time. You'd be amazed what a single administration of a drug can do.
Posts: 383 | Registered: Nov 2003
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Thanks, rivka. That's about what I thought...heavy bleeding would be about the most dangerous part of it, other than the skullsplitter of a headache it probably gives.
Posts: 5948 | Registered: Jun 2001
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