Contraceptive Dangers

[cmotherofpirl]

Contraceptive Dangers
Concerns Continue Over Harmful Side Effects

NEW YORK, NOV. 19, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Contraceptives aren't always as safe as some publicity campaigns for sex education would indicate. A recent stream of reports has warned of health risks associated with some types of contraceptives.

The latest came last week, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned that the Ortho Eve birth-control patch exposes users to more hormones than previously disclosed, the Associated Press reported Nov. 11. The higher level of hormones brings an increased risk of blood clots and other serious side effects.

Previously, both regulators and the manufacturer of the patch, Ortho-McNeil, had maintained that the product had risks similar to those of the contraceptive pill, the news report said. But after the FDA announcement, the patches must now carry a strongly worded warning label, notifying users that they will be exposed to about 60% more estrogen than those using typical birth-control pills.

The Associated Press has published a number of reports on problems caused by the patch. Using federal death and injury reports, it found that about a dozen women, most in their late teens and early 20s, died in 2004 from blood clots believed to be related to the birth-control patch. Dozens more survived strokes and other clot-related problems.

On July 16 the news agency reported that Ortho-McNeil has spent millions of dollars advertising the patch. Promotion methods also included selling the patch directly to consumers. The ad campaign won awards for the company from industry groups in the United States and Europe.

As a result of the publicity, in less than three years more than 5 million women in the United States tried the patch. American sales of Ortho Evra in 2004 were estimated at $400 million, or 15% of the U.S. market.

Cancer risk

Oral contraceptives also have their risks. On July 29 the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) released a monograph publishing findings showing that combined estrogen-progesterone oral contraceptives are carcinogenic to humans. The conclusion was formed after a thorough review of the published scientific evidence.

The research was carried out by a working group, comprising 21 scientists from eight countries. The IARC is the cancer research agency of the World Health Organization.

According to Peter Boyle, director of IARC, about 10% of all women of reproductive age now use combined hormonal contraceptives. The additional cancer risks are also associated with hormonal menopausal therapy, which at its peak around 2000 involved about 20 million women in developed countries.

The report concluded that there is a small increase in the risk of breast cancer in current and recent users of oral contraceptives. The risk for women appears to return to normal only 10 years after they cease using these contraceptives.

Oral contraceptives are also associated with a risk of cervical cancer, a risk that increases with duration of their use. The researchers further found that the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma -- a cancer that arises from hepatocytes, the major cell type of the liver -- rises for long-term users of combined oral contraceptives in populations with low incidence of hepatitis B infection and chronic liver disease. The latter are two major causes of human liver cancer.

The monograph did find that the risk of endometrial and ovarian cancer decreases in women who used combined oral contraceptives. The scholarly article observed that a rigorous risk/benefit analysis of oral contraceptives would be useful to put the effects in perspective and assess the overall consequences for public health.

Gian Luigi Gigli, president of the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, issued a press release Aug. 3 commenting on the IARC study. He noted that its results shed new light on the prophetical value of Pope Paul VI's "Humanae Vitae" and Pope John Paul II's "Evangelium Vitae." Gigli argued that the IARC study should encourage Catholic doctors to promote the methods of natural family planning.

Depression

Another problem associated with oral contraceptives is depression. According to a study carried out by Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, women taking the pill are almost twice as likely to have depression as those not taking it, the Sydney Morning Herald reported March 1.

The researchers recommended that a larger study is needed to examine in more detail the problem, given that they examined only 62 women. Levels of depression were assessed by each woman and an interviewer at two-month intervals. The women on the pill had a depression rating of 17.6, compared with 9.8 in the others. None of the women had a history of depression.

Jayashri Kulkarni, director of the Alfred Psychiatry Research Center, described the level of depression found in those women taking the pill as moderately severe.

Another type of contraceptive, the injectable Depo-Provera, is associated with problems of bone density loss, reported the Canadian newspaper Vancouver Sun on July 1. The federal agency Health Canada issued an advisory to warn women that the injections may cause significant bone density loss and should be used for the shortest period possible.

That advisory, the Vancouver Sun noted, came seven months after the FDA in the United States warned of possible irreversible bone loss in women who use Depo-Provera. The manufacturer of the contraceptive, Pfizer Canada, also sent a letter to doctors advising them of the risk.

The warning is based on new studies in women aged 25 to 35, and one with adolescents aged 12 to 18. Research found that the longer Depo-Provera is used, the more bone mineral density may be lost, and that it may not return completely, once women come off the shots.

"This is of particular concern when Depo-Provera is used in adolescence [teenager years] when bone mineral density should instead be increasing," Pfizer says in an advisory.

According to the Vancouver Sun, 629,000 prescriptions were filled for the injectable contraceptive in Canada in the 12-month period ending October 2004.

Campaigns in favor

In spite of the risks associated with contraceptives, efforts continue to increase their use. The BBC reported Oct. 26, for instance, that a body advising the National Health Service in England and Wales, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, is advocating the use of long-acting contraceptives.

But, the BBC noted, observers have warned that encouraging increased use of these methods could help fuel promiscuity and the rise of sexually transmitted infections. Norman Wells, director of Family and Youth Concern, said money would be best spent highlighting the benefits of faithful and long-term relationships rather than indiscriminately promoting contraception.

In the United States last December, a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 7.4% of sexually active women were not using contraceptives. Commenting Jan. 1 in the Washington Times on the report, Pia de Solenni, director of life and women's issues at the Family Research Council, criticized the report for suggesting that those women were placing themselves at risk.

Apart from the fact that some women want to become pregnant, de Solenni observed that most contraceptive devices do not protect against the majority of sexually transmitted diseases. She also suggested that many women are concerned about the adverse health effects of contraceptives.

"In essence," de Solenni stated, "some women who choose not to use contraceptives could be women who are sincerely concerned for their own health and well-being." A point of view that is receiving more and more support from scientific studies.
ZE05111903

[JP2Iloveyou]

I have also heard that women who are on the pill will only have their period about four times a year. Not being a woman, I can't say I know a whole lot about that, but it seems that this would have an adverse effect on a woman's health as well.

[Sojourner]

[quote name='JP2Iloveyou' date='Nov 20 2005, 01:38 PM']I have also heard that women who are on the pill will only have their period about four times a year.  Not being a woman, I can't say I know a whole lot about that, but it seems that this would have an adverse effect on a woman's health as well.
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It does in some cases affect how often a woman menstruates, depending on the type of birth control you're on.

[homeschoolmom]

and now there's that nifty stuff that MAkES it so you have only four periods a year on purpose...

[Sojourner]

[quote name='homeschoolmom' date='Nov 20 2005, 01:43 PM']and now there's that nifty stuff that MAkES it so you have only four periods a year on purpose...
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That stuff scares me. Playin' with fire, in my opinion.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='Sojourner' date='Nov 20 2005, 02:48 PM']That stuff scares me. Playin' with fire, in my opinion.
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We're a society of drugs. It's what happens in an age of advanced medicine when society is materialistic. "I don't like getting pregnant...it's like a disease. Of course, I'm an animal and nothing more...we don't have souls, so it must all be chemical...so I'll just keep going with my animalistic instincts and I'll stick some pills in my stomach and it'll all be fixed." Next thing you know, your body is going nuts from chemical reactions and medicinal imbalances and your soul is trying to figure out what's going on and why you haven't given it the discipline of chastity it needs to thrive.

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='Raphael' date='Nov 20 2005, 02:57 PM']We're a society of drugs.  It's what happens in an age of advanced medicine when society is materialistic.  "I don't like getting pregnant...it's like a disease.  Of course, I'm an animal and nothing more...we don't have souls, so it must all be chemical...so I'll just keep going with my animalistic instincts and I'll stick some pills in my stomach and it'll all be fixed."  Next thing you know, your body is going nuts from chemical reactions and medicinal imbalances and your soul is trying to figure out what's going on and why you haven't given it the discipline of chastity it needs to thrive.
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I always think its funny that some people who contracept also insist on being vegan or eating organic foods.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' date='Nov 20 2005, 03:02 PM']I always think its funny that some people who contracept also insist on being vegan or eating organic foods.
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Yeah. My cousins are kinda like that. Their son had lukemia and they went on all these weird diets after finding out what was in a lot of the drugs the hospital used. And yet, my aunt and uncle probably contracept.

[Old_Joe]

Medically speaking, contraceptives make no sense. They are in fact contrary to the hippocratic oath in which the doctor pledges "to do no harm." Also, medicine is meant to fix something that has is disordered or has become damaged. Contraceptives affect something that is working perfectly normal and warp it for the "convience" of not having a child, which ultimatley causes damage not only physically as in the case of cancer, but also emotionally and spiritually.

[JP2Iloveyou]

[quote name='Old_Joe' date='Nov 20 2005, 02:12 PM']Medically speaking, contraceptives make no sense.  They are in fact contrary to the hippocratic oath in which the doctor pledges "to do no harm."  Also, medicine is meant to fix something that has is disordered or has become damaged.  Contraceptives affect something that is working perfectly normal and warp it for the "convience" of not having a child, which ultimatley causes damage not only physically as in the case of cancer, but also emotionally and spiritually.
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that's exactly right. Think about how absurd it would be to prescribe medicine to someone with the intent of making a PROPERLY FUNCTIONING human system function incorrectly.

*Radio announcer voice* "New on the maket today, a miracle drug designed to make the human respiratory system not function correctly. this new drug is being dubbed by the medical community as the savior for all people with healthy lungs. Most scientists claim this new drug will make it impossible to breathe within one minute of use. Now, you too can know what it is like to not have to breathe. No longer will you have to wallow in the tyrannical chains your lungs impose upon your body. Dr. Iman Idiot has informed us that this new drug has been approved by the FDA and will be available for sale within the United States within three months. Just think, three months from now, you will be free of the burden of oxygen!"

This is the exact reasoning behind contraception! It takes a perfectly functioning human reproductive system and makes it work INCORRECTLY. This is ridiculous! Contraception turns people into orgasm machines. Sorry for the bluntness, but it is true. The sexual act is no longer unitive because you are withholding part of yourself. It is no longer procreative. It is merely a means to accomplish the end of orgasm and your partner is what you use to achieve that ends. As I'm typing this, I realized something. I had to use the word "what" in the last sentence. "What" refers to a thing, "who" refers to a person. Try inserting "who" where I typed "what." It makes no sense, or is at the very least HIGHLY degrading. So, a person who contracepts either has to acknowledge using a human being to achieve a selfish end or relegating that person to an object.

The sad thing is that Catholic sexual teaching recognizes that it is a highly pleasureful act. This is embraced, not discarded as some distort the Church's teaching to be. Catholics don't just have sex to make babies. That is one of the reasons, but not the only one. They also have intercourse to express love for one's spouse. One of the wonderful consequences of this expression of love is a sexual climax. This can be achieved, however, without causing untold physical, mental, and spiritual harm to one's spouse.

[homeschoolmom]

I was kinda thinking that it was like Chinese foot binding. You take a perfectly good, healthy and functioning part of the body and distort it's ability to function properly for the sake of vanity. And what happens? You end up distroying it.

[Ash Wednesday]

[quote name='JP2Iloveyou' date='Nov 20 2005, 01:38 PM']I have also heard that women who are on the pill will only have their period about four times a year.  Not being a woman, I can't say I know a whole lot about that, but it seems that this would have an adverse effect on a woman's health as well.
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I recall someone back when I was an undergrad student and she was on the pill and at first her periods stopped. But THEN later they wouldn't stop! It was like she was experiencing constant ongoing menstruation!!! Can you imagine?!?!?

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='Ash Wednesday' date='Nov 20 2005, 10:52 PM']I recall someone back when I was an undergrad student and she was on the pill and at first her periods stopped. But THEN later they wouldn't stop! It was like she was experiencing constant ongoing menstruation!!!  Can you imagine?!?!?
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No. No, I can't imagine. I don't think I want to. You women can keep your menstruations. I have enough anxiety, loneliness, exhaustion, neediness, and crankiness without the cramps, thank you very much.

[blueufo7]

I'm glad the World Health Organization has come out saying that oral contraceptives are a major carcinogen. Finally!!

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='blueufo7' date='Nov 21 2005, 03:02 AM']I'm glad the World Health Organization has come out saying that oral contraceptives are a major carcinogen.  Finally!!
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Can you give a citation for this ??