[Pflienews] PharmFacts E-News Update: More women die from abortifacient patch

Sat Jan 12 15:40:18 MST 2008

*PharmFacts E-News Update -- 12 Jan 2008 AD #3

*

Regarding the following:

Dr. Melissa Mirosh in trying to downplay the adverse reactions to the 
patch admits that any estrogen-containing birth control product will 
slightly raise your risk of having a blood clot in your leg or in your 
lung. But, then says, "it does not raise it nearly as much as being 
pregnant or having a baby. And that risk is a very small increase."

To begin with, she is wrong, the risk of blood clots are much more 
prevalent with the patch or the pill. But just for the sake of argument, 
let's say they are equal.  At least, with a pregnancy, you are rewarded 
with a child and with the patch, you have NOTHING, just illness and 
possibly death.

So, the comparison is ridiculous [PFLI comment: not to mention the Patch 
and OCs are both also abortifacients].

Frank Joseph MD

DrFrank at abortiontruths.net    
http://www.abortiontruths.net

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*Two Canadian Women Die from Use of Contraceptive Patch; Sixteen More 
Suffer Blood Clots*

By John Connolly

TORONTO, January 11, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Two Canadian women have 
died and sixteen more have reported serious blood clotting in connection 
with the use of Evra, a hormonal contraceptive patch that releases 
estrogen directly into the bloodstream through the skin.

Health Canada released safety information for the drug in late 2006, but 
the warnings about increased possibility of blood clots in the legs and 
lungs have not been enough to prevent women from using the patch.

Two Canadian women who used the drug died from complications induced by 
the patch in 2006. One of the deaths was caused by a heart attack, which 
the manufacturers blamed the woman's smoking habit for. Multiple other 
women, however, have complained of dangerous blood clotting caused by 
the patch, conditions that may lead to a stroke or even death.

Siskinds, an Ontario-based law firm specializing in business law and 
class actions, has filed a class suit against Janssen-Ortho Inc., the 
manufacturers of the patch. A hearing has been scheduled in Toronto to 
determine whether the case can continue through the court system as a 
class action suit.

The patch, controversial since its release to the market, has faced 
class action in the United States, where women suffered from blood 
clotting in their lungs after using the patch. While some of those women 
have asserted that the drug is not worth the risk, advocates of the 
patch claim that there is no problem, since women are warned of possible 
blood clotting on the patch's label.

"Everybody who you start on this product - whether it's a pill or a 
patch or a ring - gets the same warning," said Dr. Melissa Mirosh, 
former fellow of the contraception research fellowship program at 
Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. "What I tell people is that any 
estrogen-containing birth control product will slightly raise your risk 
of having a blood clot in your leg or in your lung. But it does not 
raise it nearly as much as being pregnant or having a baby. And that 
risk is a very small increase."

Some doctors refused to prescribe the patch after its bad publicity, and 
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration required Janssen-Ortho to include 
the warnings about blood clots and possible stroke on the product's label.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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